The Royal Flying Doctor Service Flies to New Heights: The Journey of Health Information Management

Abstract

The Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS) of Australia was founded in 1928 by the Reverend John Flynn to deliver health services to the people of the Australian Outback. In this unique environment the RFDS Queensland Section provides both Primary Health Care and Aeromedical services to rural and remote communities throughout Queensland. It provides health services from a hub and spoke model and its clinicians work very closely with other health service providers, such as Queensland Heath, within the communities it visits. Currently, the RFDS' health records are both paper and electronic and clinicians duplicate much of patient information and data between RFDS and non-RFDS health records. Introduction of an off-the-shelf electronic medical record (EMR) would not meet the RFDS' clinical and organisational needs because of complexity, the multidisciplinary nature of the teams and the lack of communication technology in the communities the RFDS visits. This article defines the vision for a health information system designed to meet the requirements of the RFDS, and describes its implementation throughout RFDS Queensland using the PRINCE2 project management methodology.