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A quiet revolution is taking place in healthcare, and it is as much the result of human ingenuity as the omnipresent mobile technologies driving it.
Virtual consultations have been all but accepted by the public as a way of life, and it took a global pandemic to accelerate their adoption. However, as three 91成人 graduates demonstrate, many of the clever inventions for healthcare apps happened well before COVID-19. It just happened to be the perfect time for these apps to enter the mainstream.
The three alumna featured here 鈥 Laura Simmons, Marrianne McGhee and Stephanie Mascarenhas 鈥 entered the app development space to improve healthcare management with readily-available technology. They鈥檙e not technologists, though they don鈥檛 need to be. What matters most in an app is how easily people can access the right information.
HELPING OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY PATIENTS STAY ON TRACK AT HOME
Laura Simmons participated in a lot of sport as a kid, from first-grade hockey to cross-country running, ski racing and junior representative basketball. This keen interest in sport later motivated her to study physiotherapy at 91成人.
鈥淚 remember enquiring about the physio course at an open day and the lady asking: 鈥楬ow good are you at science and maths?,鈥 recalls Simmons.
鈥淪o I told her, 鈥楾hey鈥檙e probably not my strengths, but I love biology and problem-solving鈥. And she suggested I apply to OT (Occupational Therapy). I鈥檇 had my heart set on doing physio, but during the first year of OT at Western I was converted.鈥
During the practical experience of her Bachelor of Applied Science Occupational Therapy at Western, from which she graduated in 2012, Simmons discovered she was more attuned to working with young people than geriatric patients. She admits it鈥檚 probably because she prefers to be creative and not to have to slow down.
Simmons sees parallels in her latest work as an app entrepreneur: she鈥檚 working to support therapists use digital solutions in OT. Her technology company Theratrak launched in January 2018, aiming to break down typical therapy barriers of cost, time and location for young people with disabilities by helping clinicians offer digital prescriptions for therapy at-home. Not surprisingly, Theratrak鈥檚 user base grew significantly during the pandemic as it was a logical solution for many therapists who couldn鈥檛 regularly see their clients in person.
The client version of Theratrak helps people accessing therapy to keep on top of the home program (or activity prescription) with customised notifications, media and tools for tracking progress, while the therapist version includes a suite of digital clinic management tools and customisable client prescriptions for home programs, drawing on a huge library of activities including sensory regulation and motor skills.
鈥淚鈥檝e become really passionate about digital health and the impact technology have on people鈥檚 live when it鈥檚 implemented in the right way,鈥 says Simmons. 鈥淭he whole point is to make it easy for everyone.鈥
STREAMLINING OPERATING THEATRE SAFETY
Marianne McGhee started her nursing career at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital 鈥渏ust to solidify that鈥檚 where I wanted to go in life鈥 and then applied for the nursing course closest to home, at Western鈥檚 Bankstown campus. She was especially impressed with the evidence-based approach to nursing taught by people who had extensive healthcare experience in hospitals.
鈥淚n some ways, I鈥檓 glad I had to redo one of the research units because it taught me more about understanding evidence in healthcare and applying it to decisions for patients,鈥 she explains. 鈥淲e need the evidence to support what we鈥檙e doing to optimise our patient outcomes 鈥 and it鈥檚 also needed to support innovations in the market.鈥
McGhee launched an innovation of her own called ScrubUp in 2015 after twenty years as a nurse because she saw a lot of inconsistenciesin the on-the-job training nurses were given when preparing to work in the operating room.聽
鈥淪urgery is becoming more technical, complex and specialised. And while I was fortunate to have great educational support at various times in my career, some nurses aren鈥檛 so well supported,鈥 she says. 鈥So I developed ScrubUp to help nurses better prepare for surgery with training and checklists for procedures 鈥 it also helps our patients when our surgical teams are better prepared.鈥
McGhee points to the 40,000-plus downloads of ScrubUp in more than 130 countries around the world as a big motivator to keep on innovating, and proudly recalls an email she received in early 2021 from a nurse in Africa who said ScrubUp helped her set up for a surgical procedure with a surgeon she was unfamiliar with.
鈥淚t shows ScrubUp is a universal product that nurses really need in their jobs today,鈥 she adds. 鈥淣ursing has changed so much in the two decades of my career 鈥 we鈥檝e got surgeons using robots now 鈥 and so everyone who works in surgery needs regular training to keep up.鈥
鈥淪urgery is becoming more technical, complex and specialised. And while I was fortunate to have great educational support at various times in my career, some nurses aren鈥檛 so well supported,鈥 she says. 鈥淪o I developed ScrubUp to help nurses better prepare for surgery with training and checklists for procedures 鈥 it also helps our patients when our surgical teams are better prepared."
McGhee points to the 40,000-plus downloads of ScrubUp in more than 130 countries around the world as a big motivator to keep on innovating, and proudly recalls an email she received in early 2021 from a nurse in Africa who said ScrubUp helped her set up for a surgical procedure with a surgeon she was unfamiliar with.
鈥淚t shows ScrubUp is a universal product that nurses really need in their jobs today,鈥 she adds. 鈥淣ursing has changed so much in the two decades of my career 鈥 we鈥檝e got surgeons using robots now 鈥 and so everyone who works in surgery needs regular training to keep up.鈥
GIVING PATIENTS SMARTER WAYS TO MANAGE THEIR HEALTH
Stephanie Mascarenhas was inspired to study medical science at about the age of seven, after her family鈥檚 frequent travels took them to India and she was shocked by the lack of health care available for much of the population.
鈥淚t really pulled the cord in my heart and from that moment I wanted to dedicate my life to improving people鈥檚 health,鈥 she says.
A little more than a decade later she was studying Human Biology Health and Disease at the University of Toronto, Canada when the travel bug bit her again. 鈥淚 watched a promotional video about life in Australia and I was sold right away, then 91成人 was the first university I checked out,鈥 she says. 鈥淚 looked at the medical science course and the prospects of career work after it and knew this was the one鈥
Mascarenhas studied for a Bachelor of Medical Science, specialising in Human Bioscience, and was awarded as a high achiever with membership in the Golden Key International Honour Society.
鈥淢edical Science at Western was a great foundation for my career because it opened my eyes to so many different lines of work,鈥 she says. 鈥淭he anatomy studies with cadavers was incredibly eye-opening, though I remember thinking 鈥榃ow, this is something very few people in the world experience鈥, so I was really grateful to be at such a great university.鈥
As she鈥檇 hoped, Western opened career doors on her graduation in 2013, with a clinical placement at Westmead Hospital through the university鈥檚 network: 鈥淚t鈥檚 like a direct dripline into the healthcare field from university,鈥 she says.
Since February 2020, Mascarenhas has balanced her work as a Clinical Scientist and Researcher at NSW Health with extra studies in blockchain and entrepreneurship to build Handy Health, an all-in-one health management app that will be available on Google and Apple鈥檚 respective app stores.
鈥淢y aim is to empower all people to live rich, meaningful lives by taking away the stress that comes from managing complex health needs.,鈥 she says. 鈥淚 really want people to feel confident to make their health better 鈥 my goal is to have the app fulfill that childhood dream of helping all people, especially the poor, access better healthcare.鈥
WORDS BY STUART RIDLEY
