Lessons from Implementing a Combined Workflow–Informatics System for Diabetes Management

• Published in: Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association : JAMIA Vol. 15; no. 4; pp. 524 - 533
• Main Authors: Zai, Adrian H., Grant, Richard W., Estey, Greg, Lester, William T., Andrews, Carl T., Yee, Ronnie, Mort, Elizabeth, Chueh, Henry C.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Elsevier Inc 01.07.2008; American Medical Informatics Association
• Subjects: Application of Information Technology; Decision Support Systems, Clinical; Diabetes Mellitus - therapy; Disease Management; Efficiency, Organizational; Humans; Information Systems; Models, Organizational; Patient Care Management - organization & administration; Pilot Projects; Registries; User-Computer Interface
• ISSN: 1067-5027; 1527-974X
• DOI: 10.1197/jamia.M2598

Shortcomings surrounding the care of patients with diabetes have been attributed largely to a fragmented, disorganized, and duplicative health care system that focuses more on acute conditions and complications than on managing chronic disease. To address these shortcomings, we developed a diabetes registry population management application to change the way our staff manages patients with diabetes. Use of this new application has helped us coordinate the responsibilities for intervening and monitoring patients in the registry among different users. Our experiences using this combined workflow-informatics intervention system suggest that integrating a chronic disease registry into clinical workflow for the treatment of chronic conditions creates a useful and efficient tool for managing disease.