2020-10-03

Clinical Inquiry Clinics - Case #3: Professional Productivity

We've previously posted about this being a good time to explore Connect Care's measure, report, visualization, dashboard and other inquiry support tools. Excellent reporting training opportunities continue to be available via MyLearningLink.

Connect Care Inquiry Clinics explore user-submitted cases, considering the best match of problem to in-system reporting, analytic or visualization tools. Resources are provided, casework is shared, and participants are encouraged to adapt learnings to their needs. Case referrals are accepted where available Connect Care tools can be used to advantage with data already available (rob.hayward@ahs.ca).

Inquiry Clinics occur approximately weekly via Zoom Thursdays at noon. We no longer support the Tuesday session as this did not fit well with participant schedules:
  • Thursday noon (12:00-13:00)
The third clinic is scheduled for October 8, 2020. This week's cases explore how to use Reporting Workbench ('My Reports') to generate lists reflecting clinical productivity. This sort of information can help inform physician annual reporting.
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2020-09-30

AHS eMail Migration - Check your Junk Mail

We've previously posted about migration of AHS email services to Outlook 365 for many Connect Care physicians.

A few months in, we are hearing surprise from some users checking their "Junk Email" folder to find a proportion of the content clearly not Junk.

Microsoft defines Junk as "...spam, which are unsolicited and universally unwanted messages (when identified correctly)". 

Office 365 servers use Microsoft's "Exchange Online Protection (EOP)" to spare us from phishing, spam and other inappropriate messages. In addition, machine learning is used to further filter messages that may be benign but unwanted.

It appears that the move to a new communications service has triggered some re-learning. 

What to do? Keep a closer eye on your Junk Email folder in Outlook 365, at least for the next few months. When a non-Junk message is found, either right-click and select "Mark as Not Junk" or use a different right-click command to add the sender to one's contacts. Outlook should not flag mail from contacts as junk (unless discovered to be malicious). Outlook will (re)learn and the false-positive rate should go down.

Junk Email settings are configured by AHS. It is not possible for users to opt-out through user preferences. This makes sense because EOP prevents hacking (especially phishing) as well as spam.
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2020-09-29

Clinical Inquiry Clinics - Case #2 Recordings

The Connect Care Inquiry Clinics continue Tuesday and Thursday at noon. Those who cannot make the scheduled times can access related recordings:

Participants are encouraged to check the Manual section on Reporting Workbench for background information, additional tips, e-learnings and guides. 

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2020-09-28

Connect Care Wave 2 Workflow Dress Rehearsals - Physician Participation

An important Wave 2 Connect Care readiness event is soon upon us. A series of "Workflow Dress Rehearsals" (WDR) occur between October 5-6 and 13-14 in outpatient and inpatient settings respectively.

Workflow Dress Rehearsals (WDR) provide clinicians with opportunity for hands-on practice using the Connect Care clinical information system (CIS) in simulated workflows. The current CIS build is exposed for testing in real clinical contexts, usually with the computers and devices that will be used at Wave 2 launch. Physicians, nurses, other clinicians, managers and the project team work together to identify any issues and find solutions pre-launch.

The WDR events (at each Wave 2 facility) promote end-user confidence, give teams a chance to check that workflows work as intended, demonstrate that end-users can successfully complete Connect Care and facilitate end-user understanding of downstream effects of their actions.

Physician participation (and help with demonstration) is very important!

For more information and to sign up for participation or observation (physician roles are listed in the schedules):
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2020-09-27

On Other Channels...

Thank you for continuing to check (... ideally, subscribe to; see right sidebar instructions) the Connect Care Update blog for prescribers. Some recent additions to this blog and other channels:

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2020-09-26

Clinical Inquiry Clinics - Case #2 - Patient Safety & Med Exposure

We've previously posted about this being a good time to explore Connect Care's measure, report, visualization, dashboard and other inquiry support tools. Excellent reporting training opportunities continue to be available via MyLearningLink.

Connect Care Inquiry Clinics explore user-submitted cases, considering the best match of problem to in-system reporting, analytic or visualization tools. Resources are provided, casework is shared, and participants are encouraged to adapt learnings to their needs. Case referrals are accepted where available Connect Care tools can be used to advantage with data already available (rob.hayward@ahs.ca).

