- Introduction to the Digital Health Research Network
- Partners in Digital Health
- External partners
- Aims of the network
- Strategy for all Australians
- Digital Health Grand Rounds
- Digital Health Journal Club
- Digital Health Research News
Healthcare as we’re currently delivering it is no longer sustainable.
With rising costs and increasing demand, our current health models are no longer fit-for-purpose.
Digital health systems allow us to plan new ways to deliver care to more people, more efficiently. Driving that change is the advent of electronic medical records and the ability to store information about consumers, in real time.
Health practitioners are looking to the university sector to help roll out these digital workflows across our complex healthcare system.
While we already have access to an ocean of digital data, the job of coordinating that data in an efficient and patient-friendly manner brings healthcare into new and uncharted territory.
For example, one of the many challenges in creating coordinated digital systems is that it requires new partnerships between the medical community and an army of allied professionals such as software engineers, graphic designers, IT experts, ethicists and social scientists.
Like a marriage broker, The University of Queensland is pioneering new ways of bringing these diverse professional groups together to achieve the common goal of building new, coordinated digital health care systems.
The Global Change Institute established the Digital Health Research Network (DHRN) to help drive and coordinate the pioneering beginnings of a healthcare revolution.
GCI's Digital Health Research Network is comprised of more than 30 academics from six UQ faculties. A summary outlining members of the DHRN is available here, which includes researchers from:
- Faculty of Medicine
- Faculty of Science
- Business Economics and Law
- Engineering Architecture and Information Technology
- Health and Behavioural Sciences
- Humanities and Social Sciences
- UQ Centre for Policy Futures
- UQ Centre for Health Services Research
- UQ Diamantina Institute
External partners currently include:
- Stryker (Global medical technology group)
- Digital Health Cooperative Research Centre, Australian Digital Health Agency
- Queensland University of Technology (Prof. Ross Crawford)
- Clinical Excellence Queensland, Queensland Health
- Queensland Digital Academy, Metro North Hospital and Health Service
- Mater Health, Mater Misericordiae Ltd
- Health and Wellbeing Queensland, Queensland Government
- Ehealth Qld
A learning healthcare system to improve health outcomes
The Digital Health Research Network is committed to building a smart health care system, where all data entered during an episode of patient care is reused to improve the care of subsequent consumers.
The Digital Health Research Network's programs will harness the power of the government, industry, clinical and academic sectors to work together with healthcare consumers in driving data-driven healthcare improvement in real time.
Extensive consultation and discussion have been invested in determining the strategy for the DHRN. Our strategic plan offers to transform healthcare into a learning healthcare system enabled by technology to ensure we achieve four main objectives, also known as the Quadruple Aim (Q4) of healthcare.
- Better outcomes
- Improved clinician’s experience
- Improved patient experience
- Lower costs
The digital health programs and work packages created by the DHRN will align with the Three Horizons outlined by the 2026 Queensland Health Digital Transformation Strategy (PDF, 5.3 MB) and will focus on following a similar roadmap for other clinical settings not regulated by Queensland Health. The DHRN is improving the quality and efficiency of healthcare for Australians. A funding roadmap is also under development that promotes digital transformation across the health sector without losing sight of the network’s core objectives.
The Queensland Digital Health Grand Rounds is designed to bring clinicians and researchers together to hear up-and-coming innovations and applications of infomatics in healthcare.
The Digital Health Journal Club showcases the latest developments in digital healthcare through emerging international, national and local research. For general enquiries contact QDA@health.qld.gov.au.