SOLUTIONS IN ACTION
01
MEDICAL HANDOVER
which hinder the seamless transfer of vital patient information. Compounding this challenge is a limitation within the Oracle Health Millennium electronic Medical Record (eMR) system. The current framework of the eMR does not facilitate the straightforward sharing of patient lists among clinicians, particularly those working across varying shifts. This deficiency in the system architecture creates a significant barrier to effective communication and coordination among clinicians, ultimately impacting the quality of patient care, especially for those in critical conditions.
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· The Solution
Our proposed solution was the implementation of an advanced electronic Medical Handover system, meticulously integrated with the current Oracle Health Millennium electronic Medical Record (eMR). This innovative solution introduces a centralised platform, designed to enhance the efficiency and reliability of patient tracking. It achieves this by aggregating patients who meet specific criteria, determined by a set of strategically defined business rules.
The cornerstone of this solution is its ability to provide a unified view of all patients necessitating medical follow-up. This comprehensive interface consolidates all pertinent patient information into a singular, user-friendly, and interactive dashboard. Such a centralised approach not only streamlines the handover process but also ensures that no critical patient information is overlooked during shift changes and transitions in care.
By harnessing this system, healthcare providers can more effectively manage patient handovers, significantly reducing the risk of missed or delayed care for critically ill patients. The Medical Handover solution thereby represents a pivotal advancement in our commitment to delivering continuous, high-quality patient care across all levels of our healthcare services.
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· Technical Solution
Our technical solution involved the creation of a specialized screen within the Oracle Health Millennium application, using the MPage framework. This custom screen is tailored to streamline the Medical Handover process, offering an interactive interface that integrates seamlessly with existing Oracle Health Millennium functionalities.
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· The Outcome
The outcome of implementing this solution is significant: it eliminates missed Medical Handovers, greatly improves the management of seriously ill patients, enhances communication among clinicians, and significantly improves clinical documentation pertaining to Medical Handovers.
· The Problem
The existing protocol for medical handover within our healthcare system is predominantly manual, a method that has unfortunately led to lapses in the continuity of care for some critically ill patients. This issue stems from inefficiencies inherent in the manual process,
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02
TASK MANAGEMENT
· The Problem
The current task management framework within the Oracle Health Millennium eMR system presents significant limitations in clinical workflow optimisation. Notably, the system lacks the capability to autonomously generate and allocate tasks to specific clinicians or groups. This restriction necessitates manual​
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intervention, hindering efficiency. Furthermore, the intrinsic design of the Oracle Health Millennium eMR mandates the completion of any initiated tasks within a stringent 24-hour period, a constraint that may not always align with clinical realities or patient care priorities. Compounding these challenges is the absence of a feature for the automatic generation of reminder tasks, a critical component for ensuring timely follow-ups and continuity of care. This deficiency in the system's functionality necessitates a strategic re-evaluation to enhance task management efficiency, thereby optimising patient care and clinical operations.
· The Solution
The proposed solution was the implementation of an advanced electronic Task Management system, seamlessly integrated with the existing Oracle Health Millennium electronic Medical Record (eMR) infrastructure. This innovative system introduces enhanced flexibility and control in the management of clinical tasks. It facilitates the creation of tasks with the added capability for users to specify a due date and time extending beyond the current 24-hour limitation. Moreover, this system is designed with a sophisticated assignment feature, enabling the delegation of tasks to individual clinicians or to predefined groups, thus ensuring a more targeted and efficient workflow. This integration not only streamlines task management processes but also significantly elevates the standard of patient care through improved time management and task prioritisation.
· Technical Solution
Our technical solution entailed the meticulous development of three custom screens within the Oracle Health Millennium application, leveraging the advanced MPage framework. These bespoke screens are intricately designed to enhance and streamline task management processes within the healthcare setting.
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All Tasks Screen: This comprehensive interface exhibits an all-encompassing view, displaying both assigned and unassigned tasks. It serves as a centralised dashboard, offering a holistic overview of all ongoing clinical tasks within the system.
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My Tasks Screen: Tailored for individual user experience, this screen exclusively presents tasks that are assigned to the user currently logged in. It provides a personalised task list, enabling clinicians to focus on their specific responsibilities and manage their workload more efficiently.
