For Clinicians…
My key responsibilities with respect to clinical content in the EHR include:
1. Identifying and reporting issues with clinical content as deployed in the EHR
Every clinician must use the EHR. At times when performing order entry a problem may be identified with the order details on the screen.
Challenges:
Communication. How do I submit an issue, and once I have when can I expect the issues to be addressed?
Solution:
Plexina provides a web-based application, Plexina Central, for providers to submit issues with the EHR content. The requests go into the order set management team and are worked on accordingly. As the team progresses, status updates are reported back to you. At any point throughout the process, as a contributing author, you may provide supplementary information to your request.
2. Participating in the design and/or review of clinical content in the EHR
The clinical content can come from many sources. You can purchase it or create it from your own experience and research. However, all content must be transformed to work in your environment—your workflows, policies, and systems are all different. Clinical content aligned and designed for your environment will be more usable and help achieve objectives of safety, utilization, and efficiency.
Challenges:
Providing the necessary input as a starting point. What format should I use?
Schedule and communication. How do I provide content and participate in reviews on an already busy schedule?
Solution:
The time commitment to participate in the creation and review of an order set is large. As much as 250 man hours of effort and months in duration are required to build an average order set. More complex ones can take several times more! Many steps have to happen in the process, each requiring some validation by the clinician and we recognize that your knowledge and time is your most valuable asset.
Plexina enables the direct import and translation of textual content from many common forms including Microsoft Word, Excel, and text. If you can type into your computer, or read it on your computer, Plexina can import it.
Using a simple request management web application, simply attach your text to the request and submit. The order set design team will receive your request, import your content automatically and the design process begins.
The design team will get back to you shortly, perhaps to qualify the request, and then provide you with a realistic preview of what your order set would look like. This will help you understand how your content will look and feel in the electronic world. With Plexina, getting to a realistic preview takes a few hours where with alternative approaches the process takes weeks.
Once the design is ready, you can review it online, provide feedback for any changes, or approve if ready. You can also invite your peers to participate in the review and provide their perspectives and suggestions. You do not have to wait until a team meeting can be co-ordinated with all the other clinical experts in the same room to get to consensus.
Once review is complete, the design team continues on with the implementation where you will see your design in the system at point of care on the determined release date. You will see updates along the way so you see your request tracking to completion, and also know when additional information or feedback is required from you. With Plexina, the effort to create an order set is measurable and predictable as it progresses through the stages.
Plexina supports the order set team with an integrated platform designed specifically for rapid creation and deployment of hiqh-quality clinical content for the EHR. Using Plexina, this end-to-end process takes weeks instead of months or years. You appreciate the rapid turnaround and are motivated to engage in clinical improvement of the EHR.