2023-05-28

MUSE and ECG Web Scheduled Outage (North, Central, Calgary, and South Zones) - Tuesday May 30, 2023

The Marquette Universal System for Electrocardiology (MUSE) receives patient tests from ECG carts, monitors, the Holter system, and the Exercise Stress system, and ECG Web is used to view and print data from MUSE. There will be a scheduled outage for MUSE and ECG Web on Tuesday, May 30, 2023, from 20:00 to 21:00, affecting North, Central, Calgary, and South Zone Connect Care users only.  

  • During the downtime, Cardiology (CAR) Orders (i.e., ECG, Holter) will not flow from Connect Care to MUSE but will be queued and transmitted to MUSE once the downtime is completed.
  • Netcare can be used to view historical ECGs during the outage.
  • Connect Care will be available during this outage.

If you require further information or assistance in preparing for the outage, please contact the IT Service Desk and Solution Centre (1-877-311-4300).

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2023-05-26

CMIO Prescriber Drop-in Centres - Updated Hours

With the third full week of Connect Care at the Launch 6 sites coming to a close, the Virtual Drop-in Centre (virtualhelp.connect-care.ca) will have slightly reduced hours, beginning Saturday (May 27). Though all Site Drop-in Centres will be closed for the long weekend as originally scheduled, they have been extended into next week and will reopen Monday (May 29). 

  • Virtual Drop-in Centre
    • May 26: Open 08:00–20:00
    • May 27–June 2: Daily support 10:00–18:00
  • Site Drop-in Centres (RGH, SHC, GNCH, MCH)
    • May 26: Open 10:00–18:00
    • May 27–28: CLOSED for weekend
    • NEW - May 29–June 2: Daily support 10:00–18:00
If you require support outside these hours, please call the IT Service Desk & Solution Centre at 1-877-311-4300 (#1 for Connect Care) or visit help.connect-care.ca. The Service Desk is able to provide high-level workflow and training support; urgent issues will be escalated to an on-call CMIO training team member.

For further information about the Site and Virtual Drop-in Centres, visit launchhelp.connect-care.ca. Also listed there are reminders about getting after-hours CMIO help for prescribers via Super Users and the CMIO leader on call.

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On Other Channels...

Thank you for continuing to check the Connect Care update blog for prescribers (ideally, subscribe to multiple channels; see instructions). Recent additions to this blog and its various channels:

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2023-05-25

Announcement: Calgary Zone Associate Chief Medical Information Officer, Dr. Karmon Helmle

Earlier this spring, Dr. Tom Rich, our ACMIO for the Calgary Zone, announced his retirement. We are pleased to announce that, as of May 24, 2023, Dr. Karmon Helmle has joined the CMIO team as the new ACMIO for the Calgary Zone. Dr. Rich will stay on until the end of June 2023 to support Dr. Helmle and the team during the transition.

Dr. Helmle is a Clinical Assistant Professor within the Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism at the University of Calgary and has been contributing to the informatics team in the Calgary Zone as a Medical Informatics Lead physician for over a decade. She has a Master of Science in Health Informatics from the University of Victoria, with a focus on the barriers and facilitators to electronic order set uptake and sustained use. Her research involves leveraging knowledge translation and quality improvement to develop, implement, optimize, and sustain complex practice change and informatics solutions within inpatient care settings.

Dr. Helmle values teamwork, and as she moves into the ACMIO role, she is looking forward to working collaboratively on the optimization work ahead, with an aim to improve the lives of both patients and healthcare providers.

Please join us in wishing Dr. Rich the best and in welcoming Dr. Helmle to our team!

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2023-05-24

All User Bulletin - Use of the Database Tab in Procedure (Lab) Orders

All-user-bulletins highlight stumbling blocks that all prescribers need to be aware of when using the Connect Care clinical information system.

