COVID-19 Connect Care Workflows
This section gathers ideas about how to integrate Connect Care clinical content into workflows that support care of patients with COVID-19 illness.
Please see the COVID-19 Content page for information about testing, assessment, treatment guidance, order sets, documentation and other supports specifically designed to address the needs of COVID care, and the COVID-19 Resources page for links to supporting clinical guidance and protocols.
Initial Assessment
Ordering COVID-19 Tests
Reviewing Test Results
Risk Assessment
Problem Lists
COVID-19 Immunization Documentation
COVID-19 vaccination status is important to document, as it affects a number of other COVID-19 workflows. Finding immunization records, and documenting where gaps need to be filled, matches workflows for other vaccination types. There are a few unique considerations for COVID-19 immunizations:
Most COVID-19 vaccinations administered in Alberta will appear in Netcare before appearing some weeks later in Connect Care (these delays are decreasing).
Vaccinations administered outside Alberta, and some within-Alberta administrations, are recorded only if formally submitted and validated using an online self-serve tool for Albertans. Persons without an Alberta Health Care card are not able to use this validation pathway.
Connect Care emergency workflows use a screening questionnaire that includes checking a patient's self-reported COVID-19 immunization status (none, partial, full). This information is not formally validated but can help identify persons whose information is not yet entered to Netcare or Connect care, or may never be entered through those channels. Three options are defined as follows:
"None" - patient reports that no COVID-19 immunization of any type has been received at any time, or is within 14 days of receiving a first dose.
"Partial" - patient reports at least one COVID-19 immunization but not all doses required for a complete series. The definition of a complete series differs by vaccine type (e.g., one dose for "Johnson & Johnson" vaccine type, 2 doses for other vaccine types and 2 or 3 doses where a booster is required in addition to a basic vaccine series).
"Full" - patient reports receiving all doses required for a particular vaccine and patient risk group (1 or 2 plus possible booster requirement).
Finding Immunization Information
Documenting Immunizations
Admission
Admission Orders
Selecting Clinical Services
Patients with confirmed COVID-19 illness are, as possible, admitted to COVID services and locations, which may be shared by more than one clinical service (e.g., General Internal Medicine and Pulmonary Medicine). Patients with suspected or resolved COVID-19 are typically admitted to an inpatient service befitting their primary hospital problem, but may, due to pandemic pressures, need to be admitted to an alternate specialty. It is important to confirm and enter the correct clinical service in an admission order.
Changes to COVID-19 results and illness in hospital can lead to an intra-facility transfer between services. Sometimes the receiving service does not get updated in a patient's encounter record, necessitating corrective action in order for inpatient census reports to remain accurate.
Documentation
Inpatient Care
Pre-rounding
Rounding
Intra-Facility Transfers
Mandatory Isolation
Mandatory Isolation for non-Compliant Patients
Discharge
Follow-up for Pulmonary COVID Effects