IMPROVING PATIENT OUTCOMES
Clinical Analytics
Healthcare delivery systems of today will increasingly leverage the platform and resources that they have in place to become a hub for both health and healthcare in the future. Outcome measurement forms an important building block of a Learning Healthcare System. This is enabled by new technological solutions and by recognition that it is difficult to improve what is not measured. To be clear, the mental shift here is massive. It's the difference of being on Defence Back-line (where most healthcare providers are) to be being in Forward-line (which is where they know they need to be).
The optimum use of outcome data is to drive continuous improvement through benchmarking teams and organisations. This data will also drive other aspects of the Learning Healthcare System, such as predictive modelling and comparative effectiveness research.
Research is changing from a hunter/gatherer mode, where huge amounts of effort is invested to associate data with rare events, to a harvest mode in which huge amounts of data are used more efficiently to give insight.
With advances in medical data collection and technology, investigators have access to more patient data than at any time in history. Currently, much of these medical data sources (written and images) are inaccessible and underused. The increasing use of electronic medical records does not necessarily make the information amenable to analysis.
Learning Healthcare Systems seek to capture and generate knowledge from the data procured during routine care. This knowledge is then feedback into the healthcare system in a way that changes the behaviour of practitioners to improve outcomes. This feedback loop is fuelled by the continuous collection of data.
How well aligned is Data Dissect to current and future of healthcare? We are spot on! Dan Michelson, CEO, Strata Decision Technology stated; "The No. 1 takeaway from the 2019 JP Morgan Healthcare Conference: It's the platform!"
Recognising our work on Learning Healthcare System we have been invited to speak at Health Data Analytics 2019.Dr Thomas Cundy will be presenting.
https://www.hisa.org.au/healthdataanalytics/
DATA DISSECT
About Us
Data Dissect was formed as a collaboration between data scientists, mathematicians, surgeons, anaesthetists and medical students after discovering a shared interest in developing innovative technological solutions for a range of clinical research problems.
Data Dissect has developed advanced analytical software and processes for assembling, analysing and interpreting patient data. The building blocks of a Learning Healthcare System.
A Learning Healthcare System is a system in which science, informatics, behavioural incentives, and culture are aligned for continuous improvement and innovation, with best practices seamlessly embedded in the delivery process and new knowledge captured as an integral by-product of the delivery experience. Importantly, a Learning Healthcare System is a socio-technical system that explicitly uses technical and social approaches to learn and improve with every patient who is treated.
As a reflection of our work on Learning Healthcare System we have been invited to speak at Health Data Analytics 2019.Dr Thomas Cundy will be presenting.
https://www.hisa.org.au/healthdataanalytics/
OUR TEAM
TIM BOUCAUT
Managing Director
Recognised as an authority on digital transformation, business intelligence applications, entrepreneurship and social media. Director
PROFESSOR PETER HEWETT
Colorectal Surgeon
Colorectal Surgeon (Senior Visiting Medical Specialist, SA Health); Chairman of Board & Director
DR. HILARY BOUCAUT
Paediatric Surgeon
Paediatric Urologist (Senior Visiting Medical Specialist, SA Health); Director
ANDREW FEUTRILL
Mathematician and Data Scientist
Mathematician and Data Scientist University of Adelaide (PhD candidate) Data scientist and platform design. Director
DR. SANJEEV KHURANA
Paediatric Surgeon
Paediatric Surgeon (Senior visiting Medical Specialist, SA health); Director
DR. TOM CUNDY
Surgical Registrar
Surgical registrar Women’s and Children’s Health Network (WCHN), Clinical expert advisor.
DR. STEFAN COURT KOWALSKI
Medical Doctor & Clinical Expert Advisor
Medical doctor at Royal Adelaide Hospital (CALHN), Clinical expert advisor.
JORDAN YEOMANS
Computer Scientist
Jordan recently returned to the University of Adelaide to start a Masters in Engineering, taking on a project in machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI).
FRANCOIS DUVENAGE
Director
I am passionate about working in the research and development environment and making a difference through supporting researchers to resolve problems that benefit industry and the community in: raising the level of commercial awareness and skills within the research community, advising on matters such R&D contracts, technology transfer, IP management and innovation and meeting other like-minded people!