Use of Database Tab in Procedure (Lab) Orders
When prescribers enter orders to an inpatient, emergency or outpatient patient chart, they typically search for an order of interest and then select from the returned options. Order search results can be viewed in one of four "tabs", including "Browse", "Preference List", "Facility List" and "Database":


  • Preference List (usually the default) displays orders matching the search term as well as a preference list for the prescriber's specialty or department.
  • Browse can be selected to explore personal favourites previously flagged for frequent use by the prescriber.
  • Facility List can be selected to reveal orders (e.g., medications, laboratory tests, imaging) that are available for use at the current facility.
  • Database tab appears if the Facility List has been selected and reveals all orderables available throughout Connect Care (Alberta), even if those orders are not available in the current facility.
Prescribers should not use the "Database" tab for procedure (e.g., lab or imaging test) orders. This tab is used, for example, by laboratory staff when sorting out how to fulfill unusual requests. Some orders exposed through the Database tab may not be intended for prescribers or may not be actionable where the prescriber desires. The Database tab is appropriate for prescriber use when seeking medications that are not on the AHS formulary.
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2023-05-23

Community Providers - Important Information for Delivery of Lab Results

Providers in the community who order lab tests or submit specimens for testing need to take action to ensure they receive these results. If requisitions are incomplete, patients could receive results before their providers. 

Every requisition given to a patient or sent with a specimen (including microbiology and anatomic pathology) needs to contain the authorizing provider’s full name, the clinic name, address, and submitter ID, plus the provider ID for the authorizing provider. 

For more information see: 

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2023-05-12

On Other Channels...

Thank you for continuing to check the Connect Care update blog for prescribers (ideally, subscribe to multiple channels; see instructions). Recent additions to this blog and its various channels:

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Connect Care Communication Norms

Communication happens when one person or group relays information to another person or group, whereas documentation happens when information is managed to serve as a record.

Connect Care supports a wide range of communication tools, including voice, facsimile, commenting and secure messaging. Clinicians may wonder which tool to use for different communication needs, and how to use each to advantage.

Communication Norms are about what Connect Care users expect of one another for effective, efficient, safe and respectful information sharing within and between groups. Healthcare teams are encouraged to develop their own "communication compacts", clarifying how they will use different tools for different purposes. 

For example:
  • Chart "Sticky Note to Most Responsible Provider" can function like a "Doctor's To-Do clipboard" listing things to take care of on rounds. 
  • Secure messaging can be used for non-urgent reminders, such as the place and time of an upcoming team conference, that can be attended to within the next half-day (or so).
Urgent clinical communications should always be person-to-person, not relying on tools like sticky notes, secure messaging or In Basket.
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2023-05-11

Tickets, Tickets, Tickets!

Connect Care Launch 6 has gone well, credit to the clinicians, leaders, trainers, Super Users and many others who have worked so hard to prepare.

Launch success is less about absence of problems and more about rapid attention to problems. In this, Launch 6 is doing extraordinarily well. Most issues are resolved quickly. Many stimulate improvements that benefit entire Connect Care community.

What's left are a few tricky problems. These are context-dependent. When a specific print fails, for example, the fault can be device-specific or, sometimes, an intersect of device, department, function and location.

Cleaning up tricky problems is a group effort. Our technical specialists need users to:

  • Not ignore problems, even those that seem minor. Report by one means or another (if too busy to submit a helpdesk ticket, jot down the particulars in a secure message or In Basket note to a Super User).
    • Reported problems get "ticketed", which means that they are tracked and resolved as fast as possible. 
  • When reporting printer problems, always include any relevant order number.
For more information:
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2023-05-10

Just-in-Time Learning!

Our new Connect Care Launch 6 prescribers are on the steeper part of their learning curve. Help is available!

A powerful way to reinforce basic training, while busy with clinical work, is to consider one or two high-impact tips per day. To that end, we regularly post "Tippies" on the Connect Care Tips channel (tips.connect-care.ca), which contain some simple but impactful suggestions as well as some more advanced tips. 

