What is Workflow
What is Workflow
Defining workflow
• Definitions of workflow vary. Here are a
couple:
– The flow of work through space and time, where work
is comprised of three components: inputs are
transformed into outputs.[1]
– The activities, tools, and processes needed to
produce or modify work, products, or services. More
specifically, clinical workflow encompasses all of the
1) activities, 2) technologies, 3) environments, 4)
people, and 5) organizations engaged in providing
and promoting health care.[2]
What does that really mean?
• That means that workflow is the who,
what, where, when and how things get
done in your clinic. This includes both
clinical and administrative work.
• Answering Phones*
– Flows for different types of phone calls
• Appointment System*
– Flows for new vs. existing vs. continuity vs. non-continuity patients
• Messaging*
– To different types of staff and for different reasons
• Scheduling Procedures*
– Flows for new vs. existing vs. continuity vs. non-continuity patients
• Order Diagnostic Testing*
– Flows for different kinds of tests
• Reporting Diagnostic Test Results*
– Flows for different kinds of tests or normal vs. abnormal
• Ordering medications, including
– Prescription Renewal*
• Making Referrals*
• Billing/Coding*
• New Patient Work-ups*
• Chronic Disease Management*
• Receiving and processing patient information from outside providers
• Confirming insurance or pay status
2
Detailed 1
flowcharts
• Here are two flow charts
showing the workflow of
“patient check-in”.
• Both figures are accurate
descriptions of the same
process at a particular clinic.
• But, only the figure on the
right (2) shows the details of
what the workflow really is.
• It is the details that will
change when you implement
health IT.
• If you don’t understand the
details, you cannot plan for
the changes that will come.
Is workflow just the sequence of
steps of a process?
• Not exactly.
• Clinic-level workflow:
– Flow of a physician, nurse or patient through physical
space, and
– the flow of information, in paper or electronic formats,
among people at a practice or clinic.
Work flows in different ways
• Intra-visit workflow:
– Workflow during a patient visit, which involves the
workflow of the visit (e.g. start by asking for a problem
list, then do history and physical, then prescribe
treatment)