Connect Care Bytes Blog

2021-04-13

Connect Care Communication Norms

Connect Care seeks to improve continuity of information, relationship and intent. Relational continuity is supported by good communication.

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 capabilities. 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. The Norms are still at an early stage, under consideration by the Connect Care Council. Feedback is welcomed.

2021-04-12

Improving Issue Reports and Help Desk Interactions

Problem reports (help.connect-care.ca "tickets") have been well within expectations so far with the Wave 3 launch. 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:

Manual: Reporting Issues and Suggestions

2021-04-11

Problem Power - A new Tips series

Problem List management can seem daunting to new (and established!) clinicians. With a little effort, however, problem management can dramatically improve the Connect Care user experience, while significantly reducing personal and shared information burdens.

In tandem with the Wave 3 launch, a new Connect Care tips series will post daily, emphasizing little things that can have a big impact on the health record.

Just-in-Time Learning!

Our new Wave 3 Connect Care 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 are posting daily "tippies" (tippy.connect-care.ca) on the Connect Care Tips channel (tips.connect-care.ca), starting with the simplest but most impactful suggestions. We'll progress to more advanced tips with time.

The easiest way to follow these postings is to subscribe to the blog channel. A new emailed tip will arrive daily.

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.

2021-04-10

All User Bulletin - Blood Product Information Services Restored

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

Blood Product Ordering Interface Restored

WellSky transfusion information systems and interfaces are restored to normal functions. Downtime procedures for blood product ordering are no longer required.

Manual: Blood Product Administration

Prescriber Drop-In Centre Moving as of Sunday, April 11

As of Sunday morning, April 11, the in-person Drop-In Centre at the Grande Prairie Queen Elizabeth II Hospital is being moved to a more convenient location: room 2509-2510 (previously called 2-2 North), located just outside the physicians' lounge.

The Drop-In Centre will remain in this new location for the remainder of the scheduled launch support, but check the Launch Supports page for any further updates.

Wave 3: We are GO!

All Connect Care systems activated on time at 05:00! Interfaces to the WellSky blood product information system are expected to fully activate soon.

Today Connect Care welcomes many North Zone colleagues including those working in Peace Country Health Region, Fort Vermilion, High Level, La Crete and the many participating facilities and clinics. The first few days will be intense, but with lots of help at hand we are confident that progress will be fast. Cutover activities have been performed extraordinarily well... a great start.

Physicians, please make use of the drop-in centre and other launch supports (launchhelp.connect-care.ca).

A welcome from our CEO:

Video: Virtual Launch Event

All User Bulletin - Blood Product Ordering

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

Downtime Procedures for Blood Product Ordering

There was a scheduled outage for the WellSky Transfusion System as part of the Connect Care Wave 3 launch preparations earlier this morning (April 10, 2021). The transfusion information system is not yet restored.

This outage affects only the transfusion functions for Connect Care. The main impact for prescribers is that requests for blood products require paper process. Blood product downtime procedures should continued to be followed until the problem is resolved:

2021-04-09

On Other Channels...

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

COVID and Connect Care

COVID-19 and Connect Care - New Resources for Prescribers

Blogs

Tips

Tippy Series

Informatics

Key Resource for Wave 3 Launch Supporters

Questions

Bridges

Connect Care Identifiers on Lab Requisitions - Important information for community providers

Manual

COVID-19 - Connect Care Resources
See What's New (many updates and additions)

Countdown Checklist W3 L-00: Drop In

Continuing a list of essential actions for Wave 3 physicians readying for Connect Care Launch April 10, 2021...

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.

The Grande Prairie Site Drop-in Centre schedule is updated at launchhelp.connect-care.ca.
Virtual Drop-in Centre help is available via virtualhelp.connect-care.ca.
HelpDesk is always open via help.connect-care.ca.

Informatics specialists, Super Users and physician informatics leads are eager to help. Reach out.

