TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction

Orders are workflows used for the purpose of requesting a service 

Examples include: 

  • Lab forms for printing. 
  • Requests for consults from other services. 
  • Referrals for procedures (e.g. gastroscopy). 
  • Requests for outpatient clinic bookings.


A Cortex Order consists of a Cortex form and a Delivery Method.


When designing a Cortex order, ensure that both the clinicians that complete the form and the recipients of the form are involved in the design process.


If a form is to be printed by the recipients, it may be useful to provide space for them to write in. This can be done by using Rich Text inside a panel to create the necessary space and structure on the printed output


Types of Orders


Lab forms


Lab forms are recommended to be based off an organisation approved template.  Feedback should be actively sort from your laboratory service before publishing a new Cortex Order lab workflow


When designing remember that the Editor view faces the test requestor, hence this can display decision support elements (eg common tests preselected). 


The Viewer view is printed and travels with sample to lab. It is ‘lab facing’ and therefore should support workflows in registration and the individual laboratories.  


Well designed layout will typically  vary significantly between Editor and Viewer views.


A well designed editor view should include: 

  • Requester information (if used for outpatients where).
  • Test profiles (common scenarios that predefine test selection and provide clinical details, and optional information about phlebotomy requirements eg tubes required).
  • Tests Required (prepopulated with checkboxes selected based on test profile selected).
  • Other information (including additional clinical details, requests for copies to patient and required date and time).


A well designed Viewer view should include: 

  • Registration information (including requester information, and any additional instructions to registration e.g. copies to patients) 
  • Critical result information (who and how laboratory should contact responsible clinician in the event of a critical result, eg phone numbers or roles to call via switchboard) 
  • Clinical Scenario (text generated based on combination of requestor information, test profile and any additional information provided) 
  • Tests required (simple list in provided in laboratory order to aid registration) 
  • Phlebotomy and late details (formatted region for handwriting sample drawer and time) 
  • Optional phlebotomy guidance (eg which tubes required for tests selected). 


Request for consults

These forms are typically developed by the services that receive requests to see patients. Using an Order form for this ensures that appropriate information is provided. 

  • Consider if it is necessary to ask the referring clinician for information that may be easily accessible elsewhere in Cortex or other readily accessible data sources (eg Eclair).
  • However, some duplication of data may be required for the receiver to be able to complete triage or prioritise the request.


Outpatient bookings

These forms are used to streamline the process for arranging outpatient appointment for a patient after discharge 


When designing outpatient booking Orders it is vital to Involve the administrators that receive the email containing the PDF to ensure the design makes their workflow easy.


Internal referrals

These forms may request transfer of a patient, for example a patient going to another hospital for rehabilitation. 


Delivery Methods


The possible delivery methods for orders are: 

  • Printing to a specific printer (e.g. CCU printer) 
  • Printing to an designated named printer within the organisation 
  • Emailed as a PDF to a predefined email address


Delivery methods can be manual (these present as a choice at the point of signing) and/or automatic (this happens without any input from the user).


Email deliveries are always copied to the Cortex user to act as a confirmation it has been sent. A user can also tap into an Order and view the 'Deliveries' for the order. 


It is not recommended to use printers to deliver orders (except laboratory requests), as delivery is less reliable than email (for example printer out of paper, etc)


Although printing to A5 is a theoretical possibility, many printers are not loaded with A5 paper so it is not recommended to use this.


Email 

When designing an Email delivery there is a degree of control over the email template that gets sent.  Good template design will help the recipient process the order efficiently.


The data fields available for use in the subject or email text are: 


Form and User Data

{{record.name}} = Name of form

{{user.first_name}} {{user.last_name}} {{user.position.name}} = User name and position


Patient related data:

{{patient.external_id}} ie NHI

{{patient.full_name}}

{{patient.first_name}}

{{patient.last_name}}

{{patient.location.name}}

{{patient.location.room}}

{{patient.location.bed}}

{{patient.team.name}}


An example view of the the Cortex email delivery admin is shown below