HealthPathways: a detailed analysis of utilisation trends in the northern Sydney region.

This study developed a model for using Google Analytics (GA) data to evaluate utilisation trends of the Sydney North HealthPathways portal. HealthPathways GA data merged with dates of page localisations and promotional events from March 2017 through June 2018 were analysed to evaluate engagement and use of HealthPathways, integration into clinical practice and how HealthPathways is used. Descriptive statistics and plots were generated for each clinical stream and page for the number of users per month (total, new and return users), mean time on page, navigation and search terms. The number of page views, new users and return users increased during the study period. Each clinical stream had between 26 and 2508 views, with a median of 199 views (interquartile range 84-461 views). Individual pages had 0-12388 total views. Return users visited seven times on average. Most usage occurred between mid-morning and mid-afternoon. Diabetes was the most frequently viewed and searched clinical stream, followed by palliative care. These streams had the greatest number of promotional events. Increasing use of and interaction with HealthPathways suggests that it is a useful tool to support clinical practice among northern Sydney primary care providers.

Short message service broadcasting to improve the uptake of influenza vaccination in HIV-positive patients at a metropolitan sexual health clinic.

A trial of using Short Message Service (SMS) broadcasting at a metropolitan sexual health clinic in 2013 to promote the awareness and uptake of influenza vaccinations in HIV-positive patients resulted in a significant increase in the number of patients contacted (35% vs 81% P<0.0001) and vaccinated by the clinic (26% vs 47% P<0.001) compared with 2012, when individual telephone calls were made to patients. Additional benefits were less staff time used promoting influenza vaccination and the resultant lower staff cost. SMS broadcasting is an efficient and inexpensive method of communicating health messages to large numbers of patients.