New Database for Area Trainers, Core Trainers, and Super Users

We are transitioning from SharePoint to a database for our Area Trainers (ATs), Core Trainers, and Super Users, where you can easily:

• see what training you have completed,
• sign up to deliver or support training/practice charting/shadow charting sessions,
• review the training and launch sessions you have signed up for, and
• review and validate your hours.

You will no longer use the SharePoint site to validate your hours. All previously validated sessions have been transitioned from SharePoint to the new database. 

To access the database, go to https://cmiotracker.ahs.ca/ and log in using your AHS username and password. For further details, see the tip sheet:

• Tip: CMIO Tracker Database

UVic Health Information Science Online Open House

The University of Victoria has a highly respected health information science department with an excellent track record supporting clinician career development through advanced training in health informatics at levels from certification through to Masters and PhD degrees. 

The Health Information Science faculty is holding an Open House on Thursday, November 4, 2021 at 17:30 Mountain Time (16:30 Pacific Time) online via Zoom (meeting ID: 899 0589 3451).

  

This is a wonderful opportunity to learn more about the rapidly expanding field of information technology in health care and the rewarding careers HINF graduates experience. 

• Information: School of Health Information Science
• Event: Calendar Link
• Contact: his@uvic.ca 

Learning Better Outpatient Workflows with "Efficiency Hour"

"Efficiency Hour" sessions are offered by Epic at multiple times between April 14-22, 2021. These can help physicians become more effective and efficient with in outpatient settings.

• Session 1: Placing and Managing Outpatient Orders (April 14, multiple times)
• Session 2: Documentation (April 15, multiple times)
• Session 3: Reviewing Information (April 21, multiple times)
• Session 4: Managing In Basket (April 22, multiple times)

The sessions are open to any Connect Care prescriber. Super Users and Medical Informatics Leads are encouraged to take advantage of the sessions, as well as promote the opportunity to clinical colleagues.

• Epic Earth: Efficiency Hour

Super User Support for Virtual Instructor Led Training

Connect Care Super Users contribute to launch success in many ways, including support for participants in virtual Instructor Led Training (ILT).

The CMIO Training Program has prepared a helpful backgrounder to help Super Users prepare for ILT sessions and anticipate how best to help their clinical colleagues. A lot of practical Zoom advice is included:

• Presentation: Super Users Supporting Virtual Instructor Led Training
• Infographic: Super Users & Virtual Training
• Checklist: Virtual Instructor Led Training

Super User Onboarding - Waves 2-3

With prescriber Super Users mobilizing, it is essential for any Super User not already onboarded to make arrangements through mip@ahs.ca. Super User training continues through March 2020. CMIO training teams can be expected to connect with all Super Users to arrange training curricula and dates.

This is a good time to take advantage of a wealth of eLearning resources on MyLearningLink. In addition, training guides, tips and exercises are available in training, knowledge and CMIO libraries. As always, Super Users can track new developments here (blogs.connect-care.ca) and additions to the physician manual (manual.connect-care.ca).

• Resources: Connect Care Training Library
• Resources: Connect Care Knowledge Library
• Resources: CMIO Library
• Manual: Connect Care Physician Manual

Waves 2 & 3 Training Dates - Latest Update

We are pleased to be on track for recruitment of the Connect Care Physician Area Trainers and Super Users who will focus on the needs of Waves 2 & 3, both launching May 30, 2020.

Key training-related dates (subject to change) are as follows (all 2020):

Jan 06-17	Area Trainer online learning
Jan 20 - Feb 21	Area Trainer formal training
Feb 24 - Mar 13	Super User training
Mar 16 - Apr 24	User Basic Training
Apr 20 - May 15	User Personalization Training
May 18 - Jun 12	Launch prep and support (e.g. conversion)
Jun 15 - Oct 15	User Optimization training

Connect Care Training Progress - and Needs

We continue at peak Training activity while rushing to ensure that physicians are prepared for Wave 1 launch 3 weeks from now.

