As of January 29, 2026, a new blood restrictions workflow in Connect Care will be in place to ensure clear, consistent documentation of patients’ blood preferences.
Key changes include:
- A dedicated place to document blood restrictions (including specific blood components and/or products) called the "Blood Restrictions Assessment" worksheet, to be found in the Consent & eForms Navigator.
- Documented blood restrictions will flow into the applicable Consent eForms, Consent to Surgery or Invasive Procedure and Consent to Treatment Plan or Procedure.
- Alerts about blood restrictions will be improved to support more automated and streamlined workflows when ordering blood.
- FYI Flags
- The existing FYI Flag (Blood Refusals) is renamed to "Blood Restrictions".
- The FYI Flag now triggers automatically upon documenting blood restrictions.
- When blood restrictions are updated, the user is prompted to review whether or not to remove the FYI Flag.
- Our Practice Advisories (OPAs)
- An OPA appears when a blood product/component (or related) is ordered, but the patient has documented blood restrictions.
- An OPA appears when a blood product/component (or related) is ordered, but the patient has documented beliefs that require a review of restrictions.
- When blood restrictions are updated, the user is prompted to review whether or not to remove the FYI Flag.
- A net new workflow and form will be available when a patient has blood restrictions but there is no upcoming treatment, procedure, or blood transfusion planned. The new Advanced Expressed Wishes and Instructions – Blood Components and Products consent form will be found in the Consent & eForms Navigator.
Please note that workflows for informed consent process are not changing. The new features standardize the ability to document blood restrictions and increase visibility in the system for patients with blood restrictions.
Updated resources are linked below. An upcoming Virtual Office Hour will be held on this topic for those interested, with additional post-launch dates:
- Virtual Office Hours:
- Wednesday, January 28, 12:00-13:00
- Post-launch sessions - click here for the VOH calendar
- Guide: Blood Restrictions (will include a link to a demo video when available)
- Practice Guidance: Blood Component and/or Blood Product Restrictions Guidance
For questions not addressed by the above resources, please contact ConnectCare.Consent@healthsharedservices.ca.