Therapy Plans

Therapy plans help organize the delivery of tests and therapies across multiple encounters for a specific health condition. Plans and protocols, like templates, express best practice and cannot be edited. 

Therapy plans are patient-specific instances of therapy protocols, with elements selected to suit unique patient needs and constraints. A plan can incorporate one or more treatment protocols under a common lead provider and a common review scheme. Simply put, a therapy plan is a recurring SmartSet. The purpose, structure and use of therapy plans is covered in a guide for clinicians:

Therapy plan support sessions are held for prescribers in advance of each Connect Care wave launch. These sessions provide background information and context, focusing on workflows with demonstrations. Although important for prescribers in the upcoming launch who anticipate therapy plan use, all Connect Care prescribers are welcome. See the blog post for dates and registration information.

Special Situations

Treatments in Emergency Departments

Sometimes a therapy plan is initiated or continued in an Emergency Department (ED) setting. EDs on Connect Care are able to book therapy plans in-system. 

Overlapping or Changing Plan Elements

The existence of a therapy plan can present challenges when prescribers wish to order tests or treatments in parallel to or instead of plan elements. 

Ordering Therapy Plans for Non-Local Patients

A tip sheet details the workflow for specialists in larger urban centres who manage care for patients referred in from rural or smaller centres. This workflow applies when both sites are on Connect Care (if both are not, the current processes apply, i.e., consult note with recommendation). 

Re-signing Restricted Medication Therapy Plans

If a date has been changed in a Restricted Medication Therapy Plan, the prescriber who ordered it will receive a notice in their In Basket indicating that review and re-sign is required. Plans with Restricted Medications cannot be signed by nurses, and therefore, if there is a date change to a Restricted Medication Therapy Plan, the plan will then have to be re-signed by the prescriber. (Note that Connect Care is continuing to look at options to reduce this workload on prescribers.)

Addiction and Mental Health: Neuromodulation

Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT), ketamine infusions, and Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (rTMS) are ordered through a Therapy Plan.

Expired Therapy Plans

By default, all order signatures in therapy plans expire after 12 months, regardless of when or if the treatment ordered within the plan has ended (unless the plan has been discontinued). When the treatments and orders from a therapy plan are close to the one-year expiry, the Lead Prescriber assigned to the plan will receive an In Basket notice, with a prompt to either renew or discontinue the Plan. It is necessary for the provider to re-sign the Plan for new orders to be released and actioned.

Resources