Inquiry Clinics occur approximately weekly via Zoom and are repeated to accommodate participant schedules:
  • Tuesday noon (12:00-13:00)
  • Thursday noon (12:00-13:00) repeat
The second clinic is scheduled for September 29 and October 1, 2020. This week's cases explore how to use Reporting Workbench ('My Reports') for some example patient safety queries.
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2020-09-25

Connect Care in the Media

Alberta news media reports today that Connect Care launch waves are delayed due to COVID-19. 

This is old information. There is no news that should concern Connect Care stakeholders. 

The media references decisions made at the beginning of the pandemic; decisions long integrated into project planning, delivery and communication.  There are no new delays or other impacts to the upcoming Wave 2 launch scheduled for October 24, 2020.

Connect Care remains one of Alberta Health Service’s top organizational priorities.  Delaying the previously planned Wave 2 launch allowed Connect Care to redirect efforts to development and implementation of COVID-related clinical content and to fast-track public health supports and interfaces that otherwise would have occured in later waves. In short, Connect Care did not slow or pause... it accelerated to address an urgent provincial challenge. 

In addition, teams were able to give more time to post-launch optimization and to redesign of training programs to be more pandemic-tolerant. All clinical content required for the next waves is ready to go, including the validation of content for specialties that are new to Connect Care like Women’s Health. 

Everything is tracking well for the October 24 wave 2 launch, with site readiness work near completion and end user training well underway.

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2020-09-24

Help Improve Medication Reconciliation Workflows

Medication documentation is about how medication decisions are recorded, communicated, validated and followed. Medication reconciliation adds a check of a patient's expected and actual home medication use. It is a mandated element of all admissions to inpatient units. 

Medication reconciliation is not easy on paper and proves challenging in digital workflows. We would like to understand why and use that understanding to improve Connect Care.

Please help! 

We are keen to hear from clinicians already using Connect Care at wave 1 sites. A very short survey asks what is working, and not working, with medication reconciliation; and what could be improved. Resources are available to act on survey findings, so responses matter. 

Please provide input before October 23, 2020:

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2020-09-17

Clinical Inquiry Clinics - Case #1 Recording

The Connect Care Inquiry Clinics started this week with exploration of a first Case in repeat sessions offered Tuesday and Thursday at noon. Those who could not make the scheduled times have asked for recordings:

Participants are encouraged to check the Manual section on Reporting Workbench for background information, additional tips, e-learnings and guides. 

The next clinics occur the week of September 28, 2020.

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2020-09-16

On Other Channels...

Thank you for continuing to check (... ideally, subscribe to; see right sidebar instructions) the Connect Care Update blog for prescribers. Some recent additions to this blog and other channels:

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2020-09-15

Patient Movement Virtual Drop-In Sessions

Patient movement is about how information flow supports healthcare flow.

A trauma patient can, for example, require task distribution among emergency, critical care, operating room, ward, interventional diagnostics and other care contexts. Each may have focus for a time, with orders and documentation appropriate to that time. 

The Patient Movement Team continues to study tricky-transitions, simplify user guides and facilitate change-management. The latest Drop-In supports build on prior Patient Movement Fundamentals Webinars and Patient Movement Bootcamps.

Virtual Drop-In sessions (10 in all) are offered between September 21 – October 2, 2020, during the noon hour, providing ample opportunity to get answers to questions about patient movement workflows in Connect Care.  Advance questions, issues and demo requests are welcome (see request link below).  

No questions? The Drop-Ins still give opportunity to learn more movement workflows and to share ideas with colleagues. The sessions adopt an informal question and answer approach.  
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2020-09-11

Clinical Inquiry Clinics - Case 1 Prep

We've previously announced a series of "Connect Care Inquiry Clinics" occurring weekly via Zoom (repeated to accommodate participant schedules) with the first clinic facilitated by Rob Hayward on September 15 and 17, 2020:

The clinics by no means cover all that is worth knowing about inquiry support tools. Instead, we take the perspective of a curious clinician; seeking to improve processes and outcomes at the level of individuals or groups. Clinics offer an opportunity to explore practical uses of inquiry tools, while sharing some clinician-friendly tips. 

We will start with a review of features and enhancements in the Reporting Workbench (My Reports) toolkit, including strategies for finding, favouriting and organizing stock reports.  Our first "case" imagines a clinician seeking lists of patients served, their prevalent problems, and possible interventions.

We'll will align new blog postings (look in the informatics, questions and tips channels) and Manual additions to the theme of each clinic.