The easiest way to follow these postings is to subscribe to the Tips blog channel. Also consider subscribing to both the FAQ (questions.connect-care.ca) and the Support (support.connect-care.ca) channels. We answer common questions on the former and provide important news about fixes and enhancements on the latter. 

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2023-05-09

All User Bulletin - User Profile Error on Shared Workstation

All-user-bulletins highlight stumbling blocks that all prescribers need to be aware of when using the Connect Care clinical information system.

User Profile Error on Shared Workstation
For highly shared workstations, there is a possibility that device performance will degrade due to the volume of user profiles existing on the device, as all user information is stored locally (including information for those users who may not have used the workstation for a while). In some cases, this issue may also be coupled with the device’s hard drive being nearly full. 
In such a situation, a user may get an error message when trying to log on to the workstation, noting that the user’s profile cannot be loaded. If you get this error message, call IT Service Desk or log the incident ticket to mention the issue above (Unit Clerks can do this), ensuring the Service Desk is provided with the barcode and physical location of the affected device. IT will then clean up the user profiles and data on the workstation. 
IT has put in new controls to avoid user data build-up, and will confirm if these controls successfully fix the situation after Connect Care Launch 6.
For more information, see the FAQ:
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Improving Issue Reports and Help Desk Interactions

Problem reports (help.connect-care.ca "tickets") have been well within expectations so far with Connect Care Launch 6. Of course, more tickets are expected as clinical volumes ramp up with more outpatient activity. The good news is that tickets are resolved quickly, with critical tickets resolved within minutes to hours.

Helpdesk tickets route most efficiently when the user provides clear information at the right level of detail. See our tips for impactful issue reports:

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2023-05-08

Prescriber Ordering Norms - Are Verbal Orders Allowed?

Computerized Provider Order Entry (CPOE) refers to the process of a medical prescriber entering orders electronically via a digital health record. 

CPOE involves much more than simply transcribing an order. The ordering process activates decision supports, patient safety protections and other aids to quality improvement. With a little practice, the CPOE process can also be much faster than written or verbal equivalents, as favourites, panels, personalizations and other automations come into play. In addition, Connect Care mobile apps make order entry immediately accessible from certain mobile devices, any time, anywhere.  

It is a Minimum Use expectation for all prescribers that all tests, interventions and medications that can be ordered in Connect Care are ordered in Connect Care. Compliance is tracked in prescriber performance metrics. 

Very few exceptions to CPOE are acceptable, as summarized in Connect Care Ordering Norms. A brief slide deck summarizes guidelines for telephone and verbal orders that comply with AHS and Covenant Health policies and procedures; it applies to operational (e.g., nursing and allied health professionals) and prescribing (e.g., physicians, nurse practitioners) users of Connect Care, and provides practical examples and norms based on time of day. A work package also provides further details for interdisciplinary teams that may have additional concerns, questions or challenges regarding CPOE.

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2023-05-06

Launch 6: We are GO!

All Connect Care systems activated on time at 05:00! 

Today, Connect Care welcomes 208 sites from across the province into the family, including seven Covenant Health locations. The first few days will be intense, but with lots of help at hand we are confident that progress will be fast. 

Prescribers, please make use of the drop-in centres and other launch supports (launchhelp.connect-care.ca). Watch this channel for any updates, as well as the Support channel for information on "hot topic" common issues that have been flagged for Launch 6 prescribers.

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2023-05-05

Countdown Checklist L6: Drop In

Continuing a list of essential actions for Connect Care Launch 6 prescribers readying for launch May 6, 2023...
  • Drop In
This ends our countdown checklist, with conversion of old to new charts well underway today and tomorrow. We hope all goes well Saturday at 05:00 when the new charts become the official record of care!

Of course that's only the start. We'll have a working system but we'll need to grow it, and grow with it, to fulfill its potential.
Informatics specialists, Super Users and physician informatics leads are eager to help. Reach out.
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On Other Channels...

