TOTAL PATIENT MANAGEMENT FOR NEPHROLOGY
The Renal Application takes a total care approach to managing patients. This client server system is optimized to capture and deliver information pertinent to managing renal care. Modules in the Renal Application handle patient, insurance, and clinical information, as well as orders and communications.
The application is a comprehensive, Renal Care Management Information System, providing the following infrastructure:
- Support of the care giving process at the point of care
- Capture and report of information for both outcomes and business management
- Improvements in care giving by integrating user-defined treatment guidelines
The software works the way caregivers think, by capturing and delivering information as it is needed. It is designed around patient interactions to actively support caregivers at the point of care, and supporting all types of patient encounters related to:
- General Nephrology
- Pediatric Nephrology
- Hemodialysis
- Peritoneal Dialysis
Total Patient Management
The system takes a total care approach to managing patients, and is optimized to capture and deliver information pertinent to managing renal care. It is designed for outcomes-based reporting. Information is presented to facilitate various outcomes analyses, including patient and patient-group comparisons, severity and case-mix adjustments, as well as care-process assessments. Clinical information, orders, and notes are organized around clinical problems. This enables caregivers to better monitor and manage diabetes, hypertension, and other coexisting conditions.
Nephrology
The application incorporates modules to handle adult and pediatric office visits. Various renal and pre-ESRD assessment tools are built into the user interface, including:
- Physical examination
- Pre-ESRD lab assessments
- Tracking of core ESRD indicates
- Psycho-social assessments
- Semi-automated personalized referral letters
Dialysis
Working with leading dialysis equipment manufacturers and facilities, the Renal Application has successfully interfaced dialysis equipment with the process of managing hemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis patients. Its flexible interface and tools allow users to maintain the process in accordance with their practice preferences. In all cases, data integrity is preserved to allow robust outcomes reporting and benchmarking comparisons.
Managing the Process
During a hemodialysis session, the software guides the nurse or technician through the entire caregiver process, from the initial setup to discharge. The system provides the user with quick access to information as it is needed. The application follows the course of administering a dialysis treatment through the following stages:
- Dialysis preparation
- Pre-dialysis parameters
- dialysis treatment(including data interface with most dialysis machines)
- Intra-dialysis medications
- Post-dialysis parameters
- Discharge codes and notes
At each stage, the system provides key information from the patient’s medical record including core indicators, co-existing diseases, medications, etc. The specifics of each step can be modified and maintained by specified users at each center.
Patient Assessment Guidelines
The software is equipped with a guideline builder to create and modify assessment instruments to be called-up and used during patient encounters. Guidelines can be logically constructed to manage question flow based on previous responses. This sets up a vehicle to create on-line guidelines to support treatment pathways and collect information at the point of care. Several assessment instruments are already built into the software, and can be easily modified by specified users, including:
- Quality of life
- Pre-dialysis
- Intra-dialysis
- Periodic
- Complications
These and any newly created assessments are fully integrated into the dialysis process and are automatically called-up based on user- defined prompts.
Peritoneal Dialysis
The Renal Application manages peritoneal dialysis encounters in much the same way it handles hemodialysis encounters. It uses a process-centered approach to managing training, routine checkups, complications and care planning. Renal Clinical Application also comes equipped with various peritoneal dialysis assessments, including:
- PET test
- Health assessments
- Compliance reports
- Complications
Process-Centered Patient Management
Quality care depends on both the process of care giving activities and their outcomes. The Renal Application’s integrated analytic and reporting engine measures health and business outcomes and its guidelines builder provides the tools to improve the care process. With these, the application becomes a powerful medium for continuous quality improvement of renal care.
