Care Path Launch – Heart Failure and COPD

The Heart Failure and Acute Exacerbation of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (AECOPD) Care Paths will launch in Connect Care on July 11, 2022. 

Who is the Care Path for?

Any patient admitted to hospital with a principal diagnosis of Heart Failure or COPD. While a patient can be placed on a Care Path at any point during the hospital stay, it is recommended to begin the Care Path on admission.

What is a Care Path and why use it?

A Care Path is an advanced clinical decision support tool in Connect Care which summarizes relevant patient information, incorporates evidence, and builds multidisciplinary care into a single workflow path based on the patient’s primary diagnosis. Advantages include:

• Automatically integrates evidence into care – Care Paths help providers to see summaries of diagnosis-specific care evidence in context of a patient’s relevant health information, enabling personalization of care decisions to optimize quality and safety of care.
• Improves efficiency by summarizing relevant information – The Care Path Summary page consolidates patient information specific to the primary diagnosis into one view with quick links to relevant assessments, labs, vitals, medications, rapid rounds, expected date of discharge (EDD), and problem-oriented charting.
• Provides specific guidance for phases of care – Care Paths includes imbedded Order Sets for hospital admission, as well as workflows to support managing day-to-day hospital care. Care paths also help to guide coordinated transitions between acute, primary and community-based care.

Is there evidence to support Care Path use?

Yes! The use of standard order sets and clinical pathways have been associated with improved patient outcomes including decreased length of stay, reduced hospital readmission rates, improved adherence to evidence, reduced healthcare costs, and even substantially reduced patient mortality. 

What do you need to do?

Care Paths are launching on July 11, 2022. Prior to that date, please watch the training video(s) below in My Learning Link (MLL). Benefits: learn how to use Care Paths efficiently to save time, and earn CME credits!

• Unaccredited summary course: EPIC - Care Paths - Prescribers (20 min)
• Note: This course is also inserted into the accredited modules listed below. 

or 

• Accredited course (Care Path-specific):
• Heart Failure Disease Care Path Integration: Evidenced-Based Guideline Recommended Best Care 
• RCPSC MOC 3 – SAP 1.5 hrs 
• CFPC Mainpro+ 3-credits-per-hour for 1.5 hrs (4.5 credits)
• Acute Exacerbation of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Care Path Integration - Evidenced-Based Guideline Recommended Best Care 
• RCPSC MOC 3 – SAP 1.0 hr 
• CFPC Mainpro+ 3-credits-per-hour for 1.0 hr (3.0 credits) 

For more information, see the updated Care Paths section of the Manual.

• Manual: Care Paths