Medication Safety & Efficiency Conference
Utilising digital health systems to improve medication safety and efficiency
2-3 April 2025
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The Medication Safety and Efficiency Conference will return to the Hilton Sydney on April 2-3, 2025.
For the past 14 years, this event has served as a vital platform for key decision-makers and executives to explore advancements in EMRs, digital health, medication safety, AI, eMeds, electronic prescribing, and eHealth records across Australia’s healthcare landscape.
As the digital health sector continues to evolve, keeping pace with the latest developments can be challenging. What innovations are essential, and which should we reconsider in our practices? What were the road-bumps to getting here? And how could we implement this into our site?
The upcoming agenda will delve into these topics, covering everything from prescribing dispensing practices in both private and public settings. Innovative solutions in community administration in primary, tertiary, and aged care. Participants can expect insights into specific medication errors and how healthcare organizations are leveraging various digital health systems to mitigate these issues. We’ll also explore the future trajectory of eMedication in EMRs within Australia.
Join pharmacists and prescribers, allied health professionals, government representatives and software providers from across the country as we address questions from a diverse and engaged audience. This is an opportunity to connect, network, and reflect on the dynamic landscape of our industry.
The Medication Safety & Efficiency Conference is a focused event where you can engage with peers and ensure your pressing questions are answered!
Topics to be addressed:
- De-mystifying Private Health: Achieving Levels of Safety & Balancing Resources
- Building Workforce Legacy: How can we Support Clinicans and Their Time?
- Innovative Solutions for Efficient Medication Management
- Beyond the Gap: Continuity of Medicines Management for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People
- Understanding New Errors, Incidents and Usability
- Debunking Transitions of Care: Where Should Our Focuses Lie?
- Nursing Workflows and Clinical Incidents
- Overcoming Connectivity and Managing Multiple Systems in Clinical Trial Pharmacy
- Digital Tools Used to Connect Hospital with Aged Care
- Case Studies
- Overcoming Medication Safety and Efficiency from Coast to Bush
- From Data to Wisdom: The Role of Nursing Informatics Leadership in Digital Meds Management
- Transferring Big EMRs to Other/Smaller Facilities: What Does This Mean for Rollouts?
- Improving Patient Identification to Reduce Errors
- Advancing Patient Safety and the Continuity of Care within Paediatrics
- Upgrading EMRs: Clinical Paint Points
- Adoption of AI into the Hospital
Connect Virtual Care
The event will take place as part of 2025’s CONNECT VIRTUAL CARE event. We’re bringing together three related, but distinct events which will be co-located at the Hilton Sydney. One pass gives access to all three conferences.
2025 Speakers
Dr Angus Ritchie
Clinical Director, SDPR Program, Sydney LHD, Clinical Associate Professor, Sydney Medical School, Senior Staff Specialist Nephrologist, Concord Repatriation General Hospital
Michael Bakker
Chief Pharmacy Information Officer, SA Pharmacy, SA Health
Professor Mel Baysari
Professor of Health Research, The University of Sydney
Melissa Fodera
Clinical Excellence Lead (Standard 4 Medication Safety), Austin Health
Geeta Sandhu
Deputy Director of Clinical Trials, St Vincent’s Sydney Public Hospital
Michael Quach
Chief Pharmacist, Illawarra Shoalhaven Local Health District
Kate Renzenbrink
Digital Health Adviser, Australian Digital Health Agency, Chief Clinical Informatics Officer, The Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital
Brett Chambers
Director of Virtual Pharmacy, Western NSW LHD
Jillian Campbell
Lead Subject Matter Expert, VMM ePrescribing Project, Virtual Care, Program Delivery, eHealth NSW
Kendra Hagedorn
Chief Nursing Information Officer, Ramsay Health Care
Mike Stephens
Director, Medicines Policy & Programs, NACCHO
Cheyne Sullivan
Aboriginal Health Lead, SA Pharmacy, SA Health
Alicia Simpson
Chief Pharmacy and Psychology Information Officer, Ramsay Health Care
Daisy Lu
Clinical Operations Manager and Clinical Pharmacist, Eucalyptus
Brenton Jones
Senior Digital Health Officer, Western NSW PHN
Jo Hunter
Assistant Deputy Director of Pharmacy – Informatics, Supply Chain, Monash Health
Michelle Dobie
Principal Advisor Digital Health Systems & Projects, Royal Flying Doctor Service (SA/NT)
Mohanrao Ramarao
Senior Pharmacist,
Alfred Health
Peter Guthery
Senior Pharmacist – Strategic Policy,
PSA
Daniel Trajkov
Chief Pharmacy Information Officer, South Eastern Sydney LHD, Senior Program Manager, UnitingCare Queensland
Michelle Nalder
Deputy Director of Pharmacy, Chief Pharmacy Information Officer, The Royal Melbourne Hospital
Rebecca Lewin
Chief Nursing Information Officer, The Royal Melbourne Hospital
Melinda Rose
Nursing Director – Safe Medication Practice, Statewide Hospital Pharmacy, Tasmania
Linda Shi
Senior Pharmacist, Alfred Health
Jess Hadley
Professional Officer and Local Advisory Committee member for NSW and the ACT, PDL
Rebecca Broom
Director of Pharmacy, Liverpool Hospital
Vicki Ibrahim
Director, Medicines Safety Program – National Program Delivery Branch – Policy, Programs and Engagement Division, ADHA
AGENDA
08:30
Registration & Morning Coffee
09:00
DAY ONE OPENING
09:00
Opening remarks from the Chair
Melissa Fodera, Clinical Excellence Lead (Standard 4 Medication Safety), Austin Health
09:10
OPENING KEYNOTE | Statewide Rollout of the Single Digital Patient Record
Dr Angus Ritchie, Clinical Director, SDPR Program, Sydney LHD, Clinical Associate Professor, Sydney Medical School, Senior Staff Specialist Nephrologist, Concord Repatriation General Hospital
09:40
De-mystifying Private Health: Achieving Levels of Safety & Balancing Resources
- EMR systems: what are our priorities and how did we get here?