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Unassigned Tasks Screen: Dedicated to showcasing tasks that have not yet been assigned, this interface facilitates the efficient allocation of tasks. It ensures that no task goes unnoticed and aids in the optimal distribution of workload among the clinical staff.
Each of these screens is designed to be highly interactive, harnessing the existing functionalities of Oracle Health Millennium to deliver a user-friendly and efficient task management experience. By integrating these screens into the existing system, we have significantly enhanced the capability of clinicians to manage, prioritise, and execute tasks, ultimately contributing to improved patient care and operational efficiency.
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· The Outcome
The implementation of this advanced task management solution within the Oracle Health Millennium eMR system has yielded significant improvements in clinical workflow and accountability. The key outcomes include:
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Enhanced Accountability: There has been a marked improvement in the accountability for task completion. The system's ability to assign tasks to specific clinicians or groups and track their progress ensures a higher degree of responsibility and adherence to clinical duties.
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Monitoring of Extended Duration Tasks: The newly integrated functionality allows for the effective monitoring of tasks with extended durations. This feature is pivotal in managing long-term patient care plans and complex clinical processes, ensuring no critical task is overlooked.
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Generation of System-Triggered Tasks for Follow-Up: The system now possesses the capability to autonomously generate tasks when clinician follow-up is evaluated as necessary. This ensures timely interventions and continuous patient care, particularly in scenarios requiring regular monitoring and assessment.
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Automated Reminder Task Creation: The system now benefits from the integration of automated reminder tasks, generated in accordance with predefined business rules. This feature plays a crucial role in enhancing task management efficiency, ensuring that important tasks receive the required attention and are executed within the appropriate time frames.
Overall, these outcomes significantly contribute to the optimisation of task management in clinical settings, ensuring a more organised, efficient, and patient-centric approach to healthcare delivery
03
VIRTUAL WARD
· The Problem
The current system for tracking and managing patients in our virtual care service is marked by labour-intensive processes and inefficiencies. This suboptimal management has hindered the service's ability to scale
effectively and has resulted in clinicians inadvertently missing client appointments.
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· The Solution
Our solution introduced an advanced electronic Referral and Patient Management system, seamlessly integrated with the existing Oracle Health Millennium eMR. This system revolutionises the management of our virtual ward service by offering a centralised view of both external and internal referrals.
The Referral Management component of this solution is designed to provide a comprehensive overview of the referral landscape, streamlining the process of tracking and responding to referrals to our virtual ward service.
Simultaneously, the Patient Management aspect of the system offers a unified view of all patients within the virtual ward. It centralises pertinent patient information, thereby facilitating more timely and informed scheduling decisions. This component enhances the user experience by amalgamating all relevant patient data into a single, interactive, and user-friendly interface, which can be accessed directly within the eMR.
Together, these solutions represent a significant leap forward in our ability to manage virtual ward operations more effectively, ensuring that patient care is both efficient and of the highest quality.
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· Technical Solution
In response to the distinct operational needs of our virtual ward service, we have developed two custom screens within the Oracle Health Millennium application, utilising the versatile MPage framework. These screens are specifically engineered to cater to the unique workflows intrinsic to the virtual ward service.
The design of these screens is highly interactive, ensuring ease of use for clinicians. They are adeptly integrated with the existing functionalities of the Oracle Health Millennium system, thereby enhancing the overall efficiency and user experience without disrupting the established system infrastructure.
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· The Outcome
The implementation of this solution has led to substantial enhancements in service efficiency and capacity. Key outcomes include:
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Doubled Capacity: The new functionality has enabled the service to expand its capacity by 100%, significantly increasing its operational scope.
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Unified Patient View: Clinicians can now view both inpatient and outpatient data on a single screen, greatly simplifying patient management.
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Streamlined Referral and Documentation: The integration with the eMR has streamlined the referral and documentation processes, enhancing overall workflow efficiency.
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Consolidated Appointment Information: All scheduled appointment details are now clearly consolidated on one screen, providing clinicians with immediate and organised access to crucial information.