There are notable accomplishments:

• 89% of ~3,225 Wave 1 prescribers (physicians, residents, nurse practitioners, etc.) are registered for basic and personalization training.
• 83% (2,753) have completed basic training and 35% have confirmed proficiency assessment completion (we are aware of many that are complete but not yet credited).
• 15% of prescribers have already completed personalization training.
• All medical learners have completed basic training.
• 54 Area Trainers and 194 Super Users deliver on our commitment to have prescribers train prescribers.

We need help from the medical informatician community with some remaining gaps (please contact ConnectCare.PhysicianTraining@ahs.ca with suggestions):

• Still looking for Area Trainers in Addiction & Mental Health (1), Inpatient Admitting (5).
• Still looking for more Super Users in Addiction & Mental Health (11), Cardiology (1), Surgery (5)

A huge thanks to all the training team and all the prescribers who have been generously contributing at odd, and very long, hours.

Supporting Medical Support Staff

Medical informaticians working to advance Connect Care may be aware of some physician concern about whether their office support staff will be able to continue to do things like surgical case bookings once the clinical information system deploys. Many are not AHS employees. Please see and promote the following messaging about support for support staff.

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Access to and use of the Connect Care clinical information system (CIS) is supported wherever, whenever and for whomever Connect Care is the record of care.

Many physicians will serve where Connect Care is the record of care but Alberta Health Services (AHS) is not the provider of care. Some of these physicians work through partner or affiliate organizations and others are members of independent practices or networks.

By now, all Wave 1 physicians should know that they need to join the Connect Care community. Some, however, are concerned about how those who support them will be supported. Medical Office Assistant (MOA) activities include things like facilitating clinical communications, patient preparation, case scheduling and other informational tasks. The activities vary by clinic and specialty.

Just like the physicians they support, MOAs need to register for the training tracks that fit their work. This happens automatically for AHS support staff. The process can be more confusing for support staff working with independent health service organizations or private practices.

Medical Affairs has tried to identify all MOAs who need to be supported for the Wave 1 launch of the Connect Care CIS. All physicians registered for Wave 1 should ensure that all of their MOAs needing CIS access are identified to Medical Affairs, have their job tasks defined, and are allocated to appropriate training tracks.  If in doubt, contact Josephine Amelio (medical affairs) as a matter of urgency.

• Medical Affairs: Josephine Amelio (780 735-0775)
• Backgrounder: Connect Care Physician Adoption
• FAQ: Connect Care outside Connect Care 

Another Training Milestone - First MD group through basic training.

We are delighted to see the first group of Wave-1 physicians complete their basic training!

12 paediatricians worked with a physician trainer and 2 physician super users to progress through a curriculum customized to their typical workday, work setting and clinical tasks. The training environment worked well and everyone was able to progress through the planned tasks. All participants were appropriately allocated the right Connect Care applications. And it was clear that physicians training physicians is appreciated.

Of course, we noted ways in which the experience could be improved. The trainers' learnings are summarized, shared and used to tweak the next set of training sessions.

In particular, we are very aware of some challenges with the MyLearningLink learning management system. The recommended self-directed modules are not filtering correctly, with the result that physicians see all possible modules when checking "Required Courses", not the ones that pertain to their track. We are putting together supplementary QuickStart guides to help the next wave of trainees to pick out what matters most.

Huge thanks to our first participants, and to the Connect Care training team. We're finding our stride!

MyLearningLink for the Rest of Us

“MyLearningLink” (mylearninglink.ahs.ca, or “MLL”) is Alberta Health Services’ (AHS) online learning management platform. It is used to deliver courses offered to all AHS stakeholders in all areas. It is also used to facilitate the registration, scheduling, delivery, completion tracking and assessments for Connect Care training. Users can find, access and complete any self-directed e-learning courses or assessments that can be completed online. MyLearningLink is important to Connect Care.

Unfortunately, until recently, the MLL environment focused on continuing education needs of AHS staff working in AHS facilities on AHS-provisioned systems. Courses are approved for Internet Explorer (IE, version 11) running under Windows 7 on AHS desktop computers. But Connect Care users need to train at non-AHS locations on non-AHS computers.

