The Victorian Health Incident Management System Minimum Dataset (VHIMS MDS) manual and data dictionary is now available for download via the VAHI Portal and the Department of Health website.
The new VHIMS MDS manual provides a comprehensive resource to support Victorian public and community health services to consistently report their incident data, including clinical, occupational health and safety (OH&S) incidents, near misses and hazards.
The manual aims to facilitate improved data quality of incident data to enable accurate analysis and reporting of incident data at a statewide level. It includes:
- the history of the VHIMS reforms and the VHIMS MDS
- the policy context for incident data transmission
- definitions of the VHIMS MDS data elements
- business rules to support the consistent entry of incident data across health services
- how to transmit VHIMS MDS data to the Department and
- contact details for support related to the VHIMS MDS.
The development of the VHIMS MDS manual involved an extensive consultation process through the VHIMS Analytics Working Group (VAWG). The group, comprised of representatives from Victorian public health services, the Department and Safer Care Victoria (SCV), provided invaluable feedback during this phase of the manual development.
As part of the VHIMS reforms, all Victorian public and community health services will be transmitting the VHIMS MDS directly to the Department by Application Programming Interface (API) or through the VAHI and Department developed VHIMS Central Solution platform.
This will enable VAHI, the Department, and SCV to develop standardised statewide reporting which will assist in guiding improvements in quality, safety, and patient experience in Victoria.
For more information about the VHIMS MDS manual please contact the VAHI Safety and Surveillance team at [email protected]