What We Do?
Medseed specialises in a number of areas: a) mobile computing, b) computerised clinical decision support systems, c) enterprise desktops, and d) electronic health record systems.
The company has a longstanding collaboration with centres of excellence as detailed below:
1. In 2000/1 Medseed successfully implemented the Clinical Support Systems Program (CSSP) for the Austin & Repatriation Medical Centre, Warringal and Bendigo hospitals. This web based, Intranet and PDA system interfaces with a number of Microsoft SQL databases. The program was sponsored and funded by the Commonwealth of Australia and the Victorian Department of Human Services.
2. In 2001 Medseed developed the CD-based Compass clinical decision support browser with its associated guideline library. This application was delivered to the GP market via AGPAL (Australian General Practices Accreditation Limited) and RACGP (Royal Australian College of General Practitioners) and 1,200 sites registered to use the decision tool. This product has since been superseded.
3. In 2001 Medseed was commissioned to build ADVISE, a pathology results browser for the ICU at Royal Melbourne Hospital. The system was decommissioned late in 2006 and will shortly be replaced with the new Medseed built iMICRO® solution, described later in this section.
4. In 2002 Medseed developed the Alfred/Medseed Wound Imaging System (AMWIS), a low technology and low cost telemedicine solution linking remote practitioners with metropolitan centres. AMWIS is now installed in 16 teaching hospitals; community healthcare centres and wound care clinics across Australia (VIC, NSW, SA and WA with trials also undertaken in the NT). Both RDNS and Silverchain have undertaken trials and research projects using our solution.
5. In 2002 Medseed was awarded a competitive Commonwealth Biotechnology Innovation Grant for its ADVISE2 (now GUIDANCE) project in partnership with the Victorian Infectious Diseases unit at Royal Melbourne Hospital (VIDS). Medseed subsequently commercialised the GUIDANCE DS® Suite which consists of the following modules:
a. iAPPROVE® - a hospital restricted drug approval system
b. iGUIDE® - a syndromic guideline system used by hospital physicians to create, edit and manage clinical algorithms
c. iMICRO® - a real-time hospital pathology results lookup browser with its own inbuilt antimicrobial knowledge base
d. The Builder – an XML based guideline editing system used by physicians to create and manage guideline using the open source mark-up language (eDSML)
6. GUIDANCE DS® is now deployed at Royal Melbourne Hospital, The Peter MacCallum Cancer Institute and Barwon Health (Geelong Hospital). Business cases are currently underway at number of other Australian tertiary teaching hospitals as well as two large hospitals in South East Asia.
7. In 2002 Medseed successfully implemented the Cancer Trials Oncology database system at Royal Melbourne Hospital and in 2003 Medseed won a competitive tender let by Cancer Trials Australia to develop their current cancer therapeutics application. The web-based application, developed by Medseed using the .NET framework, has since been deployed at Royal Melbourne Hospital, the Western Hospital and The Austin & Repatriation Medical Centre.
8. In 2003 Medseed built Glaucoma Expert, a decision support application for the Centre for Eye Research Australia (CERA) at the Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital, and Vision Australia 20/20. The application is used by ophthalmologists with best practice Glaucoma guideline to optimise patient outcomes. Also in 2003, Medseed delivered Weekend Leave and Activity Monitoring PDA solutions for the Slade Pharmacy group.
9. Medseed is the exclusive Australian licensee for VIVIDESKTM an enterprise desktop portal solution. Between 2004 and 2006 Medseed customised VIVIDESKTM to deliver a clinical support desktop (MyGeneralPractice) for members of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP). The desktop is currently used by more than 3,500 GPs. RACGP was recently awarded a grant from the Commonwealth of Australia to extend the desktop portal to practice managers and practice nurses. Medseed is contracted to deliver this solution.
10. Medseed continues to work at the forefront of medical informatics. In 2007 as a result of its association with Health One TM Global Limited UK; Medseed is undertaking the development of a standards-based personal health record solution for Australian consumers. A derivative product will be announced shortly.
Awards
Medseed won the Baxter National Healthcare Innovation award for its telehealth wound management solution (AMWIS) in 2002.
In October 2006 Victorian Health Minister Bronwyn Pike awarded our partner – Royal Melbourne Hospital – with the “Innovation in Information Technology Award” at the 2nd Victorian Public Healthcare awards for the Medseed GUIDANCE DS® computerised decision support solution. This follows a Quality award for GUIDANCE DS® at the Royal Australian College of Physicians Annual Scientific meeting in 2004.
Other Achievements
AMWIS has been widely researched and written up in numerous journal articles. A noteworthy study in the Kimberly Health Region compared a number of outcome measures across control and experimental (AMWIS user) groups. Not only did AMWIS save the Health Region substantial money by reducing patient transfers but it also delivered a number of desirable patient outcomes. There was only one diabetic foot related amputation in the AMWIS user group compared with eleven in the control group. The prevalence of pressure ulcers with the use of AMWIS in the aged care sector has also been extensively reported. Journal articles can be downloaded from our Resources page.
We now have five years of data demonstrating significant savings from more appropriate prescribing of antibiotics such as ceftriaxone (and numerous others). Other findings strongly suggest the efficacy of GUIDANCE DS® in countering the development of resistance (MROs). These findings augur well for the efficacy of future new resistant-free narrow spectrum antibiotics. In July 2006 the NSW Expert Group on MROs (multi resistant organisms) recommended the urgent evaluation of computerised antibiotic decision support systems. The proposed trial of GUIDANCE DS® at Westmead would do just that and if successful, may well result in the adoption of the computer based clinical decision support systems across a number of area health services in NSW and potentially also in other states.
GUIDANCE® is an example of a decision support system built by physicians for physicians. Software development aside, a great deal of effort went into replicating existing workflows and current clinician work practices. The solution has been formally evaluated within the Royal Melbourne Hospital (journal article in press) with 84 percent of clinicians rating the system “extremely useful”. Journal articles can be downloaded from our Resources page.
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