Models of care and scenarios
| Model | Scenario |
| Ambulatory care and diagnostic hospitals | ‘Maria is a 45 year old woman who is able to walk unaided and travels to a centre for treatment 2–3 times per week (eg, renal dialysis in a shopping centre, or chemotherapy).’ |
| Digital hospital | ‘John is a 70-year-old man who has a heart condition that causes dizziness (eg, irregular heartbeat). As this places him at a high risk of falls, he has been admitted to hospital for monitoring. Beside his bed is a digital matt that detects and alerts the staff if he has had a fall.’ |
| Hospital in the home | ‘Jenny is a 35-year-old, single mother of three who developed a breast infection with an abscess following the birth of her baby. She was treated with intravenous antibiotics (on a drip) and a tube was placed into her breast to drain the infected fluid. After 24 hours, she returned home to her children and is provided wound care and support in her home from a visiting nurse.’ |
| Integrated care | ‘Steve is a 50-year-old man with Type II diabetes who is obese and smokes a packet of cigarettes a day. He is having trouble walking so visits his local Emergency Department where he sees a General Practitioner (GP), who has a practice in an office next to the Emergency Department. The GP diagnoses a foot ulcer and identifies that Steve requires a full review of his care. Steve will be looked after in hospital by a multidisciplinary team of healthcare professionals (eg, endocrinologist, ulcer team, nutritionist) using an electronic medical record system for communication.’ |
| Virtual care | ‘Ivy is a 40-year-old woman who developed chest pain along with an irregular heartbeat following a dental procedure. She visited the local Emergency Department where no abnormality was found and was discharged. As she was still concerned about a sudden heart attack, she was fitted with a digital heart monitor with chest leads that talked to an application on her smart watch. Ivy was shown how to indicate an unusual heart event using her watch. Anytime Ivy tagged an event, the information was sent to a healthcare professional at the moment it happened.’ |
| Specialist hospitals and population-specific care units | ‘Harrold is an 82-year-old man with mild dementia, who develops a urinary tract infection. He has been referred to a specialist dementia unit in a geriatric care ward at the local hospital. Harrold and his family are reassured that he will receive the highest level of evidence-based care for dementia from a specialised team of health professionals.’ |