General consent is not informed consent

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If you are a patient presenting for a routine health care service, for example  general medical, paediatric, family planning, obstetric, Immunization, STD, TB, and/or HIV clinic services, then you will asked to fill up a  general consent  form to be completed prior to any of these services being rendered.  This is not informed surgical or invasive procedure consent form.

Image credit : Tung Shin Hospital, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia <http://www.tungshin.com.my/useful-info/admission-discharge/>

The general consent is usually obtained when the patient is admitted as an inpatient to the hospital or when the patient is registered for the first time as an outpatient.  However in the U.S., the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) Privacy Rule “permits, but does not require, a covered entity voluntarily to obtain patient consent for uses and disclosures of protected health information for treatment, payment, and health care operations. Covered entities that do so have complete discretion to design a process that best suits their needs.”

Patients are given information on the scope and limits of the general consent, such as which tests and treatments are included under the general consent. Patients are also given information about those tests and treatments for which a separate informed consent will be obtained.

The hospital defines how a general consent is documented in the patient’s medical record, for example the general consent to treatment may be located by a Health Information Management (HIM) / Medical Records (MR) practitioner.to be found on the reverse of the face sheet (or admission/discharge record).

General consent forms are also used at teaching hospitals and patients are advised that doctors, nurses and other healthcare professionals in training will be involved in the patient’s care and treatment.

A general consent usually contains information as follows:

  1. a general consent form authorises the attending doctor, other doctors and healthcare professionals who may be involved in a patient’s care, to provide a diagnosis, care and treatment considered necessary or advisable by the doctor(s)
  2. the general consent form does not guarantee the patient about the result of his or her examination or treatment at the hospital
  3. the general consent notes if it is likely that students and other trainees will participate in care processes
  4. provisions in the general consent form inform patients that their decision to seek care from a hospital is not based upon any understanding, representation or advertisement that the doctors treating them are employees, agents or apparent  agents of the hospital, and that they also understand that they have the opportunity to request that their own doctor participate during in their care at the hospital
  5. the general consent form may also authorise a hospital to examine, use, store and dispose of any tissue, fluids or specimens removed from a patient’s body during his or her outpatient visit or hospital stay

Agreeing to a general consent for treatment by a patient before admission as an inpatient or been registered for the first time as an outpatient, may apply at any (Malaysian) hospital setting. However, hospitals that are Joint Commission International (JCI) accredited or seeking JCI accreditation status or re-applying for JCI accreditation status  need to comply with the JCI Standard PFR6.3 which implies that “General consent , is clear in its scope and limits.” The medical record must contain a copy of the general consent in any hospital setting.

References :
Joint Commission International 2010, Joint Commission International Accreditation Standards For Hospitals, 4th edn, JCI, USA

Michelle, AG & Mary, JB 2011, Essentials of Health Information Management: Principles and Practices, 2nd edn, Delmar, Cengage Learning, NY, USA

U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, What is the difference between “consent” and “authorization” under the HIPAA Privacy Rule?, viewed 4 September 2012 < http://www.hhs.gov/hipaafaq/use/264.html>

EHRs – identifying and treating at-risk patients to improve their health

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Diabetes mellitus is a common disease causing significant mortality and morbidity. It is a serious debilitating and deadly disease, but you can control it and you can learn to live with it as once you are a diabetic, it’s very difficult to reverse it.

In Malaysia, the First National Health and Morbidity Survey (NHMS I) conducted in 1986 reported a prevalence of diabetes of 6.3% and in the Second National Health and Morbidity Survey (NHMS II) in 1996, this had risen to 8.3%. The third National Health and Morbidity Survey  (NHMS III) was conducted between April to July 2006 and showed a dramatic increase in the prevalence of diabetes for adults aged 30 years and above to 14.9% – an increase of 80% over a period of just 10 years (8.3% in NHMS II vs 14.9% in NHMS III ) representing an average 8% rise per year.

