Improving Electronic Progress Notes for Better Patient Care

1. A Briefing on Electronic Progress Notes Lynn Jacobs Svetlana Yedreshteyn Organizational Development & Learning July 15th, 2009

2. Electronic Progress Notes • Current method is going away • Progress notes, to date, have been inadequate and, at times, dangerous

3. Inconsistent Documentation A patient acutely deteriorates and codes. He is admitted to the MICU and his wife is called. Upon hearing he is in the ICU on a ventilator the wife asks why we didn’t follow his living will. The patient’s end of life wishes were documented on a prior admission but not in the current chart. Additionally, while the attending knew the patient’s wishes, the information was not included in a progress note.

4. Benefits of New Solution • More succinct, clinically relevant, and factually correct progress notes • Notes will be available when you need them • You will no longer have to print out notes • Improved communication and coordination among members of the healthcare team • It will be easier to support appropriate levels of billing • Notes will be configured to each specific service

5. Impact of Current Practice • Cost of unnecessary settlements • Cost of legal fees

6. Hoping and Waiting Patient is admitted to the PACU after major abdominal vascular repair. Pulses at the end of the case are absent in both lower extremities. The surgeon expects pulses will return in the immediate post-operative period but does not document this or document a clear follow up plan. Nursing and surgical residents accept the patient’s absent pulses as expected and do not call the attending when the patient’s extremities deteriorate from lack of blood flow. When the attending returns to see the patient there is myonecrosis and bilateral amputation is indicated. Family declines the procedure and patient goes on to die.

7. The Verbal Report Patient’s AICD is turned off in the OR but not documented. Verbal report is given to the PACU that the AICD is off. RN questions resident who says it’s OK to transfer the patient. Resident says no problem as she is sure someone would have told her if she needed to turn the AICD back on. Patient is transferred to the floor and sustains a V-tach arrest that is caught on telemetry in a timely manner. The AICD had not been turned back on. 7

8. Note #1 Subjective/Objective Subjective/Objective: Pt states that he feels well. No SOB, states that he feels no pain in his leg, and has been walking around with PT. O: no events overnight. Gen: lying in bed, NAD Pulm: coarse breath sounds, no crackles CV: S1S2+, no M/R/G, irregularly irregular rhythm Abd: soft, NT/ND, BS+ Ext: legs no longer edematous, erythema over RLE approximately same as yesterday. Lab Results Section Routine Hematology 9/18/2008 7:05 White Blood Cells 8.1 Nucleated RBCs 0 Red Blood Cells 2.71 Hemoglobin 8.7 Hematocrit 25.6 MCV 94.4 MCH 32.0 RDW 12.5 Platelets 411 MPV 7.49 Neutrophils 65 Lymphocytes 18 Monocytes 11 Eosinophils 5 Basophils 1 Absolute Neutrophils 5.3 Absolute Lymphs 1.4 Absolute Monocytes 0.9 Absolute Eosinophils 0.4 Absolute Basophils 0.1

9. Note #1 (continued) Assessment/Plan Assessment/Plan: 90M h/o CHF, COPD (on home O2), HTN, CRI (baseline Cr 2.2-2.6), BPH, hypothyroid, PAF, p/w RLE pain x1day. In ED, febrile to 102, in Afib with HR of 110. Pt received 500 cc NS bolus and IV dilt in ED, RLE found to be edematous, swollen; likely cellulitis. LE duplex negative, BCx positive for Acinetobacter in 2/2 bottles, sensitive to Unasyn, Cipro. Sputum Cx pos for MRSA. ID - cellulitis, Acinetobacter bacteremia - leg improving slowly, seems to continue to improve off Abx CV - CHF, PAF - will continue to monitor I/O's, daily weights - continuing Lasix 40 mg PO q12h - continuing norvasc 5 mg daily Pulm - pt breathing well, will cont chest PT and nebs endo - TSH normal, continuing synthroid at current dose - continuing insulin sliding scale for hyperglycemia - urine albumin:creatinine ratio elevated