Thank you for continuing to check the Connect Care update blog for prescribers (ideally, subscribe to multiple channels; see instructions). Recent additions to this blog and its various channels:

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Countdown Checklist L6, T-minus 0: Share and Learn

Continuing a list of essential actions for Connect Care Launch 6 prescribers readying for launch May 6, 2023...
  • Share and Learn
We are down to the final few hours. Any preparations that could be, have been. Now we must turn to one another in a spirit of collaboration.

Super Users are widely distributed. Look for yellow and orange lanyards (prescriber supports; pink caps in the OR). Don't struggle. Ask for help.
Super Users use social media to rapidly share learnings so they can be widely applied... ask them for help. They can also way-find when they are unable to provide immediate help themselves.
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2023-05-04

Countdown Checklist L6, T-minus 1: You've Got This!

Continuing a list of essential actions for Connect Care Launch 6 prescribers readying for launch May 6, 2023...
  • You've Got This -- And We've Got Your Back
Physicians, nurse practitioners and other prescribers have dedicated time and energy to preparing for Connect Care Launch 6. You've got this! 
  • There are approximately 3,600 CMIO end users across the Calgary, Central, and Edmonton Zones who are part of Launch 6: physicians, nurse practitioners, clinical assistants, physician assistants, dentists, residents, medical learners, and nurse practitioner students.
  • 255 CMIO Super Users are deployed across the Calgary, Central, and Edmonton Zones, for at-the-elbow support totalling over 22,260 hours of scheduled availability so far (this is expected to increase in the coming weeks). 
  • 1,080 hours of on-site drop-in support and 544 hours of virtual drop-in support are scheduled for prescribers during the pre- and post-launch period so far.
Watch for Connect Care posters in Launch 6 sites, prescriber updates, and the launch support pages in the Manual.
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2023-05-03

Connect Care Launch 1-6 Sites: WellSky (Transfusion System) Scheduled Outage - May 5-6, 2023

To prepare for Launch 6 of Connect Care, there will be a 10-hour downtime of the WellSky Transfusion Medicine System from Friday May 5 at 19:00 until Saturday May 6 at 05:00. Sites that are already live on WellSky will also require this downtime; the downtime will occur at all sites fully live on Connect Care plus all Connect Care Launch 6 sites, including sites currently in a Transfusion Medicine interim state. 

  • Orders for transfusion medicine testing or blood components/plasma protein products will be affected, at all Connect Care Launch 1-6 sites. 
  • This outage affects only the transfusion functions for Connect Care; Connect Care will be available during the outage. 
  • Please limit non-essential transfusion activity in Epic and follow blood product downtime procedures as needed 
See the linked memos for additional details on the downtime and quick reference of correct transfusion medicine process. 
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Countdown Checklist L6, T-minus 2: Catch Up Dictations

Continuing a list of essential actions for Connect Care Launch 6 prescribers readying for launch May 6, 2023...
  • Dictate any pre-launch admission or transfer notes
Launch 6 inpatient facilities are supported for dictation of admission histories, transfer notes, consultation reports and discharge summaries. This is done through the provincial eScription service, with products appearing in the Netcare electronic health record. These dictations will also be available to refer to in Connect Care when it launches.

Succinct initial progress notes become possible in Connect Care if they can refer to an existing digital admission or transfer record and simply note any changes since. The same applies for Consults performed in the coming week for patients expected to still be in-hospital post-launch.
  • Take advantage of eScription to facilitate easier Connect Care cutover this weekend!
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2023-05-02

All User Bulletin - Update Dragon Medical One Mobile App

All-user-bulletins highlight stumbling blocks that all prescribers need to be aware of when using the Connect Care clinical information system.

