Today, ASO's core function is record keeping. Indeed, at SDP, we're working hard to create and perfect a platform that enables simple, efficient data entry while making information easy to find and organize.
The importance of information continuity
Today, ASO's core function is record keeping. Indeed, at SDP, we're working hard to create and perfect a platform that enables simple, efficient data entry while making information easy to find and organize.
Here's an excerpt from the reference framework "Améliorer l'accès, la qualité et la continuité des services de proximité" published by the MSSS in 2023: "To ensure a response adapted to the user's context, to ensure a bond of trust, to work in intra- and inter-sectoral teams, and to coordinate and integrate community services, it is necessary to receive continuous information. Informational continuity is "the availability and use of information about past [...] events, including other visits, test results, referrals or informal care and services. How providers and [professionals] use information is of paramount importance in linking past health and social care events to the patient's current situation, and in tailoring care and [services] to the patient's needs" (109). Information is the common thread that links care and services from one provider to another and from one service to another (110)."
This passage offers a clear definition of informational continuity, while highlighting the desired impacts of such continuity. It explains why we offer a record-keeping solution that accurately stores information and presents it at the right time. Informational continuity enables greater continuity of care by ensuring that all those involved at different times have all the relevant information to offer the best services. The importance of this aspect should not be underestimated, since a number of studies have shown that greater continuity of care is associated with better outcomes:
– Pereira et al. (2016) identified several academic papers reporting that greater continuity of care provided by family physicians was associated with better outcomes in terms of physical health, satisfaction with care, trust, earlier diagnoses, reduced mortality rates, etc.
- Engström et al (2023) report in their literature review on clinical continuity that it is associated with better outcomes in supporting people living with mental health issues. Among other things, they mention a reduction in suicidal thoughts and gestures, fewer emergency room visits, and a contribution to a better quality of life.
- de Cruppé et al (2023) share the results of their research, which indicates that better continuity is linked to a significant reduction in symptom severity in people living with psychiatric issues. Social functioning is also positively related to the continuity enjoyed by patients included in the study.
In this article, we'll explore the different ways in which ASO supports informational and clinical continuity in your organization.
The customer file: the backbone
In ASO, the service user's file is the backbone to which all information concerning him or her is attached. The file provides quick access to the person's identifying information to ensure that we have the right file, and offers several ways of viewing relevant information:
- You can go to the interventions tab to see the latest contacts that our resource has had with this person and consult useful entries.
- You can open the calendar tab to see a calendar view of interventions, participation in group interventions, warnings, overnight stays, etc.
- You can open the file summary tab, which provides a personalized summary for each resource, summarizing essential information about the person's trajectory.
In most organizations using ASO, the very first step in an intervention is to carry out a search to find out if the person already has a file in ASO. This search is done in the main search bar (which is always visible at the top of the screen) and can be completed with any information the resource deems relevant:
- Last name, first name
- Phone number
- Date of birth
- Health insurance number
For this search to be effective, the information in each file must be up to date. With ASO, you can change the identifying information in a customer file as many times as necessary, and the information will then be updated for the whole team in their future searches.
For example, some resources allow anonymous use of their telephone intervention service. We could therefore create a file where the person's name is simply "Anonymous", and enter the person's telephone number. This file will then be retrieved during future calls from this telephone number, and all telephone interventions will be placed in the client file. Once this person has established a bond of trust with the resource through several calls, he or she may be open to in-person services. It is at this point that the operator asks the person to complete the file with the information required to benefit from the new services. Once the person's name is entered in the file, all interventions associated with the file will also see the name updated and remain in the file. The same applies to any other entry in the person's file: accommodation file, attached file, follow-up file, assessment grids, intervention plan, etc.
Contingency plans
The intervention plan is a tool that is regularly used by many of our clients, regardless of the populations they serve. In fact, drawing up an intervention plan with the person's participation and in line with best practices aims to set concrete objectives with the person, and to record the means that will be used to achieve them. Follow-up on each objective can also be completed with the intervention plan. Many resources also systematically revise intervention plans after a certain period of time, or at a predetermined date. ASO offers a dashboard that displays intervention plans whose revision date is approaching, to make it easier to keep track of plan updates.
In addition to being a tool that enables any resource worker to take note of and follow up on the alignments indicated to offer better continuity, ASO ensures that an active intervention plan is automatically opened when the file of the person concerned is opened.
Recommendations
Recommendations are simply alerts that appear in the form of a pop-up window as soon as the file is opened. It's a way of ensuring that critical information is quickly visible, without having to create an action plan. Like intervention plans, each recommendation can be deactivated so that it is preserved in the history, without automating the opening of the entry as soon as the file is opened.
Bibliography
de Cruppé, W., Assheuer, M., Geraedts, M., & Beine, K. (2023). Association between continuity of care and treatment outcomes in psychiatric patients in Germany: A prospective cohort study. BMC Psychiatry, 23, 550. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12888-023-05153-7
Engström, I., Hansson, L., Ali, L., Berg, J., Ekstedt, M., Engström, S., Kärrman Fredriksson, M., Liliemark, J., & Lytsy, P. (2022). Relational continuity may give better clinical outcomes in patients with serious mental illness - A systematic review. BMC Psychiatry, 22, 16. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12888-021-03601-x
Ministry of Health and Social Services. (2023). Améliorer l'accès, la qualité et la continuité des services de proximité. Government of Quebec. https://www.msss.gouv.qc.ca/publications
Liang, L., Hou, W. K., Li, T. W., Liu, H., Goodwin, R., & Lee, T. M. C. (2023). Latent Profiles and Transitions of Daily Routine Disruptions Are Associated with Severity of Symptoms of Anxiety and Depression. Leisure Sciences, 1-16. https://doi.org/10.1080/01490400.2023.2228311
Pereira Gray D, Sidaway-Lee K, White E, Thorne A, Evans P. Improving continuity: THE clinical challenge. InnovAiT. 2016;9(10):635-645. doi:10.1177/1755738016654504
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