Lose the paper surveys. They waste everyone’s time from the receptionest to the patient to the records clerk to the physician. The Questionairre could be accessed from the home computer through the 'UCSF 'my chart application' and it would become instantly paperless and quick reading for the clinician when preparing for the patient visit.

This application could save time and instantly become part of the patient record.  This would save staff time in checking in patients, save patient time and would get rid of 1950 style paper records.

As a recent patient in one of our clinics, I arrived 30 minutes early for a blood draw after being told that was possible, since I had a scheduled a 30 min. meeting with a colleague.  I waited 50 minutes for a late blood draw.  After the blood draw, I then waited another hour  for the appointment.   Keeping the patient informed on approximate time ( like waiting for a delayed airline flight)  The airlines have such an app, why not UCSF?   Scheduled and estimated times would be shown on the patients smartphone app.

The problem: Hospitalized patients get fewer than five hours of sleep a night.[1]

Problem Statement: Millions of older adults and their families will face complex medical decisions over the course of advanced illness, yet most are unprepared. Lack of preparation can lead to uninformed choices, receipt of care inconsistent with personal goals, and lack of empowerment during clinical encounters, especially for individuals with limited health literacy.

It is a common perception on campus that "Epic is closed and doesn't want to talk to outside systems."

Co Authors: Kara Bischoff & Sirisha Naranaya

Background:

Advanced care planning documentation is recognized as an important tool allowing patients to direct the type and intensity of medical care they receive. Systematic and educational innovations over the past decade have been effective at increasing the conversations around advanced care planning as well as the numbers of completed advanced care planning documents such as advanced directives (AD) and Physician Orders for Life Sustaining Treatments (POLSTs). 

The Problem:

There are over 165,000 mobile health (mhealth) applications available which can help patients with medication management, mental health, exercise, weight loss, symptom tracking, etc. However, these apps are being underutilized and physicians know very little about the full spectrum of apps available for patients. This is a tremendous underutilized resource that can empower patients to better manage their care, especially when they have complex medical conditions and treatment plans.

Co-authors: Michelle Mourad and Kara Bischoff

Background:

Adverse drug events are important preventable causes of hospitalization in older adults, however compliance with a complex medication regimen after discharge home is known to be challenging for patients and particularly for the elderly.