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04
CRITICAL RESULTS
MANAGEMENT
· The Problem
State Health has issued a mandate requiring all Community Health Outpatient Care services to capture specific state-mandated data and report accordingly. This essential data is exclusively captured within the Oracle Health Millennium electronic
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Medical Record (eMR). However, the largest sexual health clinic in our network has not been utilising the Cerner eMR, resulting in a significant gap in meeting these reporting requirements. The clinic is now faced with the necessity to transition to the Oracle Health Millennium eMR. Yet, a critical challenge emerges with this migration: the Oracle Health Millennium eMR currently lacks an efficient solution for managing critical results, especially when dealing with large volumes of data, which is a fundamental requirement for the high-throughput nature of the clinic's operations.
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· The Solution
The proposed resolution involves the development of a bespoke electronic Critical Results Management system, intricately integrated with the existing Oracle Health Millennium eMR. This innovative system is designed to proficiently manage and prioritise critical patient results. It operates by presenting a meticulously curated list of patients whose test results are classified as critical, determined through a set of department-specific business rules. This system not only ensures efficient handling of critical results but also aligns seamlessly with the operational workflows of the clinic.
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· Technical Solution
To address the unique requirements of managing critical and standard results, we engineered two custom screens within the Oracle Health Millennium application, leveraging the advanced capabilities of the MPage framework. These screens are specifically tailored for the efficient management and review of both urgent (critical) and routine test results.
The design of these screens emphasises interactivity, ensuring a user-friendly experience while fully utilising the existing functionalities of the Oracle Health Millennium system. The distribution and routing of results to the relevant screen for each specific department or clinic are governed by user-defined Discern Expert rules. This approach allows for precise and efficient handling of test results, ensuring that critical data is promptly and accurately directed to the appropriate clinical teams for review.
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· The Outcome
The implementation of this solution has led to significant improvements in operational efficiency and compliance. Key outcomes include:
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Reliable Detection of Critical Results: The system ensures that critical results are consistently identified and addressed, virtually eliminating the risk of missed critical data.
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Compliance with State Reporting Mandates: The clinic/department now successfully adheres to the mandatory state reporting requirements, effectively fulfilling its regulatory obligations.
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Streamlined Workflow: The introduction of this system has resulted in a more efficient workflow, significantly reducing the time and effort required to manage and report results.
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05
PHARMACY DISCHARGE
MEDICATION
· The Problem
The current methodology employed for the
dispensation of discharge medications in the pharmacy setting is characterised by a predominantly manual workflow. This process, intrinsically laden with inefficiencies, has been a contributing factor to protracted patient discharge times.
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· The Solution
The proposed resolution involves the implementation of an advanced electronic Pharmacy Discharge Medication system, seamlessly integrated with the existing Oracle Health Millennium electronic Medical Record (eMR). This state-of-the-art solution equips the pharmacy with a comprehensive and unified dashboard, displaying a complete overview of all imminent patient discharges that necessitate medication dispensation.
· Technical Solution
To address the specific requirements of the discharge medication workflow within the hospital, we have developed a custom screen in the Oracle Health Millennium application, leveraging the robust capabilities of the MPage framework. This specialised screen has been meticulously tailored to streamline the discharge medication process.
The interface of this screen is highly interactive, designed to enhance user engagement and efficiency. It adeptly incorporates and utilizes the existing functionalities of the Cerner Millennium system, ensuring a seamless integration with the current workflow and infrastructure.
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· The Outcome
The implementation of the Pharmacy Discharge Medication solution has led to significant enhancements in pharmaceutical operations. Key outcomes include:
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Enhanced Quality and Safety in Medication Dispensing: The solution empowers pharmacists with the necessary tools to conduct comprehensive quality and safety checks when dispensing discharge medications, thereby elevating the standard of patient care.
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Reduced Patient Discharge Times: The streamlined workflow facilitated by this solution has substantially decreased the time required for patient discharge, enhancing the efficiency of hospital operations.
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Unified System for Discharge Medications: The introduction of a single, integrated system specifically for managing discharge medications has simplified the process, ensuring a more organised and effective approach to medication management at the point of patient discharge.