Lynda Jones and Jane Brady
Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board
Context:
If nurses wish to check if their patients’ laboratory test results are available, current practice is to repeatedly log onto the Welsh Clinical Portal (WCP) to view the status of their request or to telephone the pathology department.
A 2014 Betsi Cadwaladr UHB study at Wrexham Maelor Hospital found nurses in a typical paediatric ward spend an average of 28 minutes per shift doing this activity, for adult wards this figure is expected to be higher.
Aim:
Our aim was to produce a tool for healthcare professionals that allows them to provide safe, quality care in a timely manner. Our guiding principles ensure that we can reach this goal in a prudent manner:
User-Centred Design: The healthcare practitioners who will use the system are placed at the centre of design and development. Our work is progressively revised in an iterative design process with frequent consultation, requirements capture and qualitative usability testing.
Easy to Implement: Ping aids and augments practice works alongside existing IT systems with no disruption to current infrastructure.
The Project:
CHAI™ Ping is a notification service for use in clinical environments integrating with PAS (Patient Administration System) and Clinical Portals.
A permanently connected interface lists patients on the ward and alerts when results are ready for collection, in real time.
Safety and Privacy:
Ping assists with ensuring patient safety by maintaining logs on notifications, dismissal and resulting action.
The contents of test results themselves are not released, thereby safeguarding patient privacy; users must complete a further verification step by logging into WCP to retrieve results. Users retrieve actual results by verifiably logging in to WCP as normal.
Ping ensures effective use of the clinical portal.
Outcomes:
Following extensive testing with simulated PAS and WCP systems, CHAI™ Ping is ready for integration with real patient data for benchmark testing, final evaluation and roll-out.
Future Plans:
Future development plans will extend functionality to single-user registered apps on mobile devices; facilitating clinician-customised patient lists and auditing.