Can electronic health records (EHRs) serve to help patients manage their health and to provide treatment to patients with chronic diseases, such as diabetics?

EHR systems widely implemented in Wisconsin, USA are improving coordination and making health care more efficient, lowering costs and identifying and treating at-risk patients to improve their health.

Image credit : JSOnline, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA.
Eida Berrios, a registered nurse and certified diabetes educator, leads a discussion in early July during a class for patients with insulin pumps at the Sixteenth Street Community Health Center in Milwaukee.

Here is how it works  in diabetes management using EHRs for patients at the Sixteenth Street Community Health Centers in Milwaukee, Wisconsin as reported from the July 16, 2012 JSOnline, the online version of The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel – the primary newspaper  and the largest newspaper in Milwaukee :

  1. patients who may have a three-month average blood sugar level higher than the recommended 7% may be flagged by the systems to receive extra help to manage their chronic disease
  2. doctors can run reports of patients who missed their cholesterol panel check last year and, in that way, focus on patients out of range and get them in for an appointment sooner
  3. graphics generated from data of individual patient history reports received since 2010 allow doctors  compare their patients against national trends and other doctors’ patients
  4. doctors look at treatment plans and the most recent test results, while providers use the data to create intervention plans, to identify which screenings are getting missed and to refer patients to diabetic educators to help them manage their chronic illness
  5. the coordinated care and testing that a patient receives when doctors and diabetic educators monitor their patients using the EHR systems provides a holistic view of care, and it can also be shared by doctors to avoid retesting
  6. doctors become more proactive in providing care by identifying patients who are far away from their health care goals, even if the patient hasn’t been in the clinic for a while, and the patient becomes more informed and they tend not to fall out of care, preventing costly emergency hospitalisations
  7. the EHR systems remind doctors to address certain screenings and lab tests with their patients
  8. the EHR systems sends out reminder calls for example about a missed appointment or a missed flu shot
  9. data in the EHRs system help to document statistics for example, 74% of the 1,895 patients that saw their doctors twice last year have an average blood-sugar level under 8%; it also shows 70% of their diabetic patients have a blood pressure of less than 130/80
  10. providing monthly reports for example of regular neuropathy exams – to see if diabetics had loss of sensation in their feet, could highlight that too many patients weren’t getting a documented foot exam, and remind doctors to keep up with testing
  11. information from in-house reports divided by blood-sugar controls, blood-pressure management, cholesterol level and screenings of neuropathy foot exams and retinal exams allows for specific follow-up to target areas patients are struggling with, such as exercise, nutrition, emotional support and diabetes education classes
  12. researchers use the information from the the EHR systems to identify at-risk groups that live within specific geographic areas by linking clinical information in the EHR system to public health data to identify and map the prevalence of diabetes compared with levels of economic hardships

This is one good example how EHRs serve as a platform to manage health education, to help patients manage their health and to provide treatment.

Abridged by R. Vijayan, from the original article “Diabetes management using electronic medical records” by By Aisha Qidwae of the Journal Sentinel, July 16, 2012.

Surgical information that require documentation in medical records

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Now I have completed relevant posts on surgical information that belong to the contents of a typical medical record for a patient who had undergone surgery, I like to summarise the Joint Commission International (JCI) standards and requirements that directly affect surgical information which requires documentation in medical records.

At this juncture, I like to reiterate that I am not advocating JCI’s program for hospital accreditation. I have used their standards as a benchmark to make medical records documentation to a better quality and as evidence of proper care.

I have also run up each post with a background to a specific surgical information in the medical record, so that Health Information Management (HIM) / Medical Records (MR) practitioners are not just managing medical records literally and not understanding and knowing the background of pieces of scientific information which accumulates inside the medical records.

In my opinion, knowing the nature and structure of surgical information in a medical record make a better HIM/MR practitioner, who is able to stand up for and argue for the quality of medical and surgical information in medical records.

