I have been fortunate to collaborate with OntarioMD over the past year. Their EMR Practice Enhancement Program (EPEP) is a provincial change management service designed to help physicians enhance their EMR skills and efficiency to improve clinical and practice outcomes.
We have been working together around helping those of us in primary care with our cancer screening. One key lesson I learned from them is:
YOUR EMR IS THE SOURCE OF TRUTH
Thus, while there are external cancer screening tools such as the Screening Activity Report or Cytobase for Pap tests, I need to trust my EMR for patient care. From my EMR I know:
- Who is high risk
- Who is excluded for screening
- What the last test showed and;
- Who might be palliative so screening is inappropriate.
And I can use it to set a customized next screen due and find those who are overdue. So how can your EMR be used optimally for cancer screening? As a user of two different EMRs over the years – P &P and now OSCAR — I often struggled with this question. So, in collaboration with OntarioMD and the Hamilton FHT, we have created modules of best-recommended practices for the four most common EMRs: Accuro, P&P, OSCAR and Telus. For Telus click here.The (Preventative Care Summary information can be found starting on page 764.)