- How is this EMR being used on a day-to-day basis?
- How does this impact workflows, prescribing and paper?
Alicia Simpson, Chief Pharmacy and Psychology Information Officer, Ramsay Health Care
10:10
KEYNOTE ADDRESS | Building Workforce Legacy: How can we Support Clinicans and Their Time?
- AI tools to assist with transitions of care
- Elements outside of eMeds in EMR
- Frameworks and guidelines
Michael Bakker, Chief Pharmacy Information Officer, SA Pharmacy, SA Health
10:40
Networking Break & Morning Tea
11:10
SESSION SPOTLIGHT | Innovative Solutions for Efficient Medication Management
11:30
CASE STUDY | Beyond the Gap: Continuity of Medicines Management for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People
Cheyne Sullivan, Aboriginal Health Lead, SA Pharmacy, SA Health
12:20
IN CONVERSATION | Understanding New Errors, Incidents and Usability
- What are some of the new dispensing and prescribing errors? How can we reduce them?
- Is there an appropriate maximum dispensing error rate? How (&why) this may differ among different scenarios
- How can we help the software’s catch up?
- Digital Governance
Daisy Lu, Clinical Operations Manager and Clinical Pharmacist, Eucalyptus
Peter Guthery, Senior Pharmacist – Strategic Policy, PSA
Michelle Nalder, Deputy Director of Pharmacy, Chief Pharmacy Information Officer, The Royal Melbourne Hospital
12:45
Networking Lunch
13:45
PANEL | Debunking Transitions of Care: Where Should Our Focuses Lie?
- In-hospital transfers and in the within the community: allied health, GP, aged care etc
- Discharge to another hospital
- How can we better improve the handover of medicine information
- Adoption of AI
Michael Bakker, Chief Pharmacy Information Officer, SA Pharmacy, SA Health
Kendra Hagedorn, Chief Nursing Information Officer, Ramsay Health Care
Daniel Trajkov, Chief Pharmacy Information Officer, South Eastern Sydney LHD, Senior Program Manager, UnitingCare Queensland
Mike Stephens, Director, Medicines Policy & Programs, NACCHO
14:30
CASE STUDY | Human Factors and Safe Systems
This session will explore a case in the US where a nurse selected the incorrect medicine from an automated dispensing cabinet resulting in a patient death. The event resulted in the nurse being criminally prosecuted. This session will focus on the importance of the systems we put in place with technology to reduce the risk of human error.
Melinda Rose, Nursing Director – Safe Medication Practice, Statewide Hospital Pharmacy, Tasmania
15:00
Afternoon Tea & Networking Break
15:30
An Update from Alfred Health: Two Case Studies
- Deploying the most extensive electronic management system for chemotherapy and cancer treatments in Australia
- Implementation of closed loop medication management of complex infusions in ICU
Linda Shi, Senior Pharmacist, Alfred Health
Mohanrao Ramarao, Senior Pharmacist, Alfred Health
16:00
PANEL | Digital Tools Used to Connect Hospital with Aged Care
- Improving medication administration whilst becoming more efficient?
- eMeds in EMR and Medication Reviews – where should we focus?
