FHIRcast High Level Use Cases
This document is a description of the use cases FHIRcast should solve.
Integration of specialized applications into a clinician's workflow is important. Maintaining context between multiple systems or applications used by a clinician decreases mistakes.
For many production use-cases, the core integration concepts include user and patient context.
The first core problem of context synchronization can be summarized as a user story:
Story: As a physician, I would like all the applications I am using to show me information for only one patient at a time, so I don't accidentally use information about one patient to diagnose/treat another leading to mistreatment and a preventable bad outcome.
Dr. Jones, a radiologist, is using a new PACS system with integration to reporting and EHR. Dr. Jones is looking at a case for Janet. Dr. Jones gets a phone call from the ER and starts looking at Samuel's images, while reporting and EMR still have Janet open. This presents a number of critical problems, the first being safety. When Dr. Jones discusses the case with the ER physician, does Dr. Jones realize she may have been looking at information for her previous patient?
Story: As a physician, I would like all the applications I am using to automatically and intuitively show me only information about what I'm working on. I don't want to change the context in each application I am using.
After the core issue of safety, the second core problem of context synchronization is efficiency. Achieving "few clicks" is really about lessening cognitive load, mindshare, and defocused thinking. Looking for buttons on a screen distracts from the provider's core problem, which is understanding the patient's condition, deciding on treatment, caring, and communicating with the patient.*
Story: As a physician, I would like to login to one system, to prove my identity and then have all other systems use that identity to allow me access to information so I don't need to remember logins for multiple applications.
Single sign-on is a basic, widely supported improvement in any user's workflow across multiple applications. Users with multiple accounts and especially, additional credentials, decreases security.
[] Stories:
Many systems share context in addition to a given patient. For example, some integrations may synchronize on encounter or imaging study ([]add color here). Providing clinicians with information relevant to their workflow allows them to spend more time thinking about the patient and less time looking for information.
Synchronizing a current accession number across multiple systems is a common need in radiologists' workflows.