By Dr Saif Abed, Chief Medical Officer, BridgeHead Software
When it comes to almost any digital transformation project that impacts clinical workflows, one of the most frequent questions I am asked is how to balance flexible access to patient information against security. Curiously, even though most of my career has been based in the acute settings of the National Health Service (NHS) in reality, I have found this to be a near-universal challenge and working as BridgeHead Software’s Chief Medical Officer has underscored that fact.
Less than a year ago, I was asked to support a clinical engagement and showcase of BridgeHead’s Independent Clinical Archive (ICA), HealthStore®, for a multi-disciplinary team of clinicians in London. It sounded like one of the many great opportunities I have had to work with clinicians to digitise their workflows.
But this was different.
This time I wasn’t going to be visiting an Accident & Emergency Department, a theatre or a GP surgery. Instead, I’d be meeting with the clinicians of the England & Wales Cricket Board (ECB) responsible for the wellbeing of cricketers across 18 First-Class Counties (and beyond). Their challenge was a familiar one, but with a number of new intricacies that made it particularly satisfying to tackle.
Like with plain film x-rays of days gone by, there was the classic problem of medical images being shared on a number of different media from CDs and USBs to local drives. There was not a singular repository that was being used consistently and securely to house this critical player data. However, it wouldn’t just be enough to have a secure store, the ECB needed a workflow solution that would make it intuitive to access, transfer, view and collaborate with player images and reports.
HealthStore and its viewer, HealthStore Web Access (HWA), would become the solution that would provide that consistent user experience. Whether clinicians are looking after players in Surrey or in Bangladesh, we would now be working with the ECB to deliver a workflow solution that would make it more intuitive and secure to upload, share and review player images and reports.
While this is an exciting live project, it isn’t one in isolation. The world of sports medicine is at the forefront of technological advancements and data sits as its cornerstone. It’s exciting to enter this new world with a solution that’s been honed in the demanding environments of the NHS, but where many of the core principles are shared when it comes to clinical leadership and patient care.
Whether it’s cricket, football (soccer to our US friends!), rugby, boxing or almost any sport for that matter, I am certain many other clinical teams will recognise the challenge I’ve described so I, for one, look forward to exploring this new frontier.
If you would like more information on how your sports organization can consolidate, protect and share athlete medical images and data, please take a look at our Elite Sports Solution page.
