Improvement Projects

About

DCP Improvent projects are small bite size projects that you can undertake via patient file reviews. Perform a review of patient records having coding or data defficiencies and implement incremental improvement. These tasks enhance file accuracy and utility.

Why a need for Improvement Projects

The Problem

Performing patient record reviews is often considered difficult to implement. It may be possible to extract lists of patients but then the process of reviewing records and also monitoring progress remains problematic.

Simplification of the whole process is required to make it accessible, feasible and easy to track progressl

The Solution

DCP Improvement projects simplify the process of finding patient records for review, maintaining the list, opening patient records directly from the list and tracking progress.

It also allows patient exclusion reasons to be recorded practice wide so all doctors using the DCP Improvement project will benefit if you correct the record or apply an exclusion reason.

It is a simple process to work through the list at your leasure, allowing you to spend time allotments as allowed to reach the end goal of removing all patients from the list.

Get Started

There is just one improvement project available at time of release. It is titled 'Codify Diabetes'.

To access the DCP Improvement Projects use the DCP Functions Icon at top of panel and then click on the Improvement Project button.

First Run

--- The Improvement Projects form

When first run the project needs to search for patients matching the criteria for the project. In the case of the 'Codify Diabetes' project this is simple the patients with no coded diagnosis of diabetes but having uncoded diagnoses with the word diabetes included in the Descriptor.

This is the form that will display for first run. Click on the 'Run' button to begin the search for matching patients.

--- The Codify Diabetes Patient Finder

Progress is displayed as the search runs. when compeleted the search may or may not find any matching patients.

--- After Searching showing one patient found

If no matching patients are found, a message will notify of this and no further steps are required.

If any matching patients are found the application will proceed to the next stage with display of the patient list.

Working with the patient List

--- The patient list with only one patient found from the the test database showing

With the patient list displayed, your task is to open patient files - use the 'Open' button in the grid - and go to the past history.

Within the past history your task is to identify the uncoded diagnosis of diabetes and correct the uncoded diagnosis by converting it to a coded diagnosis if appropriate. Alternatively if the patient does not have diabetes, either remove the uncoded diagnosis, change its wording or delete it.

Correcting or excluding patient records

If the uncoded diagnosis of diabetes is considered a correct diagnosis with its wording intact and the patient does not have diabetes you should exclude the patient by clicking on the 'Exclude' button next to the open button in the patient list. When you exclude a patient you will need to supply a reason for exclusion. Once the patient is excluded, that patient will no longer be visible in the patient list.

Excluding Patients

If the uncoded diagnosis of diabetes is considered a correct diagnosis with its wordingintact and the patient does not have diabetes you can withing the DCP Improvement Project exclude the patient by clicking on the 'Exclude' button next to the open button. When you exclude a patient you will need to supply a reason for exclusion. Once the patient is excluded, that patient will no longer be visiblei in the patient list.

Updates to the patient list

When opening patient records from the Patient list, those records will be watched for updates and the patient will be removed from the patient list automatically within a few minutes of a correction being made.

There is also a button above the patient list to perform scans of all remaining patients in the list to detect changes.

Patient Cohorts

Patients are searched from the cohort of active patients for the current user(3 consults within the last 2 years). Since the patients are specific to the user, all doctors can run their own improvement project dealing with their own patient records. There may be some ovelap based on attendences to multiple doctors within a project. In the case of overlap, once the patient record is updated and corrected or the patient has an exclusion reason recorded that patient will be updated for all users.

Rescans/Restarts

Once the patient list has been initialised with the cohort of patients, the list is immutable.

It is not possible to perform a new scan of the patient database for new patients matching criteria.

It is not possible to restart the improvement project once completed and all patients have been automatically excluded by updating the medical record or alternatively an exclusion reason applied.

Technical aspects of the patient list and the exclusion list

Each doctor within the practice that embarks on the Improvement project will have their own list of patients which will be generated from the patients that are active (having three consultations over the previous 2 years).

Patients may overlap and exist on more than one doctors list. If the patient record is updated and corrected by any one doctor the update will be reflected across all doctors patient lists.

Similarly if a patient is excluded by any one GP, the patient will no longer appear in other GP's patient lists that had previously shown the patient as having met criteria for the project.