2021-04-08

Wave 3 Launch Support: Virtual Health Update

AHS Virtual Health Services has published a newsletter with important information for Connect Care Wave 3 clinicians and staff:

Enhancements to Isolation Discontinuation Orders for COVID-19

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

Discontinuation of Isolation Orders

Patients can be placed on contact and/or droplet and/or airborne precautions by means of an "Initiate Isolation" order. A different order is required to remove isolation precautions already in place.

Starting April 9, 2021, “Discontinue Isolation” orders have some new properties that reflect COVID-19 policies. These illustrate how just-in-time instruction, guidance and documentation can be supported with an integrated workflow.

The discontinue isolation order is unchanged for most exposures. If the order relates to COVID-19 risks, exposure or disease, then the order must be supplemented with documentation of compliance with COVID-19 protocols. This is accomplished with a linked note, automatically created from within the discontinue isolation order:

Countdown Checklist W3 L-01: Share and Learn

Continuing a list of essential actions for Wave 3 physicians readying for Connect Care Launch April 10, 2021...

Share and Learn

We are down to the final few days. 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.

Late breaking tips and gap-fillers will be added to the Connect Care Manual.
The Connect Care Prescriber Updates will focus on pointers to new material, key developments, tips, tricks and FAQs. Use the buttons at the top, especially Tips, FAQ and Support.
Ask a Super User or call the IT Service Desk with urgent needs: 1-877-311-4300.
Request non-urgent (not addressed by peers and Super Users) needs, ideas and suggestions at help.connect-care.ca.
For Grande Prairie prescribers, use the Site Drop-in Centre (see launchhelp.connect-care.ca).
Use the 24/7 Virtual Drop-in Centre (virtualhelp.connect-care.ca).

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.

Connect Care WellSky (Transfusion System) Scheduled Outage - Friday April 9, 2021, 23:00-03:30 Saturday April 10, 2021

Components in the Connect Care clinical information system need periodic maintenance. There will be a scheduled outage for the WellSky Transfusion System (in preparation for Connect Care Wave 3) starting at 23:00 Friday April 9, 2021, with services resuming by 03:30 Saturday morning.

This outage affects only the transfusion functions for Connect Care. Blood product downtime procedures should be followed:

2021-04-07

Countdown Checklist W3 L-02: You've Got This!

Continuing a list of essential actions for Wave 3 physicians readying for Connect Care Launch April 10, 2021...

You've Got This -- And We've Got Your Back

Physicians, nurse practitioners and other prescribers have dedicated time and energy to preparing for the Wave 3 launch of Connect Care. You've got this!

There are approximately 279 CMIO end users that are part of Wave 3: physicians, nurse practitioners, clinical assistants, physician assistants, dentists, residents, medical learners, and nurse practitioner students.
68 CMIO Super Users are deployed for at-the-elbow support totalling over 4,500 hours of scheduled availability.
152 hours of on-site drop-in in Grande Prairie and over 627 hours of virtual drop-in support is provided for prescribers during the pre- and post-launch period.

Watch for Connect Care posters in Wave 3 sites, prescriber updates, and the launch support pages in the Manual.

Poster: Connect Care Wave 3 CMIO End User Supports

Connect Care Wave 3 Launches April 10, 2021

Connect Care's third wave launches in just a few days, primarily in North Zone areas. Systematic preparations are already a great accomplishment. Capable teams will continue to work hard to support all stakeholders this coming weekend.

2021-04-06

Countdown Checklist W3 L-03: Catch Up Dictations

Continuing a list of essential actions for Wave 3 physicians readying for Connect Care Launch April 10, 2021...

Dictate any pre-launch admission or transfer notes

Wave 3 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 next weekend!

2021-04-05

All User Bulletin - Dose Range Medication Orders

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

Dosing Ranges and Connect Care

When prescribers order a single scheduled medication with ranged dosing, system restrictions (such orders cannot work with decision supports) cause delays as extra pharmacist resources are required to interpret the prescriber's intent.

