AUA 2018: Novel Use of the EPIC Electronic Medical Record Platform to Identify Lost Ureteral Stents
Javier-DesLoges stated that a workflow was created in Epic where the patients had a stent logged in the operating room by a nurse scanning the barcode on the stent. When their stent was removed, it was also explanted from the system and they retrospectively queried Epic about four times per year, every 90 days to see which stents were still in place. Beginning in January 2015, a nurse reviewed implanted and explanted stent reports on a monthly basis and contacted patients who still had their ureteral stents in place, further reviewing those patients.
They found that stents placed in an emergent setting, as well as black race were independent factors of patients lost to follow up. Dr. Javier-DesLoges concluded with sharing that Epic was a very easy way to track ureteral stents in place of third party applications that currently exist. He reiterated that patients that were stented in an emergent setting were about three times more likely to be lost to follow-up. Dr. Javier-DesLoges also added that one of the limitations of the project was the inability to study why certain patients were lost to follow-up in terms of their understanding of the stent prior to being discharged.
Presented by: Juan F Javier-DesLoges, MD
Written by: Kaelyn See, Department of Urology, University of California-Irvine at the 2018 AUA Annual Meeting - May 18 - 21, 2018 – San Francisco, CA USA