Dr James Haddow

The University of Otago’s Department of Surgical Sciences has released a commercial version of its DIVA clinical auditing tool, allowing medical staff to input and monitor information on patients during their hospital visit.

A computer software programme, DIVA allows medical staff to input every patient, operation, diagnosis and complication to better monitor their treatment and recovery, and reduce the risk of human error in record keeping, saving time for medical staff in the process, said University of Otago clinical audit director, Dr James Haddow.

Haddow has extensive experience in the UK’s National Health Service where systems like DIVA were simply not available, he said. “I never saw a system as good as DIVA in the UK. The worst I saw was a white board in a doctor’s office where staff would write patient names and their complications to be discussed at the next morbidity and mortality meeting.”

With the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons now requiring all surgeons to record outcomes and undergo regular clinical audit and peer review, Dr Haddow said he believes the medical sector can benefit from software that helps surgeons improve patient outcomes and efficiency. “Unlike other systems, DIVA allows medical teams to see how all their patients are doing, irrespective of whether they’ve had an operation or not.”

Accessed through a web browser, DIVA can be easily connected to existing hospital systems, he said. “With the software now available commercially, the Otago Clinical Audit team are excited to see how DIVA benefits surgeons, patients and their whanau.”