Women’s and Children’s Hospital

Highly regarded for its research, teaching, policy and management, Women’s and Children’s Hospital is the leading provider of specialist care for children with acute and chronic conditions in South Australia. It is one of the country’s major teaching hospitals, working with all three South Australian universities in the training of hundreds of health professionals each year.

The Challenge

The Medical Education Unit at Women’s and Children’s Hospital offers two courses on pediatric medicine and pediatric surgery for interns, resident medical officers and junior pediatric registrars completing the Diploma in Child Health (South Australia). However, the unpredictable nature of their jobs means that they are constantly distracted and challenged to retain important information and skills.

The Solution

In 2015, Women’s and Children’s Hospital deployed Qstream’s award winning mobile knowledge reinforcement solution with 140 junior medical officers, aimed at helping them retain and apply important knowledge on pediatric medicine and surgery.

Using Qstream software, medical officers respond to brief scenario-based challenges pushed to their smartphone, tablet or laptop. Built-in game mechanics help keep the doctors engaged as they compete against their peers for points on the leaderboard while strengthening their medical knowledge. The software’s analytics engine synthesizes response data in real-time to track performance and proactively identify knowledge and skills gaps. Developed at Harvard Medical School, the solution is clinically proven in more than 20 peer reviewed studies to increase retention by as much as 170% and durably change behaviors for improved patient outcomes.

The Results

With Qstream, Women’s and Children’s Hospital was able to deliver an average engagement rate of 87%, while increasing topical proficiency from a baseline of 49% to 86%.

“The hospital’s junior doctors work in shifts and are extremely busy, so getting them to attend a scheduled teaching session is very difficult,” said Dr. David Everett, Director of Clinical Training, Women’s and Children’s Hospital Medical Education Unit. “Qstream provides an on-the-run format that appeals to them and helps them retain important information and skills that they can genuinely use on the job.”

About Women’s and Children’s Hospital

Located in North Adelaide’s picturesque parklands, the Women’s and Children’s Hospital is a specialist facility for women’s and children’s health. The Hospital forms part of the Women’s and Children’s Health Network, one of fi ve health networks in South Australia.