Qualifications: MBA (Strategy and Technology Management) and Law degree
RAJITA ALWIS
Company Secretary & Compliance
Experienced Company Secretary with a demonstrated history of working with entities operating in a variety in Governance, Board Advisory, Due Diligence, Cash Flow, Taxation and compliance, Company fessional with a Bachelor of Laws (LLB) focused in Banking, Corporate, Finance, and Securities Law from University of Adelaide.
Get in touch to learn more about our team, or set up a meeting with a staff member.
Data Dissect is developing advanced analytical software and processes for assembling, analysing and interpreting patient data.
OUR TEAMS RECENT ACTIVITIES
AWARD: QUALITY IMPROVEMENT IN APPENDICITIS WCHN SERVICE EXCELLENCE AWARD WINNER, ENHANCING HOSPITAL CARE CATEGORY
WCHN Service Excellence Award Winner
AWARD: QUALITY IMPROVEMENT IN APPENDICITIS BEST PAPER AWARD, PAEDIATRIC SURGERY, RACS ASC 2017
Best Paper Award
PUBLICATION: ADELAIDE TECHNOLOGY HAS THE POTENTIAL TO REVOLUTIONISE POST- OPERATIVE CARE
Adelaide Technology Has the Potential to Revolutionise Post- Operative Care
Thursday 11 May, 2017
An Adelaide-based start-up company is reimagining the possibilities of post-operative monitoring, the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons has been told today at its Annual Scientific Congress (ASC) in Adelaide.
Data Dissect Pty Ltd was formed as a collaboration between data scientists, mathematicians, surgeons, anaesthetists and medical students after discovering a shared interest in developing innovative technological solutions for a range of clinical research problems.
Mr Stefan Court-Kowalski, a final year medical student at the University of Adelaide, today presented the findings of a pilot study into the recovery process of young post-operative patients, jointly conducted with a team of computer scientists lead by Dr Damith Ranasinghe, Director of the Auto-ID Laboratory at the University.
As part of the study children between the ages of 5 and 17 were fitted with a commercially available smart watch. Algorithms were then designed to detect activities such as walking, jumping, playing, and using a smart phone; behaviours that may indicate how well a child is recovering from an operation.
“We noticed a lot of commercially available products had become enormously popular,particularly in areas like the fitness industry,” Mr Court-Kowalski said.
“What struck us was that these devices utilised sophisticated technology, but performed quite basic functions. The medical professionals in our group recognised the benefit this sort of technology could have in our work, particularly in children.
“When children are unwell they often can’t clearly tell you how they are feeling. Also, their physical behaviour often reflects their health status – an unwell child tends to be still andlistless, and a well child is active and busy.”
“We took a number of different activities that would generally indicate different points in therecovery process, and asked the question; is it possible to use this technology to capture the relevant motion information needed to assess how well the patient is recovering?”
Mr Court-Kowalski stressed that the purpose of the technology was not to replace the role of the clinician in the post-operative process, but rather to assist them in providing the best possible care to their patients.
“It is in no way about removing the experience and the expertise of clinicians from engaging withtheir patients. Essentially what it is intended for, is to provide another thread of relevantinformation for clinicans to utilise as part of their decision making processes.”
While the early clinical trials were promising, the group is now in the process of further developing the information collected by the algorithm, and the manner in which it is collected.
“We’ve already moved forward quite significantly since the trials. One of the things we areexploring is what motions are most relevant in different scenarios, and adapting the technology as necessary.
“For example, the range of motions we would look to observe in a child who has just had theirappendix removed would be completely different to the information we would want to see in other clinical scenarios such as recovery after surgery to fix broken bones.”
ients, jointly conducted with a team of computer scientists lead by Dr Damith Ranasinghe, Director of the Auto-ID Laboratory at the University.
As part of the study children between the ages of 5 and 17 were fitted with a commercially available smart watch. Algorithms were then designed to detect activities such as walking, jumping, playing, and using a smart phone; behaviours that may indicate how well a child is recovering from an operation.
"We noticed a lot of commercially available products had become enormously popular, particularly in areas like the fitness industry," Mr Court-Kowalski said.
"What struck us was that these devices utilised sophisticated technology, but performed quite basic functions. The medical professionals in our group recognised the benefit this sort of technology could have in our work, particularly in children.
