National, local and personal
"the first time Primary and Secondary care have the same view of the patient's journey"
Dr David Gozzard
Medical Director Conwy & Denbighshire NHS Trust
The Map of Medicine is designed to locally and nationally support effective clinical governance systems. It provides, in a single solution, nationally accredited clinical guidelines for best clinical practice with the facility to customise clinical pathways to meet local clinical needs, giving clinicians access to a local trusted source.
Local practice information including patient information, clinical guidelines, care pathways, protocols and professional development programs can be added by local teams, while links to national resources and evidence-based peer reviewed pathways maintain the framework of the Map of Medicine.
The Map of medicine and the Map Management Suite is available entirely as a web application; it is time efficient to set up on a wide range of IT infrastructure and is easily accessed from hospital, home and surgery.
Customising the Map of Medicine for local use
The Map of Medicine can be customised for health providers or groups of organisations delivering care to a patient population in a geographical area. Customisation can be clinical or administrative.
Administrative localisation of the Map of Medicine
Allows administrative information to be added, such as:
- contact details for clinicians, specialist centers and hospital departments
- outpatient and inpatient waiting times
- local treatment protocols
- links to local web sites
- local referral letters
- transport times
Administrative localisation using the Map Display
Clinical localisation of the Map of Medicine
- allows new clinical pathways to be created
- allows modification to existing clinical pathways to fit local use
- change information in a pathway to reflect local practice
Clinical localisation using the Map Management Suite.
Pathways can be extended or modified to reflect local resources. This can be achieved through the addition of extra nodes, which are relevant locally.
Notes, links and any information can be added or modified around the pathways.
Local Maps are more representative of local immediate healthcare economy
and practices.
Customised Map of Medicine pathways will maintain the links to national guidance, allowing local teams to be updated on new guidance and providing the option to adjust local guidance as needed.
Management of localisation
Local customisation made to the Map of Medicine is clearly differentiated from the national content. Name, date and origin of local changes are recorded which ensure each user can verify the source of the local map change. A history of previous versions of pathways is maintained automatically so that developments in clinical practice can be reviewed.
The Map of Medicine protects the integrity of clinical information included in local changes - only individuals with appropriate access rights can make changes. Each user takes responsibility for changes that modify national guidance, ensuring that the addition of new clinical information is approved by local clinicians. Localisation to the Map of Medicine can be made under appropriate clinical governance approval.
Support local innovation
The Map of Medicine supports local innovation by encouraging development of local knowledge to add to the Map of Medicine. Clinical practice specific to local health teams can be customised into relevant clinical pathways, and knowledge from local experts can be utilised to develop best practice guidance.
Local users can also provide feedback and input on the local draft content, stimulating discussion and clinical review within local health networks. Thus local innovation is encouraged while ensuring the Map of Medicine remains a current and dynamic tool for achieving the best health outcomes.
Feedback on locally developed content is managed within the Map of Medicine program and is rapidly distributed to relevant users.
Supporting local communication
Customising the Map of Medicine to a local area facilitates communication between GPs and secondary care, allowing all clinicians to understand and contribute to local guidance on health practices.
Supporting personal best practice
Individual clinicians can personalise the Map of Medicine to reflect their working practices. Recently used pathways are quickly accessible from the front page and useful information found at specific steps in the pathway can be flagged for future reference through the addition of personal notes.
Because the Map of Medicine provides clinical guidance over a broad range of disease states, it is an excellent resource for clinicians not familiar with current medical guidance in a particular health field.
Feedback can be generated from a personal note, providing a quick mechanism to share knowledge with a peer group.
Personal notes are available no matter where the clinician connects to the Map so those working in a number of settings or who use the Map for personal development as well as clinical practice see a single view.
