THISIS FAQ – Assigning and Tracking Cases-Field Records
In THISIS, when assigning work to individuals within the Case Assignment/Field Record question package, does it pull from a user list or can it be assigned to anybody within the system?
Users set up in the THISIS system are assigned to different groups and roles. For example, John Smith is a Houston DIS. Not only is he linked to the Houston public health follow-up jurisdiction, but he will also have access to all question packages associated with public health follow-up and STD surveillance. When a user is in the Case Assignment/Field Record question package, they can select a jurisdiction (PHFU Houston, in this example). This will filter the user list to persons associated with the Houston public health follow-up program. Users are not allowed to assign persons not associated with either that role or group. Betty Boop’s name from the Houston TB program will not be a selection available to the user for this assignment.
How do we assign cases and how do we determine who a case was assigned to?
In THISIS, case assignments can refer to activities such as:
- Field records
- Interview records
- Re-interviews
- Congenital syphilis investigations
- Data to care
- Medical chart abstractions
- Out of state record searches.
This might be different from the past when case assignment typically referred to interview records. With THISIS, to avoid confusion, we will now specify the type of assignment we are referring to and responding to.
All assignment types, such as Field records and Interview records are assigned to a user in the Case Assignment/Field Record question package. To assign a user:
- An assignment type is selected
- The ‘Jurisdiction assigned to’ field must be completed
- Then the event can be assigned to an individual user.
After saving, any user can view to whom the case was assigned. You can open the Case Assignment/Field Record question package for the person of interest and look under the Case Assignment/Field Record Information section. You’ll have to click on the small + sign in the bottom left of the box to expand the field and see the information entered for the assignment.
Users can also use workflows to determine or track which user was assigned to particular cases if the assignment is still open. See details on using workflows for this purpose in the question below, ‘How do you advise we track open case assignments?’
How do you track open case assignments?
For each type of case assignment (field records, interview records, re-interviews, and congenital syphilis investigations), there is a workflow that lists the events in the user’s jurisdiction that have an open assignment for that particular type of case assignment. For DIS users, only events assigned to you will appear in these workflows. The same event will also appear in this workflow for the FLS in that jurisdiction to help them with monitoring open assignments among their staff.
The workflows that show open assignments are as follows:
- Open CS Investigation
- Open Field Records
- Open Interview Records
- Open Reinterview Records
There is also a workflow called “Open Assignments – Name Of Jurisdiction” (e.g. Open Assignments – Austin, Open Assignments – Houston, Open Assignments – PHR 11, etc.) under the STD FLS Monitoring Activities category in the workflows page in THISIS. In this workflow, you will see all events with an open assignment. It will display the username (or user number) assigned to each of the open assignments for an event. If there is not a user assigned to the event, you will have to open the “Open Assignments No User – Name of Jurisdiction” workflow (located in the STD FLS Activities category on the workflows page).
The Day-to-Day Guide for a THISIS User resource can also help remind you which workflows to check for tracking open assignments.
If you would like to see all the assignments that are open for a particular event, you can open the event and look for the section in the Basic Information. You can find this on the event summary page called “Workflow Status.” Clicking on the link that says “View List” will display all the workflows associated with the event. You can look to see if any of the four workflows listed above appear in that list.
If you have clicked on the gears icon, are on the workflow page in THISIS, but do not see a workflow you are looking for, click on the link that says, “Show empty workflows” at the top of the page in the Header line. It may be that the workflow you are looking for does not have any events in it at the time. In this case it will not appear in your queue without clicking on that link.
When assigning a case in the test environment, can users in the test environment see if it was assigned to them?
Yes. Assignments assigned to a user can be seen by the user. If this is not happening, there may be an issue with the roles assigned to the user. This might prevent them from seeing this assignment. Please contact your consultant to relay example details.
In what workflow can we view cases that have already been assigned to a user?
The “Open Assignments – Name Of Jurisdiction” workflow (e.g. Open Assignments – Austin, Open Assignments – Houston, Open Assignments – PHR 11, etc.) under the STD FLS Monitoring Activities category in the workflows page in THISIS shows all events in that jurisdiction with an open assignment. It will display the username (or user number) assigned to each of the open assignments for an event.
The four open record/investigation workflows (Open CS Investigation, Open Field Records, Open Interview Records, and Open Re-interview Records) also show records that have been assigned to a user. For DIS users, only events assigned to you will appear in these workflows. The same event will also appear in this workflow for the FLS in that jurisdiction to assist them with monitoring open assignments among their staff.
What is the difference between the assignment for medical chart abstraction and the surveillance assignment in the Case assignment/ field record question package?
This question is referring to the options listed in the ‘assignment type’ field under the Case Assignment/Field Record Information section of the question package. Medical chart abstraction should only be selected for HIV case reporting follow-up. Surveillance assignment should only be selected for surveillance activities related to STDs. Examples include calling the provider or lab for more information before assigning to DIS for field follow-up.
Where are the workflows that track open assignments located?
To access or view any workflow, click on the gears icon located in the toolbar at the top of the THISIS page. This icon will open to the Workflow Queues page. The “Open Assignments – Name Of Jurisdiction” workflow (e.g. Open Assignments – Austin, Open Assignments – Houston, Open Assignments – PHR 11, etc.) shows all events in that jurisdiction with an open assignment. It is located under the STD FLS Monitoring Activities category on the workflow queues page.
The four open record/investigation workflows (Open CS Investigation, Open Field Records, Open Interview Records, and Open Re-interview Records) are located in the STD DIS Activities category on the Workflow Queues page.
If you are in the workflow queues page but do not see a workflow you are looking for, click on the link that says, “Show empty workflows” at the top of the page in the Header line. It may be that the workflow you are looking for does not have any events in it at the time so it will not appear in your queue without clicking on that link.