Participants are encouraged to check the Manual section on Reporting Workbench pre-clinic. 
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2020-09-10

All Prescriber Bulletin: Issues with Scanned Documents

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

Scanned Document Viewing Issues - Temporary
Connect Care upgrades were performed during a downtime in the early hours of September 10, 2020. Enterprise Content Management, which takes care of scanned documents added to the digital health record, was among the systems updated. 

Some users have experienced problems viewing scanned objects (e.g., external electrocardiograms) or scanning and adding new objects.

Central fixes are being applied, with expectation that scan-related error messages will rapidly disappear.

In the meantime, users are advised to avoid the Media tab in Chart Review if the same information can be obtained via the Imaging, Cardiology or Encounter (use ECS-Pt button to access scanned documents associated with an encounter) tabs.

New scanning should be avoided until expanded capacity comes online, with any urgent materials sent to the Health Information Management department onsite with a request for scanning.

We will post again only if all problems are not resolved by end of working day.
Update (2020-09-10, 16:00): The causative issue has been isolated and fixed. Generation, attachment and viewing of scanned objects is restored to normal function.
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2020-09-09

September Upgrade Complete - Lots of Enhancements

We previously posted about a substantive September 10, 2020 Connect Care upgrade, and a downtime now successfully completed.

There are no changes requiring re-training or new workflows. However, there are many user interface improvements and fixes that can improve users' experiences. Too many to take in all at one time.
We'll post enhancement notices daily in the Support channel (button above or support.connect-care.ca), which users can subscribe to. The enhancements thread can be specifically tracked via enhancements.connect-care.ca.

Today's posting is about improvements to the Patient Storyboard. Also note a new Support posting about the need for Haiku and Canto users to ensure that they have the most recent version of the app.
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2020-09-08

Feedback and Suggestions Welcome!

The Connect Care Manual (manual.connect-care.ca), blogs (blogs.connect-care.ca) and other resources (resources.connect-care.ca) are stewarded by the Alberta Health Services Chief Medical Information Office Editorial Board.

Mindful that we are soon to welcome another wave of prescribers to the Connect Care community, we are working to keep CMIO prescriber supports current, relevant and responsive. This includes upgrades to modernize the file repositories that make the Manual, Handbook, Glossary and blogs possible. A few broken links may emerge as the work wraps up.

All of our users are encouraged to report problems, suggest improvements, or help guide new content.

A "Feedback" button, keyed to the editorial board intake email, "cmio-manual@ahs.ca," is added to the bottom of all Manual pages, as well as to links in the right column of all blogs. Please feel free to help us help you!
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2020-09-07

On Other Channels...

Thank you for continuing to check (... ideally, subscribe to; see right sidebar instructions) the Connect Care Update blog for prescribers. Some recent additions to this blog and other channels:
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2020-09-04

Clinical Inquiry Clinics - Case 1 - Provider-Patient Associations

We've previously posted about this being a good time to explore Connect Care's measure, report, visualization, dashboard and other inquiry support tools. Excellent reporting training opportunities continue to be available via MyLearningLink.

Some of us could benefit from working through practical examples. Earlier we polled Connect Care clinicians for common inquiry needs. Responses provided use "cases" where use of one or more reporting tools could address a clinical need.

Connect Care Inquiry Clinics explore these user-submitted cases, considering the best match of problem to tool. Resources are provided, casework is shared, and participants are encouraged to adapt learnings to their particular needs. Case referrals are accepted where available Connect Care tools can be used to advantage with data already accrued (rob.hayward@ahs.ca).

Inquiry Clinics occur weekly via Zoom, are announced here a week in advance, and are repeated to accommodate participant schedules:
  • Tuesday noon (12:00-13:00)
  • Thursday noon (12:00-13:00) repeat
The first clinic is scheduled for September 15 and 17, 2020. The first case starts simple; exploring how to generate lists of patients with specified characteristics, as might serve a prescriber wondering how frequently a health condition is encountered.
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New: Enhancement Alerts

Enhancement updates provide short alerts to new, fixed or improved Connect Care functions...
  • Connect Care Enhancement Alerts
The Connect Care team attends to problem and improvement requests submitted by users via the Concierge (help.connect-care.ca), committees, councils and other routes. The numbers are impressive, with enhancements continually added to the clinical information system. Users, however, may not always appreciate which requests have been fulfilled and when. And it can be hard to filter out the changes most relevant to prescribers.

