Palaszczuk Government funds pioneering Sunshine Coast startup

The Palaszczuk Government has funded a pioneering Sunshine Coast startup to develop an innovative training tool which will improve healthcare professionals’ skills and patient outcomes.

Speaking from Noosa Hospital today (Wednesday), Innovation Minister Leeanne Enoch said Noosa startup Osler Technology received Advance Queensland Ignite Ideas funding to develop an online platform that tracks, improves and assesses clinical competencies of healthcare professionals.

“Many startups and businesses can struggle with developing early-stage ideas due to lack of funding support and dedicated development focus,” Ms Enoch said.

“The Palaszczuk Government is helping to ignite innovation across regions through Advance Queensland funding, and Osler Technology is just one example of a small business making great advances in developing a product for market readiness.”

Almost 120 businesses throughout Queensland have shared in close to $16.5 million funding from the Advance Queensland Ignite Ideas program, which is designed to help small businesses bring their innovative products to market.

Osler Technology co-founder Dr Todd Fraser said the $100,000 received in the first funding round of the Ignite Ideas program supported the development of a high quality training and governance tool that helps clinical staff learn and practice a range of key medical procedures.

“Learning skills, tasks and how to use equipment is exceptionally challenging in today’s healthcare environment. Our learning tool allows doctors and nurses to track their activity and the outcomes of their procedures, including complications and lessons learned,” Dr Fraser said.

“Clinical governance and patient safety issues are an increasing focus for hospital administrators, and unlike other high-stake industries such as aviation, most lack the systems to track, assess and improve clinical performance.

“The Advance Queensland funding is helping us roll out this critical platform nationwide to help individual health professionals perform at their best.”

Noosa Hospital Chief Executive Officer Jude Emmer said the platform – which has recently been introduced at the hospital – is enabling clinical staff to perform at optimal level through interactive knowledge resources and adaptive learning tailored to their capability and experience.

“Osler is enabling our workforce to learn, record, analyse and benchmark their clinical performance, which allows them to identify any limitations, as well as extend their scope of practice. This is translating into real results for us and ensuring patient welfare remains paramount during healthcare delivery,” Ms Emmer said.

“The opportunity to provide our staff with new and innovative tools that improve our service is a great example of how the local startup community is helping benefit regional communities.”

Osler Technology recently won a globally recognised Learning Technologies Award for their innovative use of technology in training.

Visit the Advance Queensland Ignite Ideas Fund webpage for more information on the program and its recipients.

ENDS

MEDIA: Ben Doyle 0437 859 987