The oppor­tu­ni­ty

Address­ing the need for a stream­lined genet­ics con­sul­ta­tion process 

For many South Aus­tralians requir­ing a genet­ics con­sul­ta­tion and screen­ing, the process of col­lect­ing fam­i­ly his­to­ry and obtain­ing con­sent can be com­plex and time-con­sum­ing. Tra­di­tion­al meth­ods often lead to inef­fi­cien­cies, pro­longed appoint­ment times, and dif­fi­cul­ties in patient preparedness.

Enhanc­ing patient expe­ri­ence through dig­i­tal innovation 

Recog­nis­ing these chal­lenges, the Clin­i­cal Genomics Statewide Clin­i­cal Net­work, in part­ner­ship with the Women’s and Children’s Health Net­work (WCHN), devel­oped an Aus­tralian-first, user-friend­ly online path­way to rev­o­lu­tion­ize the genet­ics con­sul­ta­tion experience.

Our approach

The Dig­i­tal Path­way: a seam­less patient journey 

Our inno­v­a­tive online path­way provides:

• Pre-clin­ic data col­lec­tion: Enabling patients to sub­mit fam­i­ly his­to­ry and rel­e­vant med­ical infor­ma­tion before their genet­ics appointment. 

• Online con­sent process: Offer­ing an engag­ing and infor­ma­tive video-based con­sent system. 

• Auto­mat­ed reminders: Ensur­ing patients are well-informed and remind­ed about their upcom­ing appointments. 

Pre-clin­ic data col­lec­tion: empow­er­ing patients & clinicians

Before a face-to-face appoint­ment, fam­i­lies answer a series of ques­tions and engage with ani­ma­tions on their phone or com­put­er. This process mir­rors in-clin­ic dis­cus­sions, edu­cat­ing patients while gath­er­ing essen­tial clin­i­cal data. Infor­ma­tion is secure­ly shared with clin­i­cians, reduc­ing appoint­ment dura­tion and enhanc­ing efficiency. 

Clin­i­cal data can be auto­mat­i­cal­ly export­ed to gen­er­ate clin­i­cal let­ters, inte­grat­ing seam­less­ly with elec­tron­ic med­ical records.

Online con­sent: informed decision-making

We’ve devel­oped an edu­ca­tion­al video about genet­ic test­ing and an elec­tron­ic con­sent form. Fam­i­lies can review and dis­cuss this infor­ma­tion in their own time before con­sent­ing. The video is avail­able with sub­ti­tles in 10 lan­guages, ensur­ing acces­si­bil­i­ty for diverse communities. 

Auto­mat­ed reminders: reduc­ing missed appointments 

The sys­tem sends appoint­ment reminders direct­ly to patients’ mobile phones. This reduces no-shows and improves sched­ul­ing effi­cien­cy, ben­e­fit­ing both fam­i­lies and clinicians. 

Oth­er spe­cial­ties in SA Health are explor­ing the poten­tial adop­tion of this model. 

Part­ners

• Clin­i­cal Genomics SCN 
• Women’s and Chil­dren Hos­pi­tal Net­work (WCHN)
• Cen­tral Ade­laide Local Health Net­work (CAL­HN)

Out­comes

Pos­i­tive user acceptance 

• Over 1,600 indi­vid­u­als and fam­i­lies have reg­is­tered with the online pathway. 
• Patients have col­lec­tive­ly answered over 62,000 pre-clin­ic ques­tions, enhanc­ing preparedness. 
• 93% of users report­ed that access to the dig­i­tal ser­vice helped them pre­pare for their clin­i­cal visit. 
• 85% of invit­ed fam­i­lies agreed to use the path­way, with 98% express­ing satisfaction.

Scal­a­bil­i­ty & broad­er Impact 

• The plat­form sets the stan­dard for user-friend­ly dig­i­tal health solutions. 
• It improves patient expe­ri­ence, facil­i­tates informed con­sent, and short­ens face-to-face con­sul­ta­tion times. 
• Oth­er SA Health depart­ments are inter­est­ed in trail­ing sim­i­lar dig­i­tal pathways. 
• Inter­state genet­ics units are pilot­ing our approach. 
• The cor­po­rate knowl­edge gained from devel­op­ing this path­way is broad­ly applic­a­ble across health­care services.

Have a ques­tion?

Or want to learn more about the project, con­tact CEIH.​ClinicalGenomics@​sa.​gov.​au