Results Routing Changes - Inpatient Pathology and Continuing Care

Enhancement updates provide short alerts to new, fixed or improved Connect Care functions...

• Results Routing Changes

As of April 30, 2024, a couple changes have been made to results routing: 

• Inpatient Pathology: Lab pathology results (e.g., biopsy results) for admitted inpatients will be delivered to the prescriber's Connect Care preferred communication method (for most prescribers, this is the Connect Care In Basket). Previously, these results were only available on the patient’s chart and in Netcare. 

• Continuing Care: In preparation for Launch 8, all results for patients admitted to Supportive Living and Long-Term Care facilities will also be sent to the prescriber's Connect Care preferred communication method.

For more information:

• Connect Care Results Routing Optimization Overview
• Questions: ResultsRouting@ahs.ca

In Basket Update - Cancelled Lab Orders

Enhancement updates provide short alerts to new, fixed or improved Connect Care functions...

• New Submitter Column for Cancelled Lab Orders

As of February 9, 2023, In Basket notices of cancelled labs will have a "Submitter" column. While all users will see this field, the additional information will be particularly helpful for mixed-context prescribers, as an easy way to identify if the result had been sent to their community clinic, where they would normally manage lab cancellations. If there is not a submitter associated with the result, the field will remain blank. 

How to Manage Misdirected In Basket Results

Problem: Laboratory results can occasionally get misdirected. The affected prescriber may see In Basket notifications about patients that are not within the prescriber's circle of care. Indeed, reviewing this information inappropriately could constitute a privacy breach. What to do?

Considerations: In Basket messages that link to patient health information should relate to patients with whom the receiving prescriber has, has had, or will have an approved relationship (circle of care, quality or research).

Test results may be delivered to a prescriber's In Basket "Results" folder because of an automated routing scheme, or because the recipient was explicitly copied on the result. Results may also be delivered if the receiving provider is:

• a member of the patient’s Care Team and configured to receive results,
• signed into a results review message pool,
• supervising a medical learner, or
• the most responsible provider at the time of discharge for results reporting after the time of discharge.

Results that are believed to have been received in error should be reviewed to determine if any of these conditions apply before taking action to flag a misdirected result.

Solution: The Connect Care In Basket has a "QuickActions" tool that allows prescribers to manage results received in error. 

Select (click on) the In Basket result notification and then look to the button bar at the top of the result display. The "QuickActions" pick-list is in the left-most position. 

• Not My Result

• Use this action if the result was misdirected and should not have been routed to the recipient's In Basket, even if the provider has participated in the patient's care at some point.
• The Result Note window will open and the provider will be required to complete two SmartLists (use F2 to find and use pick-list) to indicate why the result is being marked as received in error and what, if any, steps have been taken to remediate.
• If none of the available pick-list options fit,  select "other" and provide a brief comment to better explain the issue and what has been or should be done.
• Upon completing the two SmartLists and accepting the message, the result note will be re-routed to an internal results routing error pool for review and action.
• The associated In Basket message will disappear.

• Tip: Results Management - Misdirected Results
• Manual: Misdirected Result Messages

"New Encounter" Button added to In-Basket Results Review

Enhancement updates provide short alerts to new, fixed or improved Connect Care functions...

• "New Encounter" In-Basket Speed Button

A speed button for “New Encounter” is added for use in In-Basket Results Review workflows. This complements the existing "Encounter" speed button, which allows prescribers to jump into the patient chart, at the correct encounter, when results are reviewed. It can help to check the clinical context when considering the significance of a new result.

However, sometimes the result is of such significance that the prescriber may wish to create a new documentation, orders-only, telephone or other encounter(s) to capture information about the finding or any actions required. This is what the "New Encounter" button speeds up.

The new speed button was added to Results Review in response to optimization requests.

Results Review - Alphabetic vs Categorical Sorting

Problem: Clinicians value tabular displays of laboratory test results. This helps appreciate a lot of information at once. However, if table rows are not ordered as expected, visual scanning does not perform as expected.

The Connect Care results review activity is organizing table rows (within sections) alphabetically, which differs from clinical convention. The elements of an electrolyte panel, for example, should be ordered by meaning (e.g., sodium, potassium, chloride, bicarb), not first letter of the test name.

Solution: The results review row order was set to alphabetical to match a Netcare provincial flowsheet. This was not as intended and needs to be reversed. A team is working to restore the clinically meaningful results ordering that physicians expect. The change should appear before Nov 14.