With rare exceptions, dose range requests should be handled through two separate (but linked) orders. The first sets a regular baseline dose at consistent intervals. The second specifies an as-needed (PRN) dose that can supplement the baseline, possibly at a different administration frequency.

Countdown Checklist W3 L-04: Unburden as Possible

Continuing a list of essential actions for Wave 3 physicians readying for Connect Care Launch April 10, 2021...

Unburden

Current clinical services have limited ability to control patient census or clinical workloads. However, this is the time to make every effort to ease the launch by re-considering the following:

Do everything possible on inpatient services to expedite discharges and decrease occupancy.
Consider rehabilitation or other community services outside Wave 3 sites that might be available for transitional transfer.
Identify and flag complex continuing patients who may need more cutover attention during the pre-launch week.
Ensure that any possible clinician reserves are mobilized, including sick roster backup and any other resources that can be leveraged to increase physician supports at launch.
Lighten ambulatory and surgical loads in any way possible for next week.
Above all, make sure that you and colleagues have the Connect Care access you need and are working in PRD this week to familiarize and personalize.

2021-04-04

Countdown Checklist W3 L-05: Buddy Up, Team Up

Continuing a list of essential actions for Wave 3 physicians readying for Connect Care Launch April 10, 2021...

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 Wave 3 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 site-specific pages listing 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.

2021-04-03

Countdown Checklist W3 L-06: Grande Prairie Drop-In Centre

Continuing a list of essential actions for Wave 3 physicians readying for Connect Care Launch April 10, 2021...

Take advantage of the Prescriber Drop-in Centre

Scheduled drop-in help sessions are available at the Grande Prairie Queen Elizabeth II Hospital 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.

The schedule (including dates, times, and room) can be found in the Connect Care Manual. Note that locations and times can change. Late-breaking information about the drop-in centre will be posted in the Connect Care Manual (launchhelp.connect-care.ca).

Meditech Considerations for Connect Care Wave 3 Launch

As not all locations in the Peace Country Meditech Ring are going live in Wave 3, North Zone prescribers (both in Connect Care Wave 3 and those remaining on Meditech) may be affected at launch.

Meditech encounters (i.e., a case or visit in a pre-registered, waitlisted, scheduled or active state) converted to Connect Care will still appear in Meditech. They will be in either a discharged or open state.

Other important considerations for Wave 3 prescribers:

As previously posted, it is very important to complete and close legacy charts by April 9, 2021.
After 05:00 on April 10, 2021, all charting should take place in Connect Care.
After launch, Connect Care users can expect read-only access to Meditech records. Some users, previously identified by their leaders, will have continued read and write access.
For North Zone prescribers who are not part of Wave 3 and are remaining on Meditech, orders should not be sent in Meditech to locations that have transitioned to Connect Care. Netcare can be checked when needing patient information for departments that have transitioned to Connect Care.
There will be a scheduled Meditech downtime for Northern Lights and Peace Country from April 9, 2021 23:30 to 05:00 April 10, 2021.

2021-04-02

Countdown Checklist W3 L-07: Confirm Remote Access

Continuing a list of essential actions for Wave 3 physicians readying for Connect Care Launch April 10, 2021...

Ensure that you have online REMOTE ACCESS

Remote access refers to any use of the clinical information system (CIS) outside of Alberta Health Services (AHS) networks ("intranet").

Will you need this? Some physicians rarely work out-of-AHS. Some will only remote access through mobility (Haiku, Canto) which is good enough for results review, communicating, ordering, billing and simple documentation.

Many physicians need full Hyperspace externally. A security FOB is required, as explained in the Connect Care Manual. Existing Netcare FOBs are automatically set up for Connect Care and require no new action. For physicians needing remote Hyperspace, but do not currently have a FOB, apply now (note - the process is normally initiated by Zone Medical Affairs):

User Guide: Remote User Network Access

Physicians in Wave 3 are authorized for remote access by Zone Medical Affairs, who should be contacted for support (NZ.Privileging@ahs.ca).

