RACGP eHealth advocate wins digital health award

‘I see myself as a facilitator. I’m not a coder, and I don’t develop software. I work with people and networks to try and support change. For me, it’s all about quality improvement.’
 
That is Dr Nathan Pinskier, a long-time digital health advocate and former Chair of the RACGP Expert Committee Practice Technology and Management (REC–PTM). His work in digital health was this week recognised with an award bestowed on him by the Health Informatics Society of Australia (HISA).
 
Dr Pinskier won the Jon Hilton Award for excellence in primary care informatics, given to people who innovate in primary care, community care and chronic disease management.
 
‘I’m honoured and humbled,’ he told newsGP.
 
‘There are so many amazing people working in the digital health space. I’ve been privileged to meet some of them to exchange ideas.
 
‘There’s no question that when you work with people who are passionate and inspired, you can change things.’
 
Dr Pinskier said he fell into the health informatics space by accident.
 
‘Twenty years ago, digital health was new. At my practice, I was the guy who seemed to know how to put computers together, because I did it as a hobby,’ he said.
 
‘I quickly found that there was another side to IT in health, so I got involved in committees and developed a passion for it.’
 
Dr Pinskier said general practice had come a long way in terms of digital health.
 
‘When I started, patient data was on 8 x 5-inch cards carrying very little clinical information,’ he said. ‘Now we’ve got a great deal of patient information [electronically].
 
‘We’re moving towards the ability to move clinical information between organisations. The end game is information that moves seamlessly and securely through the sector, so it can benefit patients on their journey. It’s their data, after all.’
 
Dr Pinskier names the complexity of working across state and federal layers of government as a key challenge.
 
‘In Denmark and New Zealand, where you have one government, it’s easier to develop standards. We have the complexity of multiple layers,’ he said.
 
‘Plus we have a thousand flowers blooming everywhere [in clinical software], but standardising for an optimal outcome has been challenging. We need to join up all major systems to move to interoperability.’
 
Dr Pinskier thanked RACGP staff for their support over the years.
 
‘The RACGP has provided a tremendous amount of support,’ he said. ‘The college has provided leadership in this space and will continue to do so.’

digital health ehealth health informatics