About This Program & How We Can Help
Information Management and Information Technology (IM/IT) are two critical areas in the evolution of General Practice. The IM/IT program focuses on supporting urban and rural General Practice in providing better outcomes and services to patients.
The program aims to support General Practice by:
- Providing an unbiased professional IT support service to General Practice
- Providing training for GPs, Practice Staff and Nurses on relevant topics
- Promoting Government/Health Sector initiatives to benefit General Practice
- Maintaining an accurate profile of IT in General Practice to enhance future initiative and support.
Practice Support
gpns provides an IT support helpdesk and onsite service to General Practices in the Southern area. This service entails advice on hardware and software support/upgrades, troubleshooting, information management systems and security solutions.
Information Security
The General Practitioners Computer Users Group (GPCG) is currently developing a series of guidelines for use in General Practice regarding information management and security. The guidelines and associated checklist provide data on best methods for securing IT systems and data and how to implement them.
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Choosing an IT vendor
Considerations when choosing a commercial IT vendor:
- Get several opinions - talk to a few vendors about your specific practice needs. If possible, discuss their opinions with an independent third party.
- Ask for referees - Don't be afraid to find out what other clients think of the vendor's services.
- Support contracts - Ask for all rates / allowances in writing before signing, as hidden costs can be prohibitive.
- Back-up - Find out how well supported the vendor is, what happens in an emergency, how many staff they have on call, etc.
- Quotes - Always ask for itemised quotes breaking down each component into cost and labour.
- Discuss an SLA - A Service Level Agreement can be a good option if you have previously had unsatisfactory experiences with IT vendors.
- 'Cheap' is not always synonymous with good - when considering IT options, remember that 'cheap' may cost you more in the long term.
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For all Templates and Referral Forms, please click here.
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Is your practice looking for a FREE current list of specialists and GPs in SA? If one or more of your GPs in your practice has consented to be on the Health Provider Registry (formerly known as the GP Registry) your practice is now eligible to have free access to the HPRy. An application form can be downloaded from GPSA.
The HPRy has expanded to include specialists. Access to HPRy will give your practice the ability to search for specialist and GP contact details (for referrals) and to update your practice details online, which will update your information in all eight metropolitan public hospitals in Adelaide.
The State Government's Oacis computer system, which is used by the public hospital system in SA to generate and transmit the majority of discharge summaries (separation summaries) now has the ability to send your practice's discharge summaries via encrypted email (previously only via post or fax). If your practice would like to switch over to email and you have a PKI location certificate you will need to notify the HPRy online.
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