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Photo by Pascal Brokmeier on Unsplash.

Problem

There was no reliable way to track implantable electrophysiology (EP) devices at Duke and even less reliable methods for managing patients with legacy devices (those implanted before Epic went live). This made it difficult to execute device recalls.

Solution

We identified a “single source of truth” which was the Epic Implant Log. This functionality already existed within Epic and was being used by other therapeutic areas to varying degrees. In addition, implants as of 2011 were already being recorded in this database. However, this left out two important categories of device patients:

  1. those with devices implanted before Epic went live; and
  2. those who had devices implanted at other institutions but are followed at Duke.

These groups are not insignificant and all device patients are potentially subject to recalls.

Existing data from the historical database as well as data from device manufacturers was used to try and populate the implant log with all relevant implant information for Duke patients.

Innovation & Implementation Team

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