"When children are unwell they often can't clearly tell you how they are feeling. Also, their physical behaviour often reflects their health status - an unwell child tends to be still and listless, and a well child is active and busy."
"We took a number of different activities that would generally indicate different points in the recovery process, and asked the question; is it possible to use this technology to capture the relevant motion information needed to assess how well the patient is recovering?"
Mr Court-Kowalski stressed that the purpose of the technology was not to replace the role of the clinician in the post-operative process, but rather to assist them in providing the best possible care to their patients.
"It is in no way about removing the experience and the expertise of clinicians from engaging with their patients. Essentially what it is intended for, is to provide another thread of relevant information for clinicans to utilise as part of their decision making processes."
While the early clinical trials were promising, the group is now in the process of further developing the information collected by the algorithm, and the manner in which it is collected.
"We've already moved forward quite significantly since the trials. One of the things we are exploring is what motions are most relevant in different scenarios, and adapting the technology as necessary.
"For example, the range of motions we would look to observe in a child who has just had their appendix removed would be completely different to the information we would want to see in other clinical scenarios such as recovery after surgery to fix broken bones."
Dr Tom Cundy, a John Monash Scholar and surgeon-in-training emphasised the group's perspective towards the future.
"Today, every patient in every hospital in the world wears a simple identification bracelet. At the same time, people in the community are readily purchasing intelligent devices such as fitness bracelets.
"We see a future where the simple hospital identification wrist bracelet is replaced by an intelligent wearable device that communicates live clinical information about recovery after surgery.
NEWS LINKS
MOTION CAPTURE DEVICE ON ITS WAY TO IMPROVING CHILDREN’S POST-OPERATIVE CLINICAL CARE
Anticipating a time when hospital identification bracelets will be replaced by wearable devices communicating live clinical data, a consortium of Adelaide researchers is developing technological solutions to improve post-operative clinical care for kids.
In a pilot study into the recovery process of young patients, motion data was used to identify movement signatures associated with health conditions and stages of recovery, building a better understanding of the healing progress of children, for whom the challenge of quantifying pain can be inhibited by communication barriers.
The Data Dissect team of computer scientists, data scientists, mathematicians, surgeons, anaesthetists and students led by Sanjeev Khurana, a paediatric surgeon at Adelaide’s Women’s and Children’s Hospital, and Dr Damith Ranasinghe, head of the Auto-ID Laboratory at the University of Adelaide, has recently completed phase two of the research.
“We envision the situation where the doctor on the ward can take out a tablet and view a live data feed on the patients under their care, remotely monitoring any number of variables and receiving alerts, predictions and updates according to personalised patient-specific care plans,” said researcher and University of Adelaide medical student Stefan Court-Kowalski of the project’s potential.
The first of the research phases was an exploratory trial involving six volunteers spanning childhood and adult ages, with the second recruiting 50 children aged between five and 17 for research designed to capture and interpret the “deluge of data” produced by patients.
“Our research team uses the rather vivid image of a patient as a deluge of data: information is flooding out constantly in their words, their actions, their vital signs, nursing notes, doctors’ notes, allied health assessments, demographic information and so on,” Court-Kowalski said.
“Our general philosophy is to imagine new ways to capture as much of this information as we can, harness the power of modern analytical and artificial intelligence methods to synthesise it, and then present meaningful information to clinicians so it can be folded into their own decision-making process."
Clinician response following the pilot study has been encouraging.
“Having set out to answer a very specific question – namely, how feasible is it to capture clinically relevant motion data – we’ve found that our approach has captured many clinicians’ imaginations in terms of the potential for wearable technology to provide fresh insight into their patients’ health status.”
This extends beyond motion data, with advances in technology extending the possibilities further to include conventional vital signs, as well as novel metrics.
“Our vision for the project involves developing a comprehensive system that encompasses many different metrics and leverages the incredible techniques modern data science can offer, including powerful analytics and vivid data visualisation tools,” Court-Kowalski said.
“Harnessing the vast quantities of information available – clinical parameters, medical history, written notes, demographic data, population health statistics, new measures like motion, and many more – could further empower clinicians to make rational, evidence-based decisions about the care of their patients.
In the next stage of the project, researchers will aim to double the patient number while studying the recoveries of children who have undergone appendectomies.