Someone has to fight for the quality of medical records, and who is less important and relevant than HIM/MR practitioners who are the rightful custodians of medical records. I think it is not HIM/MR management practice is not only about medical records assembly, filing, coding, preparing statistical reports and medico-legal processing, etc., but accruing knowledge on HIM/MR management with regards to “WHAT is this thing we are managing”, “WHY are we keeping this?”, and ”HOW can we contribute to the quality of documentation?”.

From the post Medical information that require documentation in medical records (this link will redirect you to a new tab of your current browser window), I had presented all the necessary requirements about of medical information that require documentation in a medical records which explicitly stated what is to be documented in a medical record and also standards which implicitly indicated  medical information that require documentation in a medical record.

For surgical information that require documentation in a medical record, I have a count of twelve (12) standards – or also as one can say “requirements”, which explicitly state what is to be documented in a medical record. There are no standards that indicate implicitly any necessity for surgical information to be documented in a medical record.

I have tabulated all the 12 requirements in some charts. But before displaying the charts on the 12 requirements, allow me to summarise the perioperative period for a patient scheduled for surgery in the pictorial below. I think this chart below is relevant to understanding the 12 requirements (a larger view of this chart is displayed in a new tab of your current browser window by clicking on this chart).

And now, the charts below (a larger view of each chart is displayed in a new tab of your current window, by clicking on each chart) show the 12 requirements for surgical information.

Slide1SI
I believe, a HIM) / MR practitioner working in a hospital must be knowledgeable enough of the surgical information contents in the medical records in his or her custody and to contribute greatly to their quality. The medical records must contain all of the surgical information as I spoken of above, recorded in them. This condition is regardless of the type of hospital they work at, irrespective if his or her hospital had acquired JCI accreditation status or one that is seeking JCI accreditation status or it is one that is not seeking JCI accreditation status at all.

References :
Joint Commission International 2010, Joint Commission International Accreditation Standards For Hospitals, 4th edn, JCI, USA

Patient care after surgery is planned and documented

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Another surgical information that goes into the medical record is the postsurgical care plan to surgical patients. A postsurgical care plan is important for discharge planning and future planning are based on medical and nursing care plans after surgery. The Joint Commission International (JCI) Standard ASC.7.4 also emphasises the importance for such a plan through its statement which reads, “Patient care after surgery is planned and documented.”

As each surgical patient’s postsurgical medical and nursing care needs usually differ, immediate postsurgical care is planned and includes medical, nursing, and others as indicated by the patient’s defined needs. The postsurgical care plan which can begin before surgery based on the patient’s assessed needs and condition, includes the level of care, care setting, follow-up monitoring or treatment, and need for medication.



The postoperative phase (which is each surgical patient’s postsurgical care period) continues until the patient is released from the surgeon’s care. When the client is discharged from the postanesthesia care unit (PACU), the surgeon will later decide the next level of care and the care setting for the patient.  The surgeon documents in the postsurgical plan whether the patient goes either directly to an inpatient hospital bed or to the outpatient ambulatory unit for observation or to discharge the patient to the patient’s home.

The postsurgical care plan will also contain information on follow-up monitoring of the postoperative patient’s return to normal (baseline) respiratory function and cardiopulmonary function and the patient is free from signs of a wound infection within 72 hours after surgery.

Postoperative discomforts like pain – which is usually most severe immediately after the patient’s recovery from anaesthesia, postoperative nausea, urinary retention,  postoperative constipation, postoperative flatus all require treatment and need medication. The treatment(s) and medications form part of the postsurgical care plan documentation.

A Health Information Management (HIM) / Medical Records (MR) practitioner will find among the contents of a medical record for a patient who had undergone surgery, a postsurgical plan(s) documented in the patient’s medical record by the responsible surgeon or verified by the responsible surgeon by co-signature on the documented plan entered by the surgeon’s delegate. The nursing postsurgical plan of care and when indicated by the patient’s needs, the postsurgical plan of care provided by others are also documented in the patient’s medical record. These are often documented in the progress notes. However, nursing care plans are not usually filed in the permanent patient record. The date and time for each of the plans of care documented in the patient’s medical record are evidence to verify that each planned care was provided and documentation was done within 24 hours of the surgery.

