Procedure plans and procedure plan steps: ConceptsTopic number: 1425413791292
Procedure plans and procedure plan steps are reusable work instructions that describe best practices for image acquisition.
Relationship between procedure definitions, procedure plans, and procedure plan steps
Procedure definition describes the different imaging procedures that can be requested and performed. Each procedure is a unit of work that can be codified and billed, and that causes a report to be generated.
A procedure plan defines which procedure steps must be performed in what order for a requested procedure. When a procedure plan is assigned (at order creation or during order review), tasks are created and assigned to the appropriate technologist or group, according to the procedure plan steps.
- Preparation—Steps before image acquisition, such as having patients fill in questionnaires or drink contrast fluid.
- Acquisition—For example, acquiring MRI images.
- Follow-up—Steps following acquisition, such as post-processing and informing patients of the results.
Relationship between procedures and procedure plans
Not all procedures are linked to a procedure plan. For simple procedures such as RX Thorax, an acquisition task might be created without being linked to a procedure plan. Procedure plans are not linked to orders. A multi-procedure order can involve multiple procedure plans and even more acquisition workflow tasks.
 | CAUTION! To ensure patient safety, when assigning or configuring procedure plan steps, always check that products, description, and acquisition parameters are correct. |
Context of use for the procedure plan
A context of use answers two questions: who will use the procedure plan and what kind of procedure will the plan be used for. The who can be performing physicians, performing facilities or departments, or acquisition stations. It can even be System, if the plan is relevant to everybody. The kind of procedure applicable to each plan is defined by modality type, procedure definition, body part, or a combination of modality type and body part. Your administrator configures procedure plans and can assign several contexts to a procedure plan.
When creating an order or upon receiving an order from an external system, the context of the ordered procedure is compared with the contexts linked to the procedure plans. With an exact match, the procedure plan is automatically assigned to the ordered procedure. Tasks are then created according to the procedure plan steps and are assigned according to task assignment rules. Documents, products, and protocol codes prescribed by the procedure plan are automatically linked to the tasks.
For orders whose contexts does not match any contexts linked to procedure plans, an acquisition task is created and assigned.
The contexts help users switch procedure plans during order review or during acquisition-related tasks. Users get a list of “most relevant” procedure plans, whose contexts match the current context. These also populate the “used for” search criteria to help users find other procedure plans.
Users with permission can manually switch to any procedure plan. The context of use helps them find a relevant one.
Please consider the following:
| If | Then |
|---|---|
| This procedure plan stays unchanged. If required, a user must manually switch the procedure plan to match the current procedure |
| The procedure plan will fall back to the default procedure plan for the current procedure automatically. |
Procedure plans and multi-procedure acquisition tasks
If the Enable multi-procedure acquisition tasks, disable procedure plans checkbox is selected by your administrator, the active procedure plans become inactive and cannot be used in new procedures. Procedure plans applied to procedures before the option has been enabled are kept but cannot be switched.