2022-11-29

Dragon Medical One - Launch 5 Personalization Sessions

Personalization sessions for Connect Care's in-system dictation software, Dragon Medical One (DMO), are coming up for Connect Care Launch 5 prescribers. Those in previous launches (Waves/Launches 1-4) are also welcome to attend.

The personalization sessions are scheduled for the following dates/times:

  • Tuesday, December 6, 2022: 10:00-11:30
  • Monday, December 12, 2022: 18:00-19:30
  • Thursday, December 15, 2022: 14:00-15:30

Registration is through MyLearningLink (MLL) (course name: Dragon Medical One (DMO) - Dictation Optimization Sessions), and sessions are via Zoom.

2022-11-18

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:

2022-11-16

Calgary Zone Bulletin - Ambulatory Results Management Update

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

Ambulatory Results Management Update

Starting November 16, 2022, some results from outside of the Calgary Zone will be suppressed from In Basket to reduce duplicate reports related to Calgary Zone patients. This is an interim state and will revert at some future date.

  • A hard copy (paper or fax) of results may be sent. Prescribers must regularly monitor Connect Care In Basket AND hard copy reports, and follow-up on results as needed.
  • All results are available in Netcare and the Connect Care patient chart.
  • To improve the reliability of result delivery to In Basket and reduce hard copy reports, be sure to use Connect Care requisitions when arranging for patients' laboratory testing.

For more information, see the memo.

2022-11-11

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:

Tickets, Tickets, Tickets!

Connect Care Launch 5 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 5 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:

2022-11-10

Just-in-Time Learning!

Our new Connect Care Launch 5 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. 

2022-11-09

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 5. 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:

No More Tweets

Although these Connect Care blog postings have been linked to Twitter notifications for a number of years, few of our target viewers use those feeds for following Bytes and related CMIO blogging channels.

The time seems right to leave the Twitter platform. Accordingly, all repostings are stopped and the associated Twitter accounts have been deleted.

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.

2022-11-07

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.

If there are interdisciplinary teams that are having concerns, questions or challenges regarding CPOE, it is recommended that each team work through the CPOE work package. A memo also contains relevant information for Nurse Clinicians/leaders.

2022-11-06

Launch 5: We are GO!

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

Today, Connect Care welcomes 135 sites from across the province into the family, including Cancer Care Alberta and Alberta Kidney Care South. 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 5 prescribers.