Fortunately, MLL has recently been upgraded to work on networks both inside and outside of the AHS “intranet”. Testing and support for users of Apple operating systems is coming. For now, physician informaticians need to be ready to help clinician-colleagues who are not primarily Windows users.

We  have prepared a tip giving interim advice for clinicians who may have difficulty replicating the standard AHS computer set-up. Please try this out and send any feedback or additional suggestions to mip@ahs.ca. We particularly need physician testers who use Macintosh computers. When in MLL, search for courses with "Epic" in the name and try any example that appears.

• Tip: MyLearningLink for Connect Care

Connect Care Training and Physician Compensation

Physician training emails and scheduling surveys have gone out to almost 2,000 physicians touched by the Wave 1 Connect Care launch. This makes training and competency requirements real and immediate.

Connect Care clinical informaticians may be drawn into more conversations about why physicians do not receive financial compensation for time spent on training activities. It is important that we understand and consistently message the rationale for Connect Care's physician resourcing strategy. Please skim the linked documents (some updated this week) and feel free to share questions, reflections and suggestions.

• Norm: Connect Care Physician Compensation
• Backgrounder: Connect Care Physician Compensation
• Key Messages: Physician Training

InfoCare - Physician Assessment Required

Privacy awareness is essential to good clinicianship. We all need training, with periodic reinforcement. Our digital world presents ever-changing threats to information security, making it hard to know when we may unintentionally weaken the privacy protections our patients expect. Breaches harm patients, and can be devastating for clinicians.

On the eve of Connect Care implementation, Alberta Health Services has overhauled its universal privacy awareness training. A new online elearning module, called "InfoCare - on our Best Behaviors" is now available on MyLearningLink.ahs.ca (MLL). Although this training is required of all physicians prior to gaining access to Connect Care, the immediate "soft launch" gives opportunity for physician leaders to test for problems and report to the CMIO portfolio so it can collate issues.

It is especially important that physician informaticians assess InfoCare before it is announced for all physicians. MLL is most commonly used on AHS computers in AHS facilities. However, physicians are more likely to complete the course on personal devices outside AHS facilities.

The MLL user guides do not offer much help for non-Windows browsers or for users of Apple computers. Accordingly, the CMIO portfolio will consider feedback and prepare tips specifically for the physician community.

• Go to MyLearningLink.ahs.ca (we recommend the Chrome Internet browser for those who do not have access to Internet Explorer 11 on Windows 7 or 10).
• Sign on with your usual AHS credentials
• Search the Course Catalogue for courses containing the word "InfoCare"
• Register for and complete the course online
• Verify that your confidentiality and user agreement is accepted and the course is marked as complete.
• Send any error reports or other feedback to mip@ahs.ca (medical informatics program)

eLearning: Super User Overview

Connect Care clinical informaticians, including physician leads, medical informatics leads, knowledge leads, power users and builders need to understand how Super Users will contribute to training, implementation and optimization. Indeed, many informaticians will take on Super User roles themselves. Even those without an explicit Super User assignment can benefit from exposure to the coaching and mentoring skills learned by Super Users as we prepare for the stresses of first launch.

An eLearning course entitled "Super User Preparation" is now available on MyLearningLink. This should take no more than 30 minutes for a Connect-Care-aware clinical to review. A perusal is strongly recommended.

The self-directed learning is available to all. It includes useful Epic modules with practical tips for dealing with new users during and after training. Different phenotypes (enthusiastic, apathetic, grumpy, difficult, etc.) are explored.

The course is complementary, not compulsory. You can send feedback to ConnectCareSuperUser@ahs.ca.

• Byte: Physician Super Users

What's happening with privacy awareness training?

Medical Informatics Leads (MIL), Provincial Physician Trainers, Physician Area Trainers and Super Users will all be aware of opportunities to preview, review and help with the e-learning modules contributing to upcoming Connect Care physician training tracks.

