Rule-based clinician-developed programmes can facilitate haemodialysis clinical workflows

Area of Science:

• Medical Informatics
• Nephrology
• Clinical Workflow Optimization

Background:

• Electronic medical records (EMRs) often lack functionality for identifying specific patient needs within routine hospital workflows.
• Detecting patients requiring haemodialysis admitted under non-nephrology services presents a challenge for current EMR systems.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the feasibility and performance of a clinician-developed automated haemodialysis patient finder.
• To demonstrate the potential of clinician-driven modifications to electronic clinical workflows.

Main Methods:

• Development and implementation of an automated patient finder tool.
• Evaluation of the tool's performance over a 6-month period, focusing on uptime, false negatives, and false positives.

Main Results:

• The automated haemodialysis patient finder operated with zero downtime for 6 months.
• The system demonstrated zero false negatives and zero false positives in patient identification.
• Successful detection of patients requiring haemodialysis admitted under non-nephrology services.

Conclusions:

• Clinician-developed automated tools can effectively address gaps in institutional EMRs.
• Automated patient finders can significantly improve the detection of patients requiring specialized care, like haemodialysis.
• Empowering clinicians to alter electronic workflows offers substantial benefits for patient care and operational efficiency.