BeQuinT created the working group to define a frame of reference and provide recommendations for the (further) development of the electronic order and prescription (EOP) of blood components in the Belgian hospitals.
Why electronically?
The order and prescription of a blood component by a physician are the first acts in the transfusion process. A well designed electronic order and prescription of blood components can facilitate the process of transfusion in many ways, e.g.:
- ensuring the authentication and authorisation of the ordering and prescribing doctor,
- immediate access to key information (e.g. most recent haematological parameters) to make sound clinical decisions related to the indication for transfusion,
- easy overview of the patient’s transfusion history, including previous reactions and previous alloimmunisation incidents,
- help to determine evidence-based indication for transfusion, e.g. according to certain guidelines (clinical decision support),
- facilitate data collection to evaluate and improve the use of blood components and transfusion policies at departmental, hospital and national levels.
Where can I find the frame of reference?
Discover our frame of reference with recommendations for the (further) development of the EOP of blood components here.
This document should be useful to standardise the EOP as a tool to match the needs of the Belgian hospitals with the offer from the software providers.
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Recommendations
The recommendations are related to:
- standardised data integration:
which information (data) should be included in the EOP? - customisation to optimise user friendliness:
how can the interface of the EOP be adapted to facilitate the workflow?
The recommendations are defined on the basis of the level of integration, what mostly corresponds to the difficulty of developing the software development:
The level of integration could also help to define a particular timeframe for the various steps of the development/purchase of the software and the implementation of the electronic prescription.
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Mock-up
An example of an EOP of blood components is displayed as a mock-up (= model of a design used for demonstrating, teaching,.. It enables testing of a design and acquiring feedback from end-users). However, applicability and user-friendliness should be tested in each individual hospital.
What about the integration in the Electronic Patient Record (EPR) and the BMUC?
Quite a lot of Belgian hospitals do not have a real integrated EPR yet and still use several integrated applications in a more or less effective way. However, the integration between different functions and different modules of the electronic record is essential. In the context of their ICT strategy, each hospital decides whether they get these functionalities from one or several suppliers. Whatever approach is chosen (single or multiple supplier(s)), it is important that the EOP is integrated in the EPR.
Consultation is taking place to integrate some recommendations from the frame of reference as one of the optional items in the Belgian Meaningful Use Criteria (BMUC). Those criteria are referred to in action point 2 of the eHealth roadmap. An acceleration programme has been started by Maggie De Block, Minister for Social Affairs and Public Health in order to stimulate the implementation and effective use of an Electronic Patient Record (EPD) in all Belgian Hospitals. By 1st January 2019, all hospitals will have to implement 15 (compulsory) core functionalities and 2 menu functionalities (non exhaustive) in the frame or the phased plan in order to gradually come to a fully integrated EPD. The phased plan will then be further developed until 2000. Communication will take place in a timely manner when optional criteria regarding the electronic prescription will be added.
With special thanks to all the members of the working group:
