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MARK SMITH* outline's a new app to help address an old problem in mental health

 

 It is sometimes said that there is nothing new under the sun. Certainly in mental health care, we see problems and use treatment approaches that have been used many times over many years. While that may be true, the role of information technology does offer potentially new ways of addressing age old problems.

As I have written previously in Nursing Review, HoNOS (health of the nation outcome scale) data is required to be collected by mental health services in New Zealand. Nationally, we have seen collection rates for inpatient services at over 80 per cent but community services have struggled to get over 60 per cent. This is partly because it is simply harder to collect outcome scores in the community.

Part of the problem for community clinicians is that they are mobile and on the go, therefore accessing and recording their ratings becomes something they do when they return to the community base at the end of the day. Hopefully at that point, they will be able to access the desktop computer in the base office, but this isn’t always the case.

The new app that Te Pou have developed may address some of these problems. The HoNOS app can be downloaded (simply write ‘HoNOS app’ in Google play and the IOS version for iPhones and iPads is soon to be released). The app enables clinicians to collect and use any of the five mandated HoNOS measures (HoNOS, HoNOSCA, HoNOS 65+, HoNOS LD, HoNOS secure) and produce a simple dashboard of their own caseload.

This represents the first device to routinely provide mental health clinicians with a dashboard of their own caseloads in New Zealand.

While this new app should help clinicians to collect the five mandated measures, and hence lead to better collection rates for the community, it will also enable clinicians to have conversations with their service users about their recovery and progress. It is this direct and easy access to information by clinicians that is potentially the most important.

This current version 1 of the app will hopefully be superseded by a version 2 that is fully integrated into district health board systems. This is very much a work in progress, with no clear idea when it will be achieved.

Nothing new under the sun? Or is it simply a case of old wine into new skins? I’ll leave you to judge. 

 

*Mark Smith is clinical lead for mental health workforce agency Te Pou and is an independent nurse practitioner.