The Royal Children’s Hospital has won a top Victorian public healthcare award for developing an educational DVD helping clinicians improve screening for developmental dysplasia of the hip (DDH) in children.

Minister for Health David Davis last night presented the service with a Better Health Award for Excellence in Enhanced Quality Healthcare through E-health and Communications Technology at the 2011 Victorian Public Healthcare Awards in Melbourne.

This award recognises services that demonstrate excellence and innovation in the use of e-health resulting in better management and patient outcomes.

“The DDH DVD provides an accessible education tool to clinicians that can increase their knowledge, confidence and skills in the screening of DDH, a condition where an infant’s hip fails to develop appropriately,” Mr Davis said.

“Early referral to a specialist paediatric orthopaedic service is critical, as late diagnosis requires complex surgical correction and can lead to future problems in adult life such as osteoarthritis.

“This tool has successfully increased the number of attendances for DDH at the RCH outpatients clinic by 54 per cent since its launch, improving the rate of early recognition in DDH and reducing unnecessary hospital admissions.

“There has been strong demand for this training resource nationally and it has been incorporated into several hospital clinical guidelines and post-graduate teaching.

“It has been recognised internationally and was recommended as an educational tool in a British Medical Journal article. The DVD has been requested from countries such as Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States of America,” Mr Davis said.