On Other Channels...

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

COVID and Connect Care

COVID-19 and Connect Care - New Resources for Prescribers

Blogs

Tips

Tippy Series

Questions

Support

Wound Treatment Orders Can Be Linked to a Specific Wound

Informatics

Manual

COVID-19 - Connect Care Resources
See What's New (many updates and additions)

2021-04-01

Improved Support for RAAPID Consultations

The Alberta Health Services "Referral, Access, Advice, Placement, Information & Destination" (RAAPID) service facilitates physician access to consulting services for patients who may need transfer between sites or additional advice about care at a current site. Typically, participating emergency and specialty physicians generate separate "Telephone" encounters to document their interactions through a RAAPID consultation.

RAAPID is now fully enabled by Connect Care. A new "Intake" encounter type supports RAAPID activities. This provides an easier workflow for consulting.

The RAAPID encounter navigator streamlines documentation and communication throughout a patient transfer event, while also making the information easily accessible in any resulting inpatient encounter. Instructions are provided about how to handle any orders that may be required.

RAAPID workflows using the Intake encounters are explained in brief tip sheets:

Countdown Checklist W3 L-08: Support Cutover Activities

Continuing a list of essential actions for Wave 3 physicians readying for Connect Care Launch April 10, 2021...

Support Cutover Activities

Key for attendings and trainees anticipating Wave 3 inpatient and/or outpatient launch is work to make sure that essential information is ready for loading or linking into the clinical information system before launch... and that legacy systems are tidied up so that they can be retired. Related preparations include:

General inpatient:
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.
Surgical inpatient:
Make sure that work is underway to enter upcoming surgical cases into Connect Care (see resources).
Outpatient:
Make sure that all clinic documentation is complete, signed and routed, while also taking care to close open charts in any legacy systems.
Complex patients:
Consider pre-launch problem list documentation to support easy transition note generation at launch.

Key resources:

2021-03-31

Countdown Checklist W3 L-09: Complete Login Lab

Continuing a list of essential actions for Wave 3 physicians readying for Connect Care Launch April 10, 2021...

Complete CMIO Login Lab

It is essential that all Wave 3 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:

2021-03-30

Countdown Checklist W3 L-10: Identify Launch Supports

Continuing a list of essential actions for Wave 3 physicians readying for Connect Care Launch April 10, 2021...

Identify Launch Supports

This is a good time to check that you and your colleagues know who the Super Users, Medical Informatics Leads or other peer-resources are for your clinical site, group, area or clinic. They can facilitate pre-launch personalization activities. They will be present and a great resource during the weeks around launch.

Clinical groups may plan for their own start and end-of-day check-ins to flag issues to forward to twice daily launch support meetings.

Note where User Supports are described in the Connect Care Manual. This information is frequently updated with specifics about how to find and use in-person, online and telephone supports for help with Connect Care on-boarding, including the daily Super User schedule and details about the Wave 3 Virtual Drop-in Centre and the Grande Prairie in-person drop-in centre.

2021-03-29

Countdown Checklist W3 L-11: Check In Basket

Continuing a list of essential actions for Wave 3 physicians readying for Connect Care Launch April 10, 2021...

Check In Basket

Wave 3 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.

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, other Connect Care users can send messages to the prescriber via In Basket and new test results will route to the prescriber's In Basket.

More information on managing results and reports is available in the Connect Care Manual. A Results Management Toolkit has been prepared (and 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.

2021-03-28

Countdown Checklist W3 L-12: Anticipate Computerized Physician Order Entry (CPOE)

Continuing a list of essential actions for Wave 3 physicians readying for Connect Care Launch April 10, 2021...

Anticipate CPOE

Computerized Prescriber (or Physician or Provider) Order Entry (CPOE) refers to the process of a medical prescriber entering orders electronically via a digital health record instead of using paper-based processes.

