Relevant Prior Manager: Workflow applications

Two types of study priors exist: all priors and relevant priors.

All priors are all studies previously performed for this patient that exist in the system.
Relevant priors are prior studies for this patient that have one or more characteristics that make it of interest or importance to the current study.

If relevant prior rules are not set up, the IMPAX Client user must select from among all priors listed in the Study List in the Text area. This can be an inefficient use of time, as the studies can include any prior studies, any later studies, or studies not relevant to the current study.

If relevant prior rules are set up, an IMPAX Client user can use the Relevance button to display any relevant priors along with the current study, as per these rules.

Timing

The timing for retrieving relevant priors is determined by the visit or the study:

If the visit has been scheduled, prefetching of the relevant priors occurs when the system receives the visit scheduled event.
If the study has been scheduled, prefetching of the relevant priors occurs when the Connectivity Manager sends the study scheduled event to the system. This time can vary, depending on the Connectivity Manager configuration and RIS capabilities. For example, it could be set for 12 hours before study occurs, at midnight, or just before the exam happens.
If it is an unexpected study, relevant priors are autofetched upon the arrival of the first image of the study.

Administration Tools and Client relevancy rules

Relevancy rules can be defined in both the Relevant Priors Manager in the Administration Tools and in the Configure area of the IMPAX Client. These rules affect which priors are displayed for a patient and how fast. The following workflows outline this relationship.

Relevancy rules defined in Administration Tools, but not defined in the Client

When a worklist is cycled with the Relevance button selected, relevant priors are prefetched and opened according to the rules set in the Administration Tools. These priors open faster than any other priors selected from the Text area Study List, because other priors are not prefetched.

Relevancy rules not defined in Administration Tools, but defined in the Client

When a worklist is cycled with the Relevance button selected, relevant priors are opened according to the rules set in the Client. This happens more slowly than in the previous case, because these priors are not prefetched.

Relevancy rules defined in Administration Tools and in the Client

When a worklist is cycled with the Relevance button selected, the current study opens in the Image area along with all of its relevant priors, as defined by the rules in the Client. If any of the cycled studies are from modalities or specialties not defined by Client rules, priors are opened according to any applicable rules in the Administration Tools. The relevant priors defined in the Administration Tools open more quickly, because they were prefetched.

For example, if a relevant prior rules is set up in the Client for CT/any specialty, that rule is used for all CT studies, and any Administration Tools rules are ignored. However, if rules are set up in Administration Tools for all other modalities, those rules are applied to non-CT studies.