New equipment for premature and sick babies an Australian-first

Mater Mothers’ Hospitals Brisbane have introduced a completely paperless clinical information system to the Neonatal Critical Care Unit (NCCU); an Australian-first for a neonatal service.

The introduction of BadgerNet—the completely paperless system—enables medical, nursing and allied health staff to enter patient notes instantly at the cotside or from any PC with access to Mater information systems. This means that clinicians can track the progress of premature and sick babies from anywhere on the hospital network.

The benefits of the system include improved access to clinical information including pathology and radiology, access to clinical information at the point of decision making, access to patient information from any PC on the hospital network, improved access to information for ongoing clinical research and increased efficiencies in data entry.

Director of Neonatology Doctor David Knight said that, “the introduction of BadgerNet to the NCCU has superceded all paper records and made the widely-used patient chart redundant for babies while they are in the unit.”

“Staff have access to electronic prescribing and drug administration systems, they can instantly receive clinical information such as pathology and radiology results and they can monitor the baby’s progress without any duplication of data entry,” Dr Knight said.

“Because the condition of babies can change so quickly, staff can use the new technology to access patient records instantly, allowing them to make fast, informed decisions about patient care, potentially saving more lives.”

Brisbane’s Mater Mothers' Hospitals are renowned as leaders in the provision of high quality maternity services and have one of the largest neonatology units in the southern hemisphere.  

Mater’s NCCU provides specialised medical and nursing care to 2000 seriously ill or premature babies from across Queensland and Northern NSW. Approximately eight percent of all births in Australia are premature.

The BadgerNet system has been funded in partnership with builders Plantation Homes who, through the House for Life project, have built and auctioned two luxury homes with proceeds going directly to the NCCU.

Construction of the third house—located at Riverstone Crossing community, Upper Coomera—is well underway and will go under the hammer on Saturday 30 October.

Plantation Homes—a Queensland building company established in 1995—with their dedicated group of suppliers, local sub-contractors and tradespeople, have donated their time and resources to make this project possible.

Plantation Homes General Manager Mr Paul Roots said, "we are thrilled to be involved in such a worthwhile project that is bringing a new level of care to our smallest Queenslanders and thankful of the extremely generous support of our sub-contractors and suppliers to allow us to make such a major donation to this campaign."

To view the House for Life and learn more about Mater Mothers’ Hospitals, go to www.house4life.com.au

Mater Foundation links community and philanthropic support to Mater Health Services and Mater Medical Research Institute. For more information visit Mater Foundation website www.materfoundation.org.au or call 07 3163 8000.