We hope to emulate the full training experience. A key component involves mandated completion of basic privacy awareness training, then attesting to an online "Confidentiality and User Agreement" (CUA), as a condition for gaining access to Connect Care online training environments. The attestation must be satisfied before the user can complete an "End User Proficiency Assessment", required to progress from Basic to Personalization training.

It was expected that all physician leads would be able to complete privacy awareness training through "InfoCare - On our Best Behaviors" by this time. However, the e-learning module has suffered technical challenges in early exposures. This mostly relates to embedded audio and video, which has since been trimmed. In addition, more testing is needed to prepare clear instructions for physicians participating in e-learning outside of AHS networks. The CMIO is helping to render tip-sheets attuned to the circumstances of users of non-Windows devices and internet browsers.

We now expect InfoCare availability sometime next week, before the end of June. You can access and complete the course through MyLearningLink.ahs.ca. List available courses, use "InfoCare" as a search term, and self-register.

We would be most grateful if all physician informaticians could try InfoCare as soon as it becomes available. Please send feedback to mip@ahs.ca and we will collate physician comments, technical problems and work-arounds.

eLearning: Introduction to Epic in Connect Care

Medical informatics leads, clinical knowledge leads and other clinical informaticians may be interested in a new self-directed e-learning opportunity on MyLearningLink (mylearninglink.ahs.ca).

"IT Introduction to Epic on the AHS Platform" provides an overview of the Connect Care initiative through an information technology lens. We know that Epic Systems software serves as the core integration engine for the Connect Care clinical information system (CIS). But some of us may still struggle with constructs for how Epic relates to CIS functions, Connect Care offerings, and other information systems that, together with Epic, comprise the CIS.

The introductory curriculum describes integrative requirements and why Epic was chosen to address them. The different modules of Epic technology are defined and described. How modules support continuum of care functions is explained. Clinicians who have already completed the physician introduction, Power User or Builder courses may have covered much of the content. Still, it is useful to review the purpose and acronyms associated with the Connect Care Epic infostructure.

Anyone can self-register. Completing the curriculum can take as long as an hour. Go to MyLearningLink and search for courses with "Connect Care" in the title.

• Learning Management: My Learning Link

Wave 1 Physician Training Notices Go Out

A big day for the Edmonton Zone! Notices have been emailed to all anticipated Wave 1 physician users. These provide information about the physician training program, gather information about scheduling preferences and explain how registration occurs.

Medical Informatics Leads may expect questions from colleagues. A good time to brush-up about the Connect Care training strategy, content and delivery for physicians.

Physician advocates can refresh understanding by skimming any of the following resources (shortest listed first; all recently updated). Better still, view the short (5 minute) physician training orientation interactive online video (5 minutes).

• Byte: Wave 1 Physician Training
• Principles: Physician Training
• Backgrounder: Physician Training
• FAQ: Physician Training
• Video: Wave 1 Physician Training Orientation

Physician Area Trainer - A Great Opportunity

We've previously posted about Physician Area Trainer recruitment, a great opportunity for interested clinicians to benefit from exceptional clinical information system orientation and change management coaching. Stipend-supported Area Trainers can supplement their usual clinical activities, play a pivotal role at Connect Care launch and positively impact health care in Alberta.

In addition to a posting and role description, linked below is an early guide for clinicians potentially interested in the Area Trainer role. The guide clarifies how Area Trainers are themselves trained. The support stipend is explained. Overall time expectations are outlined for before, during and after launch.

• Posting: Connect Care Physician Area Trainers
• Guide: Connect Care Physician Area Trainers
• Contact: MIP@ahs.ca

Moving Physician Training Forward

Connect Care success will pivot on effective physician training, competency and, over time, proficiency. All members of the medical informatics community have a role to play. This needs to be a priority in the coming months

Although we are currently recruiting for Physician Area Trainers, we'll soon be seeking Super Users and already need help reviewing training curriculum content.

Some new presentation materials are available in our repository. Consider the video (10 min) and how you can promote training engagement opportunities to physicians in your communities.

• Vlog: Physician Training 
• Presentation Materials: Physician Training
• BytesBlog Postings: Training