Dragon Medical One - PMM Upgrade
Dragon Medical One (mobile dictation, DMO) users may be experiencing extreme slowness when using the PowerMic Mobile (PMM) app with an iOS device. While AHS users have not yet reported any problems, the vendor has recommended that all iOS users update their PMM app to the most current version to avoid this issue.
To update the PMM app, rather than using the app store, go to your device's list of apps ("Catalog"), click on the "Installed" button beside PMM, and confirm installation.
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Countdown Checklist L6, T-minus 3: Buddy Up, Team Up

Continuing a list of essential actions for Connect Care Launch 6 prescribers readying for launch May 6, 2023...
  • Buddy-Up and Team-Up
Every clinical group will have members who like, and others who dislike, information management. This is a good time to recognize this reality and identify buddies for providers who may struggle.

There are valuable human resources embedded in Launch 6 sites and others flowing in from Zone sites already on Connect Care. Pre-socialize your Super Users, Medical Informatics Leads, Area Trainers and other specialty, ward or clinic informaticians. Create and share a launch contact list that fits your local group needs. Prescriber launch supports (launchhelp.connect-care.ca) link to a Super User schedule - good contacts to start with.

This is also a good time to consider how clinical information system adoption work can be divided and shared. Some personalization tasks, for example, can dramatically improve the user experience but take time to set up. Many can be initiated by a team member who understands the preferences of colleagues then shared for adoption by a larger group. Examples of allocatable personalization tasks are listed in the Connect Care Manual.

Consider devoting group, division, or other business meetings to identifying, and sharing, remaining team readiness tasks.
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2023-05-01

Countdown Checklist L6, T-minus 4: Unburden as Possible

Continuing a list of essential actions for Connect Care Launch 6 prescribers readying for launch May 6, 2023...
  • Unburden where and when Possible
Many clinical services have limited abilities to control patient numbers or clinical workloads. However, each Launch 6 zone is implementing strategies to ease launch pressures in ways that befit their units and capabilities. In addition, clinicians can help by:
  • Identifying and flagging complex continuing patients who may need more cutover attention during the pre-launch week (see previous posts on pre-launch cutover tasks here and here). 
  • Printing patient lists the evening before launch to ease populating provider care team lists on launch day.
  • Printing Sunrise Clinical Manager (SCM) handover or draft discharge summary notes where available.
  • Protecting time before launch to confirm access to the Connect Care production environment for re-familiarization with training activities and high-value personalizations.
See our Byte about workload planning for more information.
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2023-04-30

Countdown Checklist L6, T-minus 5: Find Drop-In Centres

Continuing a list of essential actions for Connect Care Launch 6 prescribers readying for launch May 6, 2023...
  • Take advantage of the Prescriber Drop-in Centres
Scheduled in-person drop-in help sessions are available at RGH and SHC for Calgary Zone and GNCH and MCH for Edmonton Zone, just before and for weeks post-launch. These are good for troubleshooting issues related to mobility, personal device, dictation, personalization and workflows, as well as login, role and access problems.

Schedules for the drop-in centres (including dates, times, and rooms) can be found in the Connect Care Manual. Note that locations and times can change. Late-breaking information about the drop-in centres will be posted in the Connect Care Manual (launchhelp.connect-care.ca).
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2023-04-29

Countdown Checklist L6, T-minus 6: Follow the Tippies

Continuing a list of essential actions for Connect Care Launch 6 prescribers readying for launch May 6, 2023...
  • Follow Connect Care Tippies
With most Launch 6 prescribers having full Connect Care production access, this is prime time for setting up starter personalizations that can streamline Connect Care workflows at launch. This is also a great time to collect simple best practices that colleagues have found most useful. These "Tippy" peer-to-peer tips can be considered within a moment, with many able to speed things up for most users.

Tippies are published on our "Tips" channel (button above or tips.connect-care.ca) and are re-released approximately twice a week in the peri-launch period. Please consider subscribing to the Tips channel.

The entire Tippies collection can be viewed via tippies.connect-care.ca or tippy.connect-care.ca (worth bookmarking).
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2023-04-28

On Other Channels...