With this post, I believe I have completed posts on anaesthesia care and surgical care which have explicit reference to surgical documentation in a medical record for a patient who undergoes surgery.

References :
Caroline, BR & Mary, TK 2012, Textbook of basic nursing, 10th edn, Wolters Kluwer Health, Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, Philadelphia, USA

Joint Commission International 2010, Joint Commission International Accreditation Standards For Hospitals, 4th edn, JCI, USA

Sue, CD & Patricia, KL 2011, Fundamentals of Nursing: Standards & Practice, 4th edn, Delmar, Cengage Learning, NY, USA

Physiological status monitoring and documentation during and immediately after surgery

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Health Information Management (HIM) / Medical Records (MR) practitioners need to be aware that a medical record for a patient who had undergone surgery, has his or her monitoring findings of their physiological status written in his or her medical record. A patient’s physiological status is continuously monitored during (intraoperative) and immediately after surgery (postoperative), appropriate to the patient’s condition and the procedure performed.

I think HIM/MR practitioners also need to know why a patient’s physiological status is continuously monitored during and immediately after surgery and what is documented into the medical record, as I have outlined below.

Results of monitoring trigger key intraoperative decisions as well as postoperative decisions, such as return to surgery, transfer to another level of care, or discharge.

The focus of intraoperative care is to promote the patient’s achievement of expected intraoperative outcomes directed at placing the patient in a safe environment free from injury. The Operating Room (OR) team monitors the patient throughout the surgical procedure for complications, for example the patient’s fluid and electrolyte balance is maintained.

Before the client is transferred to the Post-Anaesthesia Care Unit (PACU), evaluation of the patient is based on reassessment of findings for the patient during surgery. The specific data on the achievement of patient outcomes in the intraoperative phase is documented on the OR record, i.e. the Operative Record.

The postoperative phase continues until the patient is released from the surgeon’s care. After surgery, the on-going care is directed toward restoring physiological functioning, promote healing, and prevent complications and return the patient to the preoperative health status. The patient is monitored for (i) respiratory status for example, one postoperative assessment finding on airway and respiratory status shows the patient is able to expel an oral airway and exhibits return of gag reflex after the patient is extubated, (ii) circulatory status, (iii) neurologic status (monitoring the patient’s level of consciousness), (iv) fluid and metabolic status (monitoring the patient’s (a) gastrointestinal system– for example, with abdominal surgery, abdominal distension to detect internal haemorrhage is monitored and (b) genitourinary system – for example, assessment for bladder distension, (v) level of discomfort or pain, and (vi) wound management.

Monitoring information guides medical and nursing care and identifies the need for diagnostic and other services.

Physiological monitoring during intraoperative and postoperative phases by the OR team is related to the same requirement for physiological monitoring during anaesthesia, which you can refer to from the earlier post Check your medical record for patient monitoring during anaesthesia (this link will open in a new tab of your current browser window).

Physiological monitoring during intraoperative and postoperative phases is documented in the postoperative progress notes and the Operative Record. The surgeon or nurse is responsible for documenting the medical and nursing aspects of physiological status monitoring.

If your hospital is seeking a hospital accreditation status for example the Joint Commission International (JCI) accreditation status or already JCI accredited or plans for a JCI re-survey, then it is only normal to comply with the JCI Standard ASC.7.3 which states “Each patient’s physiological status is continuously monitored during and immediately after surgery and written in the patient’s record.”

References :
Joint Commission International 2010, Joint Commission International Accreditation Standards For Hospitals, 4th edn, JCI, USA

Sue, CD & Patricia, KL 2011, Fundamentals of Nursing: Standards & Practice, 4th edn, Delmar, Cengage Learning, NY, USA