A WILLIAMSTOWN-based surgeon has spearheaded an online patient resource that has won a prestigious award.
Western Health’s orthopaedic unit has received the silver award at the 2012 Victorian Public Healthcare Awards in the ‘optimising healthcare through e-health and communications technology’ category.
The winning entry was an orthopaedic patient resource, a website titled OrthoAnswer.
Project leader Phong Tran said the aim was to create a patient resource that would educate and inform patients, in language that could be understood by people without a medical or higher-level education background.
“The website is founded on current best practice and evidence-based medicine, and written in grade 5-6 English level,” he explained.
“I noticed there was a real lack of reliable treatment information on the internet. About 75 per cent of patients are looking on the net for information about their diagnosis, but when you do a search the top 20 or so sites contain a lot of unreliable or incorrect information.”
Orthoanswer.org already has more than 3100 pages of information with 110 illustrations.
Pamphlet booklets have been designed so doctors can guide patients to the website with the correct diagnosis and recommended treatment.
Mr Tran said it could be difficult keeping up with the pace at which medical information was generated.
He paid tribute to “a great group of volunteers and doctors” giving up their time to contribute.
“We have put in about 3000 hours of work so far. We’re hoping to show how the process can work because there is a real need for really good information.
“This award refires the enthusiasm; it gives us a lot of incentive and hope.”
The project has helped Western Health become the National E-Learning and Patient Information Centre for the Australian Orthopaedic Association.
It’s not Mr Tran’s first award.
He received a ‘highly commended’ award the previous year for surgical patient management program ‘Clinman’.
