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| Photo: Hugh O’Brien |
Software developed in Queensland is safeguarding and streamlining the treatment programs of Australian cancer patients.
Janine Garrett (right) was a hospital-based pharmacist who saw the need for a computer software program to help coordinate the complex treatment programs of oncology patients. She couldn't find one anywhere so she did a Masters in Information Technology at Bond University and invented her own.
Today, Janine's award-winning Charm Health system is saving time and ensuring that cancer patients in Australian hospitals are receiving precision care. Janine said her experience as a pharmacy manager at the Gold Coast Hospital and John Flynn Private Hospital inspired her to develop a system that would improve accuracy and take some workload off a hospital system stretched to the limit by an ageing population.
"It can take a doctor up to 60 minutes just to calculate drug doses and write up a patient's drug chart and then often the poor pharmacist can't read the handwriting!" Janine said.
In one Victorian hospital before they installed Charm, an audit of drug charts showed 40 per cent of orders were illegible, 10 per cent were illegal and 30 per cent required clarification.
Post-Charm, the audit showed 100 per cent of all Charm-generated orders were legible and legal and none required clarification.
"Charm incorporates all aspects of complex cancer management from the mapping out of explicit patient treatment pathways to organising the preparation of drugs and ordering pathology and radiology and arranging appointments," Janine said.
A member of the Queensland Government's Brisbane-based technology incubator i.lab, Charm won an award in the Health (Software) Solutions category of the Secrets of IT Innovation Competition 2005.
Janine also won the Women in Business category of the 2006 Smart Women - Smart State Awards run by the Queensland Government's Office for Women.
Last reviewed 16 October 2006