Alex Mullins

Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences
School of Public Health and Preventative Medicine

The Utility of My Health Record in Emergency Departments

What are you researching?

To support optimal utility of My Health Record in the emergency department, my thesis focused on generating a greater understanding of if/how My Health Record has been adopted and is used in the emergency department.

How is your research creating real-world impact?

To generate solutions that can be applied to improve My Health Record and its utility, this thesis was co-designed between academics at Monash University and healthcare management and senior clinicians at Cabrini Health, as part of the Graduate Research Industry Partnership (GRIP) PhD program. This GRIP program is one way that Australian industry and universities are working together to solve real-world problems and ensure new knowledge is applied and impactful. A vital collaboration, given globally up to $1347 billion AUD is reportedly wasted annually due to research findings failing to be translated into practice, programs, or policy efficiently, or at all (Morris, Wooding, & Grant, 2011).

What do you hope will come of your research? 

The findings of my research demonstrate how underutilised the My Health Record system is by physicians and nurses in the emergency department. Therefore, I’d like my research to stimulate greater training and education for on-the-ground clinicians, lead to continuous improvements across data quality—not just quantity—across the healthcare system, and influence policy and clinical guidelines. Ultimately, my research can support meaningful use of My Health Record by consumers and clinicians and improve healthcare outcomes for patients.

Alex's research was featured in The Guardian. She was awarded the Quality Improvement Grant at Cabrini Health in 2020, and has co-authored numerous published papers throughout her candidature.