We have started to post short alerts to significant enhancements that may affect prescribers' experiences. These appear as a thread (category) within our the Connect Care support blog (support.connect-care.ca), to which users can subscribe. We will additionally call out important enhancements in "On Other Channels" postings.
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2020-09-02

Nice Nod to Connect Care and Virtual Health Services

Dr. Daniel Baumgart has posted a nice call-out about the value of strong digital infrastructure when responding to the demands of a pandemic... with Connect Care highlighted.

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2020-09-01

On Other Channels...

Thank you for continuing to check (... ideally, subscribe to; see right sidebar instructions) the Connect Care Update blog for prescribers. Quick recent highlights in blog and other channels:
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2020-08-31

Clinical Inquiry Newsletter - August 2020

We've previously posted about how Connect Care in-system inquiry tools can help AHS grow as a learning healthcare organization.

The Connect Care Clinical Inquiry Newsletter offers an excellent way for those interested to keep updated about developing capabilities, supports and processes related to clinical inquiry, with the August Issue including the following topics:
  • Research Staff Courses
  • Research Overview Webinars
  • Finding information about Connect Care reporting content
  • Research Support Update
  • Wave 2 Launch Dashboards
  • Connect Care Reporting Training
The Newsletter releases monthly. For those interested in the same content via shorter but more frequent communications, subscribe the Clinical Inquiry Blog. 
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2020-08-23

Handling (Rare) Dual Provider Records in Connect Care

Connect Care users may notice that some prescribers (physicians, nurse practitioners, etc.) listed in the clinical information system phone book (and associated look-ups) more than once. Users need to take care when choosing a provider record to match the provider to the correct care context.

Some health care providers care for patients in more than one province; most commonly affecting Connect Care when physicians perform clinical duties in both Alberta (AB) and the Northwest Territories (NT). The non-Alberta role is indicated by a two-letter provincial abbreviation in parentheses.

For more detail:
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2020-08-21

Connect Care Wave 2 Training Registration... NOW

Registration is now open for CMIO Connect Care training (physicians, nurse practitioners, etc.) participating in the Wave 2 launch October 24, 2020.

Email notifications have gone out from Edmonton Zone Medical Affairs to all affected physicians. Separate notifications have gone out from Advanced Practice Nursing. Prescribers are invited to register for training with instructions about how to do this through MyLearningLink (mylearninglink.ahs.ca).

Prescriber training is offered in three modes:
  1. In-classroom training (COVID prevention precautions in place)
  2. Virtual training (via Zoom)
  3. Online training through independent learning modules
The best mix of learning modes will be determined for each trainee, partly reflecting the skills required to use Connect Care for a specific practice context.  Super Users will fan out to assist with training while building relationships with the user groups they will support at launch.

Already, 41% of physicians have registered for Basic Training and 26% for Personalization Training.

Prescribers who expect but have not received a training invitation should contact:
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2020-08-20

On Other Channels...

Thank you for continuing to check (... ideally, subscribe to; see right sidebar instructions) the Connect Care Update blog for prescribers. Activity has ramped up in blog and other channels:
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2020-08-18

More on AHS Email Migration to Office 365

The following information, from Dr Francois Belanger (AHS Chief Medical Officer) adds detail to our earlier announcement:


The current Exchange 2007 system used for AHS email and calendar is no longer supported by Microsoft. As a result, all AHS accounts need to be upgraded to the new Microsoft Office 365 system by the end of August 2020.

During the week of August 24, AHS will update physician email infrastructure to Microsoft Office 365 services. Among other benefits, the update to these new services will offer more security protections. The change will impact how physicians access AHS email when using personal devices (e.g., office computer, laptop, tablet, smartphone).

Some physicians may have already received a notice sent to their AHS email account about this upgrade. Any included dates will be revised to fit with those listed here.

This update will affect AHS, Covenant Health and Alberta Precision Laboratory email accounts.

How does this change impact how you access your AHS email?

1.    Webmail: Physicians will have access to their AHS email and calendar through an enhanced Outlook Web Portal. Once you are migrated, the new webmail is accessed using a full AHS email (firstname.lastname@ahs.ca as userid) and password at outlook.office.com.

2.    AHS devices: Email accessed using Outlook on AHS computers will convert automatically. Apart from shutting down Outlook on the cutover night, no other changes are required. 