Thank you for continuing to check the Connect Care update blog for prescribers (ideally, subscribe to multiple channels; see instructions). Recent additions to this blog and its various channels:

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Countdown Checklist L6, T-minus 7: Support Cutover Activities

Continuing a list of essential actions for Connect Care Launch 6 prescribers readying for launch May 6, 2023...
  • Support Cutover Activities
Key for attending physicians, nurse practitioners and trainees anticipating Launch 6 inpatient and/or outpatient launch is work to make sure that essential information is ready for loading or linking into the Connect Care clinical information system before launch... and that legacy systems are tidied up so that they can be retired. Related preparations include: 
  • General inpatient: 
    • For non-Sunrise Clinical Manager (SCM) sites, make sure that all dictations are complete and signed; use dictation (eScription) for all admissions, transfers and consults between now and launch, if possible, so that transition notes at launch can refer to recent documentation in Netcare. 
    • For SCM sites, complete documentation using existing systems (templates, eScription); SCM production will be accessible post-cutover since not all SCM documentation is copied to Netcare.
  • Surgical inpatient: Make sure that work is underway to enter upcoming surgical cases into Connect Care.
  • Outpatient: Make sure that all clinic documentation is complete, signed and routed, while also taking care to close any charts still open in legacy systems.
  • Complex patients: Consider pre-launch problem list documentation to support easy transition note generation at launch. Please reach out to your Cutover Team at cc.cutover@ahs.ca for the timing of this activity.
  • Long-term care (LTC):
    • April 30–May 5 - Review orders entered into Connect Care for LTC residents to ensure accuracy of medication and non-medication orders. 
    • LTC clinical teams may still be entering care plan information and other clinical documentation, but all orders will be entered as of April 28.
Key resources:
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2023-04-27

Home Care Referral and Request Workflows Standardized and Simplified

Prescribers have previously reported some struggles with home care referral workflows in Connect Care. There were different instructions for a hard to remember process in inpatient and outpatient settings.

An integrated "Home Care Orders" order set is introduced April 27, 2023 to simplify processes for prescribers. The same workflow is used in emergency, inpatient and outpatient contexts.

The new ordering tool consolidates all activities in one place, while offering prescribers default instruction text for the most common home care service requests. Streamlined workflows are described in the Clinician Manual and linked tip sheets:

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Countdown Checklist L6, T-minus 8: Complete Login Lab

Continuing a list of essential actions for Connect Care Launch 6 prescribers readying for launch May 6, 2023...
  • Complete CMIO Login Lab
It is essential that all Launch 6 prescribers confirm access to the AHS Network (insite.ahs.ca), to the Unified Access Portal (myapps.ahs.ca) and to Production (PRD) Connect Care.

In addition, all prescribers are required to complete a "CMIO Login Lab" found within Connect Care Hyperspace. This checks that the right tools are assigned to the user in the right way. 

Step-by-step instructions are provided in a tip:
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2023-04-26

Countdown Checklist L6, T-minus 9: Check In Basket

Continuing a list of essential actions for Connect Care Launch 6 prescribers readying for launch May 6, 2023...
  • Check In Basket
Launch 6 prescribers who have completed basic training and the associated proficiency assessment gain access to the Connect Care production environment (PRD), where they can complete personalizations and otherwise get ready for launch. As soon as a prescriber gains access to PRD, they also have an active "In Basket", with immediate implications to the routing of patient test results and communication.

Some prescribers participate in or are affected by early cutover and conversion activities; they can line up orders that need to be ready in the system at launch. There may be communications that relate to setting up surgical cases or outpatient encounters that will occur post-launch. In addition, once a prescriber's account is activated in PRD, new test results will start to automatically route to the prescriber's In Basket, and other Connect Care users can send messages to the prescriber via In Basket.

More information on managing results and reports is available in the Connect Care Manual. A Results Management Toolkit has been prepared (and is continually enhanced) to help prescribers hone effective and efficient results management habits. Prescribers with "mixed-context" practices need to be aware of situations where results might route to both their Connect Care and external EMR systems.

For these and other reasons, it is best to start regular In Basket checks now. A useful In Basket personalization sends alerts to an email of one's choice when there is new In Basket content.
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