CPOE offers an important means by which health processes and outcomes can improve. Entered orders trigger clinical decision supports that can help avoid unsafe medications, promote best practices and improve system performance. Studies show that the move from paper to CPOE decreases common medication errors by 50% or more.

Accordingly, it is a Minimum Use expectation that all tests, interventions and medications that can be ordered in Connect Care must be ordered in Connect Care. Very few exceptions are acceptable.

Connect Care provides tools that make CPOE as easy as possible. Indeed, with the convenience of ordering personalized favourites on any computer or mobile device, anywhere, anytime; ordering is easier to do, and do well, than when constrained by paper. Still, Wave 3 launch will bring significant change for many providers at facilities moving from paper to computerized order entry. This is a good time to anticipate and prepare for CPOE:

2021-03-27

Countdown Checklist W3 L-13: Anticipate Cutover

Continuing a list of essential actions for Wave 3 physicians readying for Connect Care Launch April 10, 2021...

Anticipate Cutover

Cutover is a process through which key pieces of information about admitted patients are entered into Connect Care prior to launch. The primary concern for physicians will be the management of medication and non-medication orders, and the translation of important information about patients’ clinical status from a paper record to an electronic one.

Physicians should anticipate, and mobilize resources for, three key tasks as part of cutover processes near launch:

Validating continuing medications to be entered by pharmacists 48 hours prior to launch.
Documenting continuing non-medication orders to be entered by the cutover nurses and dieticians starting 72 hours prior to launch.
Validating entered orders on the launch morning.

The following FAQ can help physicians prepare for cutover activities, which can vary by facility (e.g., long-term care vs. acute care):

2021-03-25

Countdown Checklist W3 L-15: Know Where to Get Downtime Help

Continuing a list of essential actions for Wave 3 physicians readying for Connect Care Launch April 10, 2021...

Know where to get Downtime Help

The Connect Care clinical information system (CIS) needs periodic maintenance. Scheduled downtimes can happen as often as monthly, usually in the early hours of a Thursday morning (e.g., sometime between 00:30 and 04:30). Downtimes can affect CIS parts (e.g., linked WellSky transfusion system) and/or the entire digital health record. Details about affected sub-systems are posted in advance of a planned downtime.

Obviously, clinicians need to continue to work, even at odd hours. Accordingly, a variety of backup systems ensure that things like test results, order sets, documentation and other key tools remain accessible.

Most clinicians rarely, if ever, experience a downtime. The key is to know where to find just-in-time information and support.

The Connect Care Manual is hosted on separate servers not affected by AHS infrastructure, and so remains available during downtimes. In preparation for launch, check out the following links and form an impression of what the Manual covers, and how to check the working status of Connect Care systems:

2021-03-24

Countdown Checklist W3 L-16: Confirm Dual Roles

Continuing a list of essential actions for Wave 3 physicians readying for Connect Care Launch April 10, 2021...

Ambidextrous? Let us know!

Most physicians work within a primary care or specialty service and are well served by the Connect Care department, role and user template initially assigned to them. Some physicians work in multiple facilities or specialties (e.g., Critical Care and Medicine), still served well by their Connect Care toolset and the ability to change departments (contexts) on the fly.

Some physicians work in two or more clinical areas that require quite different clinical information system (CIS) modules. The emergency module (ASAP), for example, is not like the critical care user interface. If one needs to switch between different modules for different roles (e.g., ER physician and Critical Care physician), then more than one "job" needs to be added to one's Connect Care physician record.

Connect Care has made these configuration changes for dual-role physicians who are already known. If you think you may have been missed, likely because you do not see a module you need in PRD, get in touch with Medical Affairs to request adjustments to your profile.

Contact: Medical Affairs North Zone (NZ.Privileging@ahs.ca)
Demo: Tip - Changing Contexts
Tip: Changing Jobs

2021-03-23

Workspace ONE Outage - Thursday March 25, 2021, 00:30-08:30

There will be an outage of the Workspace ONE application that AHS uses to manage clinical mobile applications Thursday March 25, 2021 between 00:30 and 08:30, to perform a patch.

