Funders:
  • Medical Research Future Fund
Collaborators:
  • Australian Government Department of Health, Disability and Ageing
  • University of Sydney
  • Heart Foundation
     
Background:

This project, CVD Check NT: Understanding and addressing cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk in a diabetes epidemic, will integrate the Aus CVD Risk calculator (cvdcheck.org.au) into TKC and build an automated clinical decision support system focused on First Nations people with diabetes. CVD Check NT seeks to better integrate CVD risk scores by building (I) automated clinical decision support that will reduce the need for clinicians to manually enter the risk factor information and (II) educational tools that will support culturally appropriate education and self-efficacy.

Objectives:

The CVD Check NT project aims to enhance the uptake of CVD risk assessments through the auto-generation of CVD risk scores and treatment plans. 

Methodology:

Component 1 will initially focus on ensuring that the script for the risk calculator, which will be embedded in TKC, mirrors the AusCVD risk calculator script on the web, as a different programming language will be used in TKC. Technical specifications provided by Australian Heart Foundation (AHF) will be followed and, using the same input variables for each calculator, the outputs from both scripts will be compared. 

Component 2 will focus on the development of treatment plans generated from risk scores and tailored to the individual. Algorithms in TKC will utilise AusCVD risk score, current and past medications, procedures, treatments, and recent hospital presentations to generate individualised treatment plans. 

Both stages will also involve a mixed methods evaluation, which will include quantitative data and a comparative analysis of the generated AusCVD risk score with the current Framingham risk score generated in TKC. This high-level analysis intends to understand whether there are significant differences between the two scores for the same patient, and what variables maybe contributing to the discrepancies. Qualitative analysis will explore user perspectives around the barriers and facilitators to uptake of clinical decision support and risk scores. 

Component 3 will progress the development of culturally appropriate consumer education tools for First Nations people. Informed by a First Nations consumer reference groups established for this project, under the guidance of First Nations Investigator Neil Wiltshire, and supported by a First Nations Consumer Engagement Officer, we will develop customisable patient educational material. This material can be tailored to the patient’s CVD risk score and proposed management plans. 

Component 4 will evaluate the overall impact of the integration of the Aus CVD Risk calculator into TKC to improve clinical care for First Nations patients in the NT, particularly for those with diabetes. An iterative evaluation will be undertaken over 18 months (months 6 to 24) to facilitate an agile approach to implementation and provide robust data for future activity.

Project outcomes:

The integration of the Aus CVD Risk calculator into TKC, along with the implementation of various key activities, including customised and individualised patient education material, is expected to achieve several significant outcomes. These include improved CVD risk identification, increased appropriate treatment uptake, a positive impact on patient care and patient-clinician interactions, healthcare provider efficiencies, and cost benefits for the individual and the overall healthcare system. 

Key staff:

 

Project dates:
January 2025 – December 2026