Scheduled Workflow

Scheduled Workflow (SWF) integrates the ordering, scheduling, imaging acquisition, storage and viewing activities associated with radiology exams.

Summary

Scheduled Workflow establishes a seamless flow of information that supports efficient patient care workflow in a typical imaging encounter. It specifies transactions that maintain the consistency of patient information from registration through ordering, scheduling, imaging acquisition, storage and viewing. This consistency is also the foundation for subsequent workflow steps, such as reporting.

Benefits

Reduce Errors and Enhance Patient Care

• Prevents manual data entry errors by ensuring that a particular piece of data is entered only once
• Prevents complications from patient allergies or pregnancy status since these details are made available to all systems involved in the radiology workflow
• Prevents delays in patient care by making relevant information available at the point of care.

Improve Throughput

• Saves manual data entry time by ensuring that a particular piece of data is entered only once
• Minimizes "lost" studies by ensuring study identification and status is accurately tracked throughout the department.
• Reduces staff time wasted identifying and correcting errors (in a coordinated fashion) among the HIS, RIS, PACS and modality

Reduce Deployment Cost/Time

• Prevents custom interface specification time and expense—IHE TF provides a detailed specification for a powerful interface, supported and tested by many vendors
• Prevents custom interface implementation time and expense—many IHE Integration Profiles are already supported by many vendor products
• Reduces interface compliance testing time and expense—many implementation variations have been refined in systems tested at IHE Connectathons
• Reduces intersystem testing time and expense—many combinations of systems have already been directly tested together at IHE Connectathons
• Reduces custom interface maintenance time and expense by maintaining a single interface (IHE) instead of multiple custom interfaces

Details

The Scheduled Workflow (SWF) Integration Profile establishes the continuity and integrity of basic departmental imaging data. It specifies a number of transactions that maintain the consistency of patient demographic and ordering information across multiple systems as well as providing the scheduling and imaging acquisition procedure steps. This profile also makes it possible to determine whether images and other evidence objects associated with a particular exam have been stored (archived) and are available to enable subsequent workflow steps, such as post-processing or reporting. It may also provide central coordination of the completion of processing and reporting steps as well as notification of appointments to the Order Placer.

Systems Affected

Systems involved in this profile are:

• Enterprise-wide information systems that manage patient registration and services ordering (i.e., admit-discharge-transfer (ADT)/registration system and hospital information system (HIS ))
• Radiology departmental information systems that manage department scheduling (i.e., radiology information system (RIS))
• Radiology image management/archiving (i.e., picture archiving and communication system (PACS))
• Acquisition modalities

Actors & Transactions:

Specification

Profile Status: Final Text

Documents: IHE Radiology Technical Framework:

• Vol. 1 - Section 3 documents the profile
• Vol. 2 - Sections 4.1 to 4.8, 4.10 to 4.14, 4.16, 4.18, and 4.20 to 4.21, document specific transactions. Appendices A, B and D provide additional requirements and suggestions on mapping information to ensure consistent flow of information throughout the department.
• Vol. 3 - Sections 4.42, and 4.48 to 4.49 document specific transactions.

Underlying Standards:

• DICOM
• HL7

See Also

Related Profiles

<List profiles this one depends on, profiles that depend on this one, profiles that are synergistic with this one>

Consumer Information

The Scheduled Workflow FAQ answers typical questions about what the Profile does.

Scheduled Workflow Purchasing describes considerations when purchasing equipment to deploy this Profile.

Implementer Information

Scheduled Workflow Implementation provides additional information about implementing this Profile in software.

<< Incorrect example>>: The Cross-Enterprise Document Sharing Implementation provides additional information about implementing this Profile (well XDS actually) in software.

Reference Articles

<List References (good and bad) (with link if possible) to Journal Articles that mention IHE's work (and hopefully include some analysis) >

This page is based on the Profile Template