Introduction

A task resource describes an activity that can be performed and tracks the state of completion of that activity. It is a representation that an activity should be or has been initiated, and eventually, represents the successful or unsuccessful completion of that activity.

Scope and Usage

In scope of the eHealth Infrastructure, the Task resource is used for:

• tracking an activity to be performed by a Practitioner, CareTeam or Organization. The entity responsible for performing the Task is identified through the extension ehealth-task-responsible.
• coordinating which Practitioner has assigned or been assigned a Task. This is identified through owner.

Task resources are produced by the eHealth Infrastructure as reaction to measurements being submitted, measurements being submitted at odd timing or expected measurements not being submitted. Measurements in the form of Observation, QuestionnaireResponse or other resources are expected to be submitted by a Patient according to a measurement regime specified in a CarePlan and referenced CarePlan/ServiceRequest.

The context in which the Task is created is identified through episodeOfCare. The focus element describes what resource the Task responsible should be acting on and can reference any resource. The for element can contain a reference to a Patient and shall be specified if the Task pertains to a Patient as subject. In case episodeOfCare references an EpisodeOfCare, it is enforced that for references the same Patient as is referenced in the EpisodeOfCare.

Use of Task for coordinating assessment of submitted measurement

The eHealth Infrastructure supports that automated processing rules can be defined as Library resources, attached to plans (through the complex of PlanDefinition/ActivityDefinition/Library and CarePlan/ServiceRequest) and applied to submitted measurements. This includes automated processing rules performing triaging based on comparison of submitted measurements against reference ranges specified in CarePlan/ServiceRequest.

The definition of each automated processing rule controls whether to create the following as a result of the applying the rule:

• zero, one or more Communication resources of profile ehealth-message
• zero, one or more Task resources of profile ehealth-task
• zero, one or more ClinicalImpression resources of profile ehealth-clinicalimpression

A typical result of triaging, for instance, is expected to be:

• A Communication referring to a Task - creation of this might depend on Task.priority being other than routine
• A Task with focus set to the ClinicalImpression
• A ClinicalImpression referring to a measurement (Observation, QuestionnaireResponse or Media)

In case no automated processing rule has been attached to the plan, the current fallback automated processing rule creates a Task that refers to a single measurement. This, however, could change.

A typical Task created by triaging is expected to have:

• Task category is a coding that states need to assess a triaging result
• Task ehealth-task-responsible that references the one or more CareTeam attached to the CarePlan
• Task ehealth-restriction-category is a coding that can be used to restrict access to the task, for instance restricting a task so only CareTeam members involved in monitoring measurements can access it
• Task priority reflecting the urgency set by the triaging rule
• Task focus referencing the ClinicalImpression that was also created during triaging. Focus can be overridden by the automated processing rule to reference something different from the ClinicalImpression.

Use of Task for resolving missing measurement

In case the eHealth Infrastructure detects that a measurement submission is missing, it creates a Communication for the CareTeam(s) attached to the CarePlan stating that the Patient should be reminded to follow the measurement regime. It also creates a Task where:

• Task category is a coding that states need to resolve why measurement submission is missing
• Task ehealth-task-responsible references the one or more CareTeam attached to the CarePlan
• Task ehealth-restriction-category is a coding that can be used to restrict access to the task, for instance restricting a task so only CareTeam members involved in monitoring measurements can access it
• Task priority set to routine
• Task focus references the ServiceRequest for the missing measurement

Use of Task for unexpected measurement

In case the eHealth Infrastructure detects a measurement submission at unexpected or odd time compared to the measurement regime, it creates a Task where:

• Task category is a coding that states need to resolve unexpected measurement submission* Task ehealth-task-responsible references the one or more CareTeam attached to the CarePlan
• Task ehealth-restriction-category is a coding that can be used to restrict access to the task, for instance restricting a task so only CareTeam members involved in monitoring measurements can access it
• Task priority set to routine
• Task focus references Observation, QuestionnaireResponse or Media (the measurement)

No use of Task for coordinating measuring to be performed by Patient

No Task resources are created to assist in adhering to a measurement regime.

Use of Task in coordinating activities across multiple patients

The Task extension ehealth-task-responsible enables that multiple entities (CareTeam, Practitioner, Patient, RelatedPerson) can be responsible for the Task. It is expected, for instance, that each CareTeam will provide support/monitoring of multiple patients. The Task resources for which a CareTeam is responsible can form a list sorted by priority to support triaging.

When a Task has been assigned to a particular individual (through Task owner) it is possible for the Task responsible(s) to reassign the Task. This way, CareTeam members can coordinate Task assignments (by adding Practitioner as Task owner and setting Task status) while preserving the CareTeam as fallback in case the Practitioner is unable to process the Task, for instance due to absence.

Use of Task in resource handover negotiations between CareTeams

Tasks can be used to support resource handover negotiations between CareTeams.

• Task category must be set to HandoverNegotiation
• Task ehealth-task-responsible must reference the CareTeams that are involved in the handover (both the CareTeam that is handing over and the CareTeam that is taking over)
• Task focus must reference the resource that is being handed over
• Task input should be used to identify which role the responsible CareTeams have in the handover (e.g. input with type set to code from http://ehealth.sundhed.dk/cs/task-handover-roles and valueReference to the CareTeam that has that role in the handover)

Simplified example of a handover negotiation Task regarding handover of CarePlan1. The handover is between CareTeam1 and CareTeam2 with a CareTeam3 as informed:

• category: coding = HandoverNegotiation from system = http://ehealth.sundhed.dk/cs/task-category
• ehealth-task-responsible: reference to CareTeam1, reference to CareTeam2, reference to CareTeam3
• focus: reference to CarePlan
• input[0]:
  • type = coding with inviting-entity from system http://ehealth.sundhed.dk/cs/task-handover-roles
  • value = reference to CareTeam1
• input[1]:
  • type = coding with leaving-entity from system http://ehealth.sundhed.dk/cs/task-handover-roles
  • value = reference to CareTeam1
• input[2]:
  • type = coding with arriving-entity from system http://ehealth.sundhed.dk/cs/task-handover-roles
  • value = reference to CareTeam2
• input[3]:
  • type = coding with informed-entity from system http://ehealth.sundhed.dk/cs/task-handover-roles
  • value = reference to CareTeam3