Patients Spend an Hour Less at the Infusion Clinic with Epic

Each time a patient needed an infusion at Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi, it took nearly two hours—and for patients who regularly get infusions, that’s too long. By improving communication between physicians and infusion nurses and starting infusions faster, CCAD cut appointment times in half and improved the patient experience.

Clinicians use therapy plans in Epic to plan out a patient’s infusions over time, including how many infusions the patient needs and how often. These pre-planned treatments are approved and signed ahead of time by the physician, so the nurse doesn’t need to verify the infusion with a physician or pharmacist while the patient waits. At each infusion appointment, nurses see where the appointment falls on the therapy plan and can quickly start the treatment.

“For our regular patients, spending less time each week waiting for treatment makes a world of difference,” said Jennifer Schroeder, the assistant nurse manager of the infusion center. “Making infusions as brief as possible is a positive for everyone involved.”

Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi received a HIMSS Davies Enterprise Award in 2018 for their therapy plan order workflow. Read more about their success from HIMSS.