3.    Personal devices: AHS is introducing a "Bring Your Own Device" (BYOD) software solution for physicians. This is to help balance usability with supports to protect security and privacy of health data. Effective August 31, 2020, AHS email and calendar via Outlook will only be accessible on personal devices that are enrolled into the BYOD program (see Accessing AHS Email & Intranet webpage).

 

Support and resources
For additional information, please see the following:
·         Frequently asked questions
·         BYOD iOS enrolment guide
·         BYOD Android enrolment guide

For questions or concerns about the upcoming change, please contact the Messaging Upgrade team at: AHS.MessagingUpgrade@ahs.ca.

For technical issues after the upgrade, please contact the IT Service Desk at 1-877-311-4300 or open a support ticket here.

Sincerely, 

Francois Belanger
Vice President, Quality, and Chief Medical Officer
Alberta Health Services

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2020-08-17

AHS Secure Email Upgrade Coming for Physicians

Alberta Health Services (AHS) will soon complete an upgrade of its email infrastructure for physicians, offering better security for AHS and for end users. The change to Microsoft Office 365 will impact how physicians access AHS secure email. After a physician account is migrated:
  • Microsoft Outlook will be the only email client (software application) that can be used for management of AHS email on personal devices (smart phone, tablet, laptop, desktop computers).
  • Use of Microsoft Outlook on personal devices requires installation of a "Workspace ONE (WSO)" software application which creates a protected space where Outlook can work.
  • AHS email will otherwise be accessible through an enhanced web interface (WSO not required) on personal devices, or through Outlook on AHS-managed workstations.  
The same WSO "Bring Your Own Device (BYOD)" software will ease access to most AHS-hosted applications used by physicians, including clinical information systems.

For more information:  
For questions or feedback about the upcoming change, please contact the AHS Messaging Upgrade team at: AHS.MessagingUpgrade@albertahealthservices.ca.

For technical support after the upgrade, please contact the IT Service Desk at 1-877-311-4300 or open a support ticket (sign in with your AHS username and password).

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2020-08-16

Worth following... iThoughts.

Improving Health Outcomes Together (or "IHOT") is an exciting initiative within the Alberta Health Services (AHS) Quality Health Improvement portfolio.

A new iTHOUGHTS blog (https://ahsqualitytalks.blogspot.com or http://ahs-cis.ca/ithoughts) seeks to recognize, support and spread the innovation and quality improvement excellence that is happening throughout AHS and beyond. The blog provides a space to reflect, connect, and inspire excellence in quality improvement.

One can subscribe to receive email alerts to new postings.

Check it out! ahsqualitytalks.blogspot.com
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2020-08-15

Improvements to Lab Requisition Management

Connect Care "transition" states can frustrate clinicians. A Zone is in transition when some health information is handled within Connect Care and other functions remain on paper, or within other systems.

Two big transitional challenges relate to 1) prescriptions entered in Connect Care but and dispensed under another system (e.g., community pharmacy without e-prescribing), and 2) laboratory tests ordered in Connect Care but performed in another system (e.g., community lab not yet integrated with provincial lab services). Until Connect Care fully deploys, clinicians may struggle with hybrid workflows involving printers and paper.

Recent enhancements improve hybrid laboratory workflows, especially the efficiency of printed requisitions and the ease of creating reprints when needed. 

Now clinicians can reprint multiple laboratory test requests on a single page (akin to the old paper lab requisitions) when the test is to be performed outside Connect Care facilities. Should a new requisition be required, clinicians can generate these as needed via the "Labs" tab of chart review.
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2020-08-14

Consent Navigator Updates

The Connect Care clinical information system supports procurement and documentation of a wide range of patient consents.

The "Consent Navigator" continues to benefit from enhancements, recently:
  • Improved supports for correcting errors or invalid documents, including ones already signed.
  • Processes for scanning and importing paper consents from elsewhere.
  • Consent Note type to support documentation where signatures are not required.
All enhancements are described, with step-by-step instructions, in an updated guide:
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2020-08-06

Important Change Coming to AHS Secure Email

Alberta Health Services (AHS) will finish updating its communications infrastructure to adopt the latest Microsoft Office 365 technology on August 17, 2020. The upgrade offers better security protections, both for email users and for AHS. However, the change will also impact how physicians access and use AHS secure email, particularly on personal devices (e.g., office computer, laptop, tablet, smartphone).

Please anticipate communications from Medical Affairs during the week of August 12, 2020. These will provide technical details and instructions about how to facilitate a smooth a changeover. We'll highlight key messages, as they become available, in this blog. 
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