Follow-up

What is Follow-up?

Follow-up is an intelligent workflow designed to re-engage Triage users at appropriate intervals. Its goal is to reassess the status of low-acuity patients and determine if additional medical support is required, thereby aiding in the identification of potentially worsening cases. This workflow enables the comparison of reported symptom progression over time, allows for the addition of new symptoms, and facilitates updated assessments to generate new recommendations. Furthermore, it inquires about users' planned next steps, providing valuable insights into their medical journey and adherence to our recommendations. This interview type supports users and patients, maintains their engagement in their health, and assists in the timely identification of urgent cases.

Key steps described within this workflow (survey):

1. User creation
2. Patient creation
3. Survey creation
4. Next steps

How to create Follow-up workflow

Every survey needs an information about 'user' and 'patient'. As the Follow-up survey is intended to be used as extension to a Triage survey, 'user' and 'patient' information can be obtained earlier, in the Triage survey, stored and re-used in the Follow-up survey. If not, a user and a patient must be created separately. Each 'patient' needs to have information about sex and age data filled in, which are the fundamental entities necessary to link a survey to a specific 'user'. Information about dependent can be additionally used. Follow-up surveys require medical evidence collected in a previous survey. It could be either during the Triage interview or Follow-up survey. Collected data can be transferred from the survey summary.

A first notification date for a Follow-up survey, is set up manually during the implementation process. Notification dates for subsequent Follow-up surveys will use default values (presented below), unless configured otherwise. The Follow-up workflow is a recurring process, triggered by a previous Follow-up survey. User interaction is determined by the selected contact method. The notification date, and therefore the timing of the Follow-up, is dictated by the triage level from the preceding interview.

Default notification dates in Follow-up

Steps to creating a Follow-up survey:

1. Identifying a user

A user represents an individual who interacts with the Infermedica platform. It can be obtained from the previous survey (Triage or Follow-up), or created from scratch.

Example request:

curl "https://api.infermedica.com/api/mgp/v1/users" \
  -X "POST" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer <ACCESS_TOKEN>" \
  -d '{
  "email": "user@example.net"
}'

Available attributes:

• email - user email

More information on creating a user can be found here.

2. Identyfing a patient

A patient is an entity representing a person's medical information within the Infermedica system. It can be obtained from the previous survey (Triage or Follow-up), or created from scratch. Each new Follow-up survey is linked to a 'patient'. The data provided through 'patient; directly affects the questions that appear in a Follow-up survey.

Example request:

curl "https://api.infermedica.com/api/mgp/v1/patients" \
  -X "POST" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer <ACCESS_TOKEN>" \
  -d '{
  "sex": "male",
  "age": {
    "unit": "year",
    "value": 20
  },
  "dependent": true,
  "user_id": "c599e21b-3795-4f02-a14e-b46884f8a0c9"
}'

Available attributes:

• dependent - is patient dependent on the user. The value true means that the survey created for this patient is completed by another person, like a parent or caregiver. For underage patients, dependent must be set to true - if provided earlier, the question about dependent will be omitted
• sex - patient sex - can be defined in the Follow-up survey or collected earlier
• age - patient age - can be defined in the Follow-up survey or collected earlier
• user_id (required) - related user ID

More information on creating a patient can be found here.

3. Creating a Follow-up survey

A Follow-up survey is an interview process in which patient's medical information from the previous survey is verified and a new medical evidence can be collected.

Example request:

curl "https://api.infermedica.com/api/mgp/v1/surveys" \
  -X "POST" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer <ACCESS_TOKEN>" \
  -d '{
  "sections": [
    "followup_questions",
    "intent_survey",
    "dynamic",
  ],
  "expiration_date": "2024-04-22T11:51:14.198593",
  "type": "followup",
  "patient_id": "9702c05b-5871-4109-ae2a-82f8c9dad64c",
  "evidence": [
    {
      "id": "s_98",
      "choice_id": "present",
      "source": "initial"
    }
  ],
}'

Available attributes:