A Mobile, Electronic Health Record-Connected Application for Managing Team Workflows in Inpatient Care

Area of Science:

• Health Informatics
• Digital Health Tools
• Clinical Workflow Optimization

Background:

• Electronic health records (EHRs) often fail to adequately support clinical needs for synthesizing and acting on patient information.
• Existing systems present challenges in managing real-time data for effective patient care.

Purpose of the Study:

• To design, build, and implement an EHR-connected tool for rounding and handoffs.
• To provide real-time data for care plan organization and team-based care.
• To evaluate the tool's objective use, efficacy, efficiency, and user experience.

Main Methods:

• Employed user-centered design and Agile development methodologies.
• Developed Carelign as a responsive web application integrating institutional data.
• Assessed acceptance through usage metrics, observations, time-motion studies, and surveys.

Main Results:

• Carelign was implemented across 152 services in three hospitals.
• Achieved near-immediate adoption with consistent high weekly user engagement over 4 years.
• Users reported positive ratings for workflow integration, clinical support, and work-life impact.

Conclusions:

• User-focused design and multidisciplinary teams facilitated the creation and sustained use of Carelign.
• The tool effectively supports evolving care plan organization needs for diverse users and teams.
• Carelign represents a successful patient-centered digital workflow solution.