Nurse Practitioners (NPs) provide excellent care in primary health care settings and a variety of specialized clinical contexts throughout Saskatchewan. CRNS has become aware of a clinical practice issue that is having negative impacts on patient outcomes and leading to potential patient privacy breaches due to misrouted medical imaging reports. Several of the identified causes are listed here:
- Many NPs have more than one clinical site where they work.
- NPs may concurrently work within and outside of the SHA and order or request medical imaging studies for clients.
- The CRNS database that verifies registration status of NPs does not contain clinic phone numbers, fax numbers or addresses. Therefore, it is not a resource that enables technologists to appropriately forward medical imaging reports.
- The Radiology Information System (RIS) can only support one fax number per provider. Providers working at multiple sites must make arrangements with clinic staff at that site (the one with the distribution fax), to create a workflow so that the NP’s can receive their patient’s reports and booking notifications at any/all sites that they are providing patient care.
- There are many different requisitions/ forms that are utilized when NPs order or request medical imaging studies in the various settings where they work.
- Paper requisitions are not handled consistently by all SHA facilities. The SHA Medical Imaging Department cannot guarantee that the information on the requisition is translated through from request to finalization. The SHA Medical Imaging Department requires one fax for ALL reports and booking confirmations.
These factors can create barriers that lead to delays in care or privacy issues. CRNS is raising awareness of this issue and is recommending the following:
- NPs ensure that clinic specific information is included on the medical imaging requisitions to enable more timely and accurate delivery of results to the appropriate location.
- NPs currently working only in one location may wish to ensure that their contact information is up to date.
- NPs should update the RIS team each time they change their work location to ensure the best possible outcomes.
- NPs working in multiple sites should make arrangements with clinical staff to create a workflow to ensure that they are receiving all of their patient’s results in a timely manner.