Volume 19 | November 2023
HITS eHealth Office
eServices Insider
Empowering Primary Care this Respiratory Virus Season
As you are aware, we've approached respiratory virus season. We wanted to take this time to remind you that our specialists are available to provide you with eConsult support!

Send an eConsult and perhaps avoid a referral; saving time for you and the patient.

Consider sending an eConsult to our Hamilton Niagara Haldimand Brant (HNHB) Regional Respirology Group.
Mental Health Care: Specialist Spotlight
Winter is coming! As we know, the upcoming colder darker winter days, in addition to flu season, can increase stress, anxiety, and seasonal affective disorder. eConsult can provide valuable insight when managing new and emerging mental health diagnoses.

Dr. Kathryn Hunter is a Psychiatry specialist in the HNHB region and has kindly shared her recent experience as a Specialist user*:
eConsult Requested:

A patient in their late 40s is experiencing anxiety and depression. Their current medication has resulted in continued anxiety.

The PCP shared the patient's current medication and dosage.
eConsult Provided:

With this information, Dr. Hunter recommended an additional medication with appropriate dosage. She outlined possible side effects as well as their commonly anticipated duration.
This eConsult was provided in 1 day!

Dr. Kathryn Hunter is available for eConsults on Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, in addition to adult patients. To send her an eConsult, select "Specific Provider/Group" when requesting an eConsult, and search for her name in the "Recipient" field.
*For the purpose of this publication, the eConsult has been edited, removing specific reference(s) to patient demographic information and medications.
Continued Professional Development Using eConsult
Were you able to gain new knowledge through your clinical inquiry?

Eligible clinicians can submit this as a self-learning reflection and earn 5 MainPro Credits for sending eConsults.

Learn about eligibility and how to submit here.
Happy Digital Health Week!
The HITS eHealth Office at Hamilton Health Sciences is a nimble, trusted source of digital health expertise that partners with healthcare organizations to improve system interoperability, strengthen workflows and ultimately enhance patient experience.

We’re your eConsult regional deployment partner in HNHB. To celebrate this week, we want to share some valuable outcomes to recognize your achievements!
Image courtesy of Canada Health Infoway
Together, eConsult users in HNHB have contributed the following:
The median response time is less than 1 day (0.8 days to be exact!) with 96% of cases answered within the 7 day expectation. 
Are you an eConsult Super User?
Thank you for using eConsult frequently to improve your patients’ overall healthcare experience. There is no doubt that by seeking specialist advice via eConsult, you have reduced unnecessary referrals for your patients and maybe even saved yourself some time researching appropriate courses of action.

We would like to encourage other primary care providers in our region to use eConsult too and so we are asking for your help! 

Provide a Testimonial or Refer a Colleague
From our experience, word of mouth remains the most effective method of encouraging the adoption of a new digital health tool. How has eConsult improved your patients’ experience? Has using eConsult saved you or your patient time? If you would like to submit a testimonial or receive resources to share with colleagues, please send us an email at econsult@hitsehealth.ca.

Submit Case Examples
As a way to demonstrate the value of eConsult, we are seeking any case examples you are willing to contribute! Our goal is to collect case examples from all specialties so that those that are curious about eConsult can know what to expect. Check out some examples of the case examples we already have.

If you would like to submit a case you found particularly helpful or interesting, please send us an email with your original consult request and the specialist’s response with all identifying patient details removed to econsult@hitsehealth.ca.

Simply navigate to the ‘Completed’ folder of your eConsult dashboard to review your past cases. You can also use the ‘Search’ function to find a case by keyword (e.g. ‘elevated bilirubin’).
Your Deployment Team is here to Support
Our team is here to support you! If you or your staff would like a refresher on submitting an eConsult or navigating the tool, please contact us at: eConsult@HITSeHealthOffice.ca

Watch our video on how to send an eConsult.
Take a look at the eConsult Requesting Provider Best Practice Quick Guide to easily reference:

  • Key responsibilities when sending an eConsult.
  • An overview of how to send an eConsult.
  • 5 key elements of a high quality eConsult request.
  • Important information about privacy, consent, documentation and billing.




For more eConsult resources, visit www.econsultontario.ca/resources 
Get Social
The HITS eHealth Office is active on X (formerly known as Twitter) and LinkedIn. We share helpful tips, new features, and more eConsult related content.