During the patching process, the Connect Care mobility apps Haiku and Canto will be unavailable or might respond slower than normal. PowerMic Mobile, the dictation application for Dragon Medical One, should be unaffected. Most services should be restored to a functional level by 04:30. Device owners are not required to keep their devices turned on during the outage.

For more information, please contact the AHS Service Desk at 1-877-311-4300.

2021-03-22

Important Updates to Home Care Referral Workflows

Referrals for home care services are managed in Connect Care as part of “Continuing Care Access” (CCA), with workflows introduced late last year.

Growing experience with Home Care orders has helped identify opportunities for improvement, especially the creation of a new Home Care orders panel with more embedded guidance.

Prescriber tips and resources have been updated to reflect changes that will be in production as of April 1, 2021:

2021-03-21

Countdown Checklist W3 L-19: Follow the Tippies

Continuing a list of essential actions for Wave 3 physicians readying for Connect Care Launch April 10, 2021...

Follow Connect Care Tippies

With most Wave 3 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 will be re-released approximately daily 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).

2021-03-20

Countdown Checklist W3 L-20: Check Provider Registry Entry

Continuing a list of essential actions for Wave 3 physicians readying for Connect Care Launch April 10, 2021...

Confirm PROVIDER REGISTRY Information

The Connect Care clinical information system (CIS) draws from a “provider registry” to store information about clinicians in the CIS. The registry is also a source of information that can affect how CIS user roles and permissions are set up, how providers can find and communicate with one another, and how things like preference lists and referrals work.

It is important that this information be correct. Getting ready for Connect Care launch is a perfect time to validate information about oneself. Specific instructions are provided in:

Tip: Confirming Provider Registry Information

Access and identity essentials are described in the Connect Care Manual.

2021-03-19

On Other Channels...

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

COVID and Connect Care

Blogs

Tips

Questions

Support

IVIg Therapy Plan Changes

Informatics

Manual

COVID-19 - Connect Care Resources
See What's New (many updates and additions)

2021-03-18

Countdown Checklist W3 L-22: Confirm PRD Access

Continuing a list of essential actions for Wave 3 physicians readying for Connect Care Launch April 10, 2021...

Check your PRD (Production) Access

All physicians who have completed their On Our Best Behaviours (InfoCare) training and Connect Care Proficiency Assessment (EUPA) should be able to log in to the full production version of Connect Care (PRD) by now.

Please do the following from within an AHS network (AHSRESTRICT) or from outside with the aid of an RSA security fob or token:

Go to myapps.ahs.ca and log in with your AHS username and password. Can't get in? See "Access Problems" in the Connect Care Manual.
Once logged in to myapps.ahs.ca, ensure that the PRD (production) Connect Care icon is available. If not, see "CIS Access" in the Manual.
Open PRD and log in with your AHS username and password. Can't get in? Contact AHS IT Service Desk or ConnectCare.SupportTeam.Security@ahs.ca.

We are trying to identify Wave 3 users who somehow got missed in access provisioning. Do not expect access if OOBB (InfoCare) or EUPA is not complete.

2021-03-17

When Will Prioritized Order Sets Be Ready?

Order sets help organize diverse actions pertinent to a clinical need. Admission order sets, for example, coordinate instructions for goals of care, vitals, fluids, nutrition, activity, investigations and treatments.

Order sets can help providers align their choices with best available guidance while dramatically reducing the time taken to coordinate many related actions. Personalized order sets, configured with common choices already selected, speed workflows even more.

