UPDATE: November, 2017. We have recently moved away from the AMS field services platform to a more versatile platform that works across all Android and Apple devices. Should you still wish to enquire about AMS then you can do so at http://ams.io or contact us about the new enterprise mobility platform and how it can help your operations become mobile.

In a recent interview with Chief Information Officer of Taranaki Public Health, Ngaio Crook said, that their work on the AMS mobile platform was a great example of Taranaki leading the charge of moving onto mobile devices. "The Public Health Nursing team are now able to eliminate the time-consuming paperwork from their day and focus on what is truly important – the patient."

The patient’s health record is made available to the nurses in real-time and all data is captured onto the mobile device through the AMS field service software.

Collaborative and innovative approach to community health

“The key to the success of what we have created is an absolute partnership between our clinical people and our IT team to build something that is a true enabler. It will save time and improve patient safety for the people of Taranaki. Enabling our clinicians, who work in the community, through the ‘anywhere, anytime’ mobile technology of AMS has realised many benefits; our public health nursing team is now much more connected in their working day, they can access patient information securely and generate patient encounter information in real time,” said Crook.

Integrating the AMS mobile platform with their health care systems has allowed an end-to-end view of the patient information, which is a substantial change to the way they worked in the past with disconnected paperwork.

Shared patient field service data has benefits

Field service mobile nursing

After the patient data has been captured onto the mobile device (AMS can use be used on a smartphone or tablet), it can be routed to anywhere using a rules base, to multiple endpoints. This can be the backend healthcare system and reporting databases or partnering organisations who need to be aware of events that affect patients in common.

This results in an integrated health service instead of the past disparate systems and services and allows them to make better connections with the greater public service.

TDHB has estimated the cost savings at around $60,000 per year in time and consumables, whilst providing a better health care service in the community.

“We see AMS as a real positive for public health nurses and our patients,” said Taranaki DHB Public Health Nurse, Kelly Iremonger.

More time with patients in need

Electronic form capture has many benefits but ultimately is most valuable in that it gives them more time with patients. 

Taranaki DHB is so impressed with the capability of AMS, they plan to roll it out to all their public health nurses by the end of June 2016.  Additionally they have a complete patient history at hand which is more confidential than paper, because it is encrypted. "Not having to lift heavy bags of patient files is also a huge benefit,” said Iremonger.

The collateral that Taranaki DHB is can be shared and re-used by other healthcare providers to provide a holistic picture of the patient around the country, no matter where the clinicians are situated.

Patient location becomes less important

Assistance from geographically removed medical professionals is easy when you can record video and take photos of the patient's condition and route it for further assistance. In emergencies, this information can reach medical facilities ahead of time for pre-planning and high success rates.

The fluidity of the mobile software solution means that there are many more opportunities for them to improve clinical workflows and patient safety.