Information for patient summary

Thank you Allana.
Sadly I have to miss tomorrow for a medical appointment.

I wonder if “what matters to you” could be added as a prompt in the “Patient Story”? Interested in what everyone thinks!

Sandy

Hello everyone,
Thank you, Sandy and Tracey, for your valuable insights. The timing of your feedback is perfect, and we will certainly discuss it!

The International Patient Summary (IPS) will introduce two new sections later this spring/early summer that offer promising ways to prioritize critical safety information. I’d love to hear your thoughts, and the thoughts of our other Patient Summary stakeholders, on how the following sections could address the concerns raised:
1) Alerts: This section brings the most important healthcare information to the forefront, highlighting extreme problems or potential dangers. Previously, ‘alerts’ were reported as ‘problems,’ risking the loss of immediacy and importance. The new Alerts section will explicitly flag potential dangers to or from the patient or obstacles to care.
2) Patient Story: This section allows patients to communicate what matters most to them, directly or through a proxy. It captures personal priorities or critical information that the attending clinician should know.

In our working group, we’ll discuss the timing for incorporating these sections into the pan-Canadian Patient Summary (Canada’s adaptation of the IPS). Collaboration is key to making the patient summary a safer and more comprehensive tool. Thanks again for your thoughtful feedback!

Allana

Thank you Tracey for your wise and supportive reply. Sandy

Thank you, Sandra, for your valuable input! As a registered nurse, I completely agree with your recommendation. Here in Manitoba we have a patient summary called the Home Clinic Client Summary, which is generated from data entered in certain fields of a primary care clinic's electronic medical record (EMR). The summary is sent to our province-wide electronic health record, which is a repository of a variety of clinical information, called eChart. The summary is sent without review by the provider (with a disclaimer of same noted on the summary) in order to expedite the information being sent. Our provider advisory group decided it would be a burden to require the submitting providers to review every single one, hence the disclaimer. We are still trying to get providers to include more robust information. For example, we have an Allergies section, but only a small percentage of summaries contain any information thus far. We also have a Home Clinic Comments section at the very top of the summary; however, again, this section is rarely used, but it was intended for the very thing you mentioned - "do not prescribe [x]," or any other critical information the provider deems important.

I hope, as you do, that this patient safety information is incorporated in some way.

Regards,
Tracey Alderson RN BN MSN
Clinical Informaticist, EHR Services
Shared Health MB/Digital Shared Services

Hello to all
I am super new to this group, so I am here without your experience.

I do have an ask for your consideration and if you agree, your support.

I am concerned about the allergy section of a summary not being sufficient to ensure patient safety. I feel “do not prescribe” information is also very important to capture and include in the Patient Summary.

There are many with health conditions - Down Syndrome, Parkinson’s Disease to name two - who will experience permanent functional harm if prescribed certain classes of medications.

Those who have recovered from addiction to opioids would benefit from not being prescribed them again, or being prescribed them with great care.

I do not tolerate anti inflammatory medications as I experienced kidney injury which took years to recover from.

These are not allergies and I feel for patient safety the Patient Summary would be more complete with the addition of a “do not prescribe” section.

I don’t believe this is “on the radar” for the patient summary, but hope it is not to late to be considered.

Thank you.
Sandy Ketler
Person with lived experience
Patient Advisor
Wife, Mother, sister, friend
Kelowna BC