Connect Care Area Councils set priorities for order set development, with the majority of requests designed, built, validated and implemented at or immediately after the Wave 1 launch. Some gaps remain, with the following summary of current progress:

453 order sets have been successfully deployed in support of Connect Care Waves 1 and 2.
Since Wave 1, 769 of 807 order set related enhancement requests have been fulfilled.
Approximately 130 of the Wave 1 prioritized order sets did not deploy in time for launch. The majority have since been built, 36 are in production but the remainder await validation, with delays incurred by all the work associated with pandemic urgencies. Additional resources have been allocated to overcome bottlenecks, with expectation that built order sets will be fully validated and released to production this summer.
Over 30 optimization order set projects (urgent need related to post-launch discoveries) have made it through design, build, validation and implementation.
All order set deliverables for Wave 3 have been met.
A number of new order sets are in the works for Wave 4, with build underway, validation scheduled for the late spring and launch to production expected in early summer.

2021-03-16

COVID-19 and Connect Care - Variant of Concern Test Results

Starting March 18, 2021, COVID-19 positive samples will have variant of concern information reported to the ordering clinician following current result-routing (In Basket) protocols. The information will be available within Connect Care results displays, appearing as "COVID-19 Variant Nucleic Acid Test". Variant of concern testing is done on all positive COVID-19 samples.

Variant of concern results will be reported separately from routine COVID-19 test results (e.g., NAT nucleic acid tests, ID NOW test, antigen-based tests), to be interpreted as follows:

Negative - No variant of concern, but patient is still COVID-19 positive
Positive - A variant of concern is detected and the strain is specified
Unresolved - The viral load is too low to confirm variant testing

Both "Positive" and "Unresolved" results should be treated as positive when considering infection prevention and control precautions, cohorting and isolation.

Lab Bulletin: COVID-19 Variant of Concern Testing Results

2021-03-15

Countdown Checklist W3 L-25: Confirm Connect Care Access and Login Role

Continuing a list of essential actions for Wave 3 physicians readying for Connect Care Launch April 10, 2021...

Confirm Access and Role(s)

Do you, or could you, have clinical duties April 10, 2021 or following at a Wave 3 site?

If so, it is essential that you confirm that you have access to the AHS Network (insite.ahs.ca), to the Unified Access Portal (myapps.ahs.ca) and to Production (PRD) Connect Care. A successful PRD login (using your AHS username and password) is just the start. It is also important that a PRD login opens a Connect Care environment appropriate to one's roles and duties. Best to sort out any problems now, well before launch.

A "virtual login lab" allows Wave 3 clinicians to confirm that they have access to the right tools in the right way. Follow these steps (in order):

Complete basic training, the associated end-user proficiency assessment (EUPA) and On Our Best Behaviours (InfoCare privacy training).
Login to myapps.ahs.ca with AHS network (HEALTHY) login credentials and launch Connect Care production (PRD).
At the Hyperspace login screen, enter your AHS username and password.
If multiple "jobs" are presented (multi-role physician), complete the rest of this process for each in turn.
When asked for a "Department", choose the appropriate zone virtual clinical department (e.g., North Zone Cardiology, North Zone Pediatrics).
Once opened into Hyperspace, use the search function (top-right corner), type "CMIO" and jump to the "CMIO Login Labs Info" activity. Alternately, select the top-left "Epic" button, then "Help", then the "CMIO Login Labs Info" submenu item.
Examine the information provided and complete the linked survey to indicate whether the physician roles and templates appear correct.

For more information:

2021-03-14

Anticipating a Move?

Prescribers may change or leave a clinical practice. Typical reasons include a move to a different jurisdiction with a different record of care, promotion or retirement. Indeed, many trainees transition to new roles and locations in the coming months.

For those changing roles and also moving away from where Connect Care is the record of care, off-boarding protocols must be followed.

Clinical privileges are handled through Zone Medical Affairs Intake. In addition, specific Connect Care off-boarding tasks require attention. These include ensuring that In Basket is assigned to a responsible provider or group, Provider Team relationships are updated, the Phone Book (provider registry) is corrected, Therapy Plans are re-assigned, and Secure Chat settings are updated.

Blogs

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