- Other digital tools we should consider
Jillian Campbell, Lead Subject Matter Expert, VMM ePrescribing Project, Virtual Care, Program Delivery, eHealth NSW
Brett Chambers, Director of Virtual Pharmacy, Western NSW LHD
Brenton Jones, Senior Digital Health Officer, Western NSW PHN
16:50
Closing remarks from the Chair
16:55
Networking Drinks
08:30
Registration & Morning Coffee
09:00
DAY TWO OPENING
09:00
Opening remarks from the Chair
Michael Quach, Chief Pharmacist, Illawarra Shoalhaven Local Health District
09:10
OPENING ADDRESS | Overcoming Medication Safety and Efficiency from Coast to Bush
- Implementing eHealth Records for improved medication safety
- Offline capabilities iPads or computers
- Governance and aligning with standards
Michelle Dobie, Principal Advisor Digital Health Systems & Projects, Royal Flying Doctor Service (SA/NT)
09:40
CASE STUDY | Overcoming Connectivity and Managing Multiple Systems in Clinical Trial Pharmacy
- What to do when there are 11+ systems in place + paper?
- How to get the pharmacist back into a clinical role
- Can we close the loop?
Geeta Sandhu, Deputy Director of Clinical Trials, St Vincent’s Sydney Public Hospital
10:10
From Data to Wisdom: The Role of Nursing Informatics Leadership in Digital Meds Management
Kate Renzenbrink, Digital Health Adviser, Australian Digital Health Agency, Chief Clinical Informatics Officer, The Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital
10:40
Networking Break & Morning Tea
11:10
PANEL | Transferring Big EMRs to Other/Smaller Facilities: What Does This Mean for Rollouts?
- New Infrastructure, Satellite Hospitals and Creating CX Roles
- Bespoke functionalities and considerations
- Engaging boards, and overcoming budgets
- Grappling with regional, rural and remote
- Challenges and road-bumps to how we achieved this
Jo Hunter, Assistant Deputy Director of Pharmacy – Informatics, Supply Chain, Monash Health
Moderated by Michael Quach, Chief Pharmacist, Illawarra Shoalhaven Local Health District
12:00
Improving Patient Identification to Reduce Errors
Patient identification errors are a growing proportion of incidents reported to Australia’s primary professional indemnity insurer. The causes of these errors are many, and the harm that may occur goes well beyond privacy breaches and inefficiency – they can lead to hospital admissions or death. This session will explore the human and system factors that is resulting in patient identification is increasingly represented in incident notifications, and the changes needed to reduce avoidable harm caused in primary care by inadequate or incorrect patient identification.
Peter Guthery, Senior Pharmacist – Strategic Policy, PSA
Jess Hadley, Professional Officers and is on the Local Advisory Committee for NSW and the ACT, PDL
12:30
Networking Lunch
13:30
Nursing Workflows and Clinical Incidents
Rebecca Lewin, Chief Nursing Information Officer, The Royal Melbourne Hospital
14:00
CASE STUDY | Governance and Risk Mitigation: Overcoming Clinical Pain Points When Paper is Still in Use
In this session, Rebecca will highlight some clinical pain points with the interface of digital systems and remaining paper-based processes in the prescribing, administration and dispensing of medicines. The session will explore the role of governance in overcoming the ongoing clinical risk posed by hybrid systems in health organisations.
Rebecca Broom, Director of Pharmacy, Liverpool Hospital
14:30
CLOSING KEYNOTE ADDRESS | eScripts: What’s Next?
- Conformance and standards for public & private hospitals
- Moving from community to aged care and other hospital settings
- New errors, and what does this really mean going forward?
Vicki Ibrahim, Director, Medicines Safety Program – National Program Delivery Branch – Policy, Programs and Engagement Division, ADHA
15:00
Closing remarks from the Chair
15:05
Conference Concludes & Afternoon Tea Served
Venue
Hilton Sydney
488 George St
Sydney NSW 2000
Event Code of Conduct
We want everyone who comes to our events to have a great experience. This code explains our expectations and rules, which includes general good practice behaviour, and how to report anything witnessed or experienced that goes against them. Read our Event Code of Conduct here.
ConnectMe + Streamly
ConnectMe • Networking enhanced
All of our events utilise a bespoke dynamic smartphone app, ConnectMe – which guarantees attendees a premium event experience. Logins are sent prior to the conference commencement allowing you to check who’s attending, schedule in meetings and catch ups, participate in live Q+A and interactive polls, and much more. ConnectMe ensures you never miss a beat prior, during and post event.
Streamly • On-Demand video vault
Streamly is a new video platform from Informa Connect – hosting hours of session recordings from our events and more. Select the Streamly add-on at the checkout to receive an annual subscription to exclusive On-Demand session recordings from all of our related healthcare events*. Login information will be sent post event.
* Note: In a minority of cases, speakers may request their sessions to be excluded from Streamly access.