Page 233 - HA Convention 2016 [Full Version]

Service Enhancement Presentations HOSPITAL AUTHORITY CONVENTION 2016

F8.5 Young HA Investigators Presentations 14:30 Room 421

Make Chatting Secure with HA Chat — Phase One Pilot Trial
Tan J 1, Chan CKS 1, Cheung CKR 2, Choy YMF 2, Pun CMJ 2, Tsang KYS 1, Cheung NT 1
1Health Informatics Department, 2Information Technology Department, Information Technology and Health Informatics Division,

Hospital Authority Head Office, Hong Kong

Introduction

It is an era of mobility, especially in Hong Kong. Statistics indicate that every Hong Kong citizen owns almost two
smartphones or tablets, while 96% of people in Hong Kong use their smartphone to go online every day. It will not surprise
anyone with the fact that some frontline colleagues are using public commercial app to communicate with each other,
even for sending sensitive work-related information. The Information Technology and Health Informatics (IT&HI) Division
procured an instant messaging software from the market and targeted to provide HA staff members a convenient yet secure
communication tool for day-to-day work purpose.

Objectives

The EIM software, namely HA Chat, aimed to provide HA with an in-house secure communication tool which is accessible
anywhere anytime, with huge potential to connect to other HA IT systems in the future. This phase one pilot trial aims to
examine the technicality and to validate the clinical applicability of the tool for HA staff in different clinical settings and
scenarios.

Methodology

The HA IT&HI Division started market research on the right software and conducted comprehensive technical evaluations
from the beginning of 2015. 1,000 user licenses were acquired in Phase-one for a small-scale pilot trial. If the technicality
and applicability is proven, HA IT&HI will progress to Phase-two for corporate-wide rollout in the future. In that connection,
formal procurement process for Phase-one was performed in the fourth quarter of 2015 while the system was ready to use
in December 2015 after system setup. 800 (out of 1,000) licenses were reserved for cluster users on a first-come-first-served
basis, while priority was given to clinical teams in order to collect genuine feedbacks on clinical applicability. The HA Chat
project team had attended many management and end-user meetings, from top-level to frontline, to share and promulgate
the tool to prospective users. Real-time feedback and post-pilot user survey would be arranged for collection of user
opinions.

Results Wednesday, 4 May

HA Chat provided a convenient yet secure mean of communication to HA staff members. Users can login with HA user
ID, access anywhere in Hong Kong or overseas with Internet (Wifi) or mobile (3G/4G) network, on any smart-devices
(smartphone, tablet, computer). All the messages are encrypted and kept in computer servers inside HA premises. Risk of
information leakage has been reduced to minimum level. Interests came from all clusters and the HA Chat had been rolled
out to five clusters as at April 2016. With official support and effective management, the HA Chat will set out a new horizon of
application of advanced technology for better healthcare outcome. The evaluation of effectiveness and efficacy is the target
of next phase and will become a topic of future papers.

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