10. Note #1 (continued) Assessment/Plan GU - continuing proscar, flomax Heme - anemia w/u consistent with iron deficiency, but anemia is macrocytic with normal RDW; B12/folate normal, will give iron PO - heme consulted, will f/u on recs for rest of MM/lymphoma workup as outpt (BMBx) PPx - DVT: HSQ 5000 units Q8H - on PPI, will attempt to determine why dispo - plan to D/C home with services on 9/19, tomorrow if okay with heme - will attempt to reinstate HHA today - appreciate rehab consult recs - full code.  Handwritten attending notes stated not iron deficiency

11. Note #2 Interval History No events overnight. No dyspnea. Ambulating. Vital Signs (input from ICIS) Physical Exam: Pulm: Unchanged from prior (Coarse BS) Ext – Unchanged from prior (RLE erythema, no edema) Labs: Notable for normocytic anemia and thrombocytosis Stable renal insufficiency No other diagnositic tests Rehab and Heme consults noted and appreciated. Heme eval to be completed as an outpatient Diagnosis/Problem/Plan Cellulitis with Acinetobacter bactermia– better Monitor off antibiotics; skin care CHF Diastolic – acute-on-chronic – better Continue furosemide 40mg PO q 12 hours

12. Note #2 (continued) Afib – unchanged Rate controlled, Anemia – acute – unchanged Follow up with hematology as outpatient for further eval COPD – chronic – unchanged Continue O2 via nasal canula, chest PT HTN – chronic - unchanged Continue Norvasc Chronic renal insufficiency – unchanged Stable Hypothryoidism – chronic – unchanged Stable on current synthroid Risk for DVT – acute – unchanged Continue SC Heparin 5000U Q8 Goals towards discharge Ambulatory on oral meds with home services in place Progress toward meeting discharge goals Awaiting home services

13. Interval History is the first section of the progress notes for attending MD, fellow and medical student

14. Hovering over book icon will display reference of document, date, time vital sign values where entered. Automatically retrieves most recent vital signs entered by nursing & others. Looks back 48 hours, otherwise it’s blank. You can enter vital signs taken by you.

15. If there is no change from previous day, then select “retrieve previous data”; text box will auto populate with previous data (if any) entered by AUTHOR.

17. If Lab Results are reviewed, additional selections display and becomes mandatory. Comments text box also displays.

18. Text box for Other Diagnostic comments

19. Multiple selections allowed plus a type in space for others.

20. Text box automatically populates with previous data entered by AUTHOR. If worse, unchanged or better is selected, data will persist until it is resolved or ruled out. Plan is always blank. Selecting ‘Previous plan remains the same’ will auto populate previous data (if any) entered by AUTHOR.

21. Displays 5 additional diagnosis/problems/plans.

22. Text boxes will be populated by most recent data ( if any) entered by AUTHOR .

23. Attending MD’s progress note statement of collaboration/supervision

25. PROGRESS NOTES MEDICINE Effective July 1, 2009, the Medicine Service will enter all progress notes in ICIS. This initiative moves us closer to the goal of achieving a paperless environment and above all, improving the quality of our documentation.  The structured progress note has been configured to each specific role for the Medicine Service (e.g. an attending or fellow’s note will NOT have a hospital course entry whereas the resident/interns note will). Eventually, other services progress notes will also be configured specifically to each service. Please note that manual copy forward will be suppressed in the new progress note.  To expedite note completion, the system will copy forward predefined sections of the exam, problem list, and discharge criteria.   It is highly recommended that you start the process of documenting care for the patient by viewing documentation done by other clinicians the previous 24hrs (or greater), via the Clinical Summary Tab. Selecting Physician View will display VS, Current Medications, Lab Results, Other Ancillary Results, Consult Notes and Progress Notes.  From the Progress Note tile, you have the option of viewing the content and or enter a new note.