4 NEWS
50 urgent care clinics to come
4 NEWS
14 MARCH 2025 ausdoc . com . au
Death of notes by Ctrl + C , Ctrl + V ?
Mohana Basu INDISCRIMINATE copy – pasting of clinical notes between records is causing “ note bloat ” and infecting records with errors , according to two papers in Internal Medicine Journal .
A study at Lyell McEwin Hospital in SA found that copy – pasting was responsible for errors in 8.3 % of the 97 ward-round records studied .
Errors were exclusively in the “ issues list ” of electronic
RSV infections can occur all year round * 1,2
* Infections peak in the cooler months in temperate regions and after the rainy season in tropical regions in Australia . 1-3 medical records , including notes that patients were on IV antibiotics that had already ceased or that patients were awaiting test results that had already been returned .
In one case , the notes said a patient was awaiting a tunnelled central venous catheter insertion despite having undergone the procedure already .
The study , published late last year , concluded that a threshold of more than 850 unchanged sequential characters , when compared with previous notes , had a specificity of 98 % and a sensitivity of 88 % for predicting that information was both copy – pasted and wrong .
“ Obtaining information to substantiate the impact of such errors is crucial , along with considering the implementation of safeguards to address mitigating the issue ,” the SA researchers wrote .
Last month , a letter in the
same journal declared copy – pasting an “ epidemic ”.
“ Rampant copy – pasting in clinical documentation on electronic medical records is likely to be a major patient safety issue with global digitisation of clinical records ,” wrote Dr Isaac Ng from the National University Hospital in Singapore .
“ Medical educational efforts might also be stymied by copy – pasted clinical notes that take away the need for thoughtful clinical reasoning and integration of history-taking , examination and investigation findings ,” he added .
He suggested that AI monitors — similar to plagiarism checkers — could alert doctors when large chunks of notes had been copied .
Restricting how much text could be copy – pasted at once could also help , he said .
Alternatively , the SA researchers suggested that doctors could write notes in a way that naturally timestamped information , such as “ IV amoxycillin 23-26 February ” instead of “ on IV amoxycillin , to finish in two days ” to remove confusion .
“ These interventions need to be carefully considered as , in the correct circumstances , copying can be an effective and necessary means of note-taking ,” they added .
Intern Med J 2024 ; 28 Nov . Intern Med J 2025 ; 12 Feb .
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Please review Product Information before prescribing . Product Information can be accessed at www . gsk . com . au / arexvy ▼This medicinal product is subject to additional monitoring in Australia . This will allow quick identification of new safety information . Healthcare professionals are asked to report any suspected adverse events at www . tga . gov . au / reportingproblems . RSV , respiratory syncytial virus ; RSV-LRTD , RSV-related lower respiratory tract disease . References : 1 . Di Giallonardo F et al . Viruses 2018 ; 10 ( 9 ): 476 . 2 . Paynter S et al . Aust N Z J Public Health 2015 ; 39 ( 1 ): 8 – 10 . 3 . Obando-Pacheco P et al . J Infect Dis 2018 ; 217 ( 9 ): 1356 – 64 . 4 . AREXVY Product Information . 5 . Papi A et al . N Engl J Med 2023 ; 388 ( 7 ): 595 – 608 . 6 . Ison MG et al . Clin Infect Dis 2024 ; 78 ( 6 ): 1732 – 44 . For information on GSK products or to report an adverse event involving a GSK product , please contact GSK Medical Information on 1800 033 109 . © 2024 GSK group of companies or its licensor . Trade marks are owned by or licensed to the GSK group of companies . GlaxoSmithKline Australia Pty Ltd , Melbourne , VIC . PM-AU-RSA-JRNA-240004 . Date of approval : October 2024 .
50 urgent care clinics to come
Antony Scholefield THE Prime Minister has committed to expanding the urgent care clinic network from 87 to 137 even though the independent evaluation of whether the clinics are easing pressure on EDs is not due until 2026 .
With an election looming , Anthony Albanese has pledged another $ 644 million to fund 50 more of the bulk-billing clinics , which would take the total price tag to over $ 1 billion .
Mr Albanese made the announcement at a Sydney urgent care clinic run by GP corporate ForHealth , alongside Minister for Health and Aged Care Mark Butler .
Asked how he knew the clinics were cost-effective given the evaluation was so far away , he replied : “ When I talk to the people — whether it ’ s the doctors , the nurses but most importantly the patients — it has been such an extraordinary success .”