Our previous article Annual Updates Part One – Publishing is Easy! discussed how you can review the protocol changes in an annual update from the protocol authors, then publish the new protocols for your nurses to use.
But what happens during an update if you’ve previously customized one or more of the protocols? Do your changes go away when the annual updates are released?
Of course not! ClearTriage combines your changes with the changes from the protocol authors, then lets you review each newly merged protocol to make sure everything looks good. Reviewing your customizations annually is a good practice, matching the annual review of the standard protocols by the authors.
Let’s explore three variations of how this works:
Case 1: The authors didn’t make any changes in the protocol you customized
This case is simple. If you previously customized a protocol and the authors haven’t done anything to that protocol in their annual update, your customizations will remain unchanged when you publish their updates.
Case 2: The authors updated a different section of the protocol you customized
If you customized the triage questions in a protocol and the authors changed the care advice in the same protocol (but not the triage questions), we’ll simply update the care advice in that protocol and leave your customized triage questions as is. And we’ll handle the opposite situation the same way (if you customized the care advice and the authors changed the triage questions.)
You’ll still want to review these protocols to make sure you still need your customizations and that you’re comfortable with the changes the authors made, but in all likelihood the new combined protocol will be just what you want.
Case 3: You and the authors both changed the same section in a protocol
It’s slightly more complex if you customize the triage questions in a protocol and the authors also change the triage questions in the same protocol, or if you both change the care advice. In either case, we will start by combining your changes and their changes.
But since the changes could potentially conflict, you will need to closely review the new merged protocol. ClearTriage presents you with a list of all protocols with potential conflicts. You’ll need to review each one, make any necessary changes, then approve the new version.
If you and the authors have changed different triage questions or different care advice topics, this will likely be easy. Here’s an example, note that your changes have a blue badge and changes by the authors have a black badge:
In the example above, the protocol authors have changed five of the questions on this screen and you’ve edited the text in a different question. It’s not common that the protocol authors make that many changes in a protocol, but even though they did there’s no conflict between their changes and yours. Since your change still makes sense in the context of their changes, you can just press the Approve button.
But if you and the authors have changed the same question or same care advice topic, by default we’ll keep your changes and discard the changes from the authors. Since their changes may contain important new information, you’ll want to review them carefully and decide what if anything you want to add to your text. Here’s an example:
Notice that both you and the authors made changes to the top question. The ClearTriage merge process just kept your edits, so you’ll want to look at this question in detail to see if the authors’ changes should be incorporated into yours. Click on the pencil or on the “You Edited” or “ClearTriage Edited” badges to display what was changed:
You can either continue using your customized text, revise your customized text, or switch to the authors’ new text. In this case you changed the question because you don’t have standing orders for prescription eye drops so it makes sense to keep your changes, you don’t need anything from the authors’ changes. You can just press Save.
Summary
During the annual update process, ClearTriage will combine your customizations with updates from the protocol authors. You’ll review each protocol with potentially conflicting changes, make additional changes as necessary, then approve each new version. Once all potentially conflicting protocols are approved, you can review changes in the other protocols and publish the updated protocols.
And while this may sound complex, it really isn’t. Customers who have customized dozens of protocols are often able to review and publish the updates in less than an hour.
If you have any questions about this process or your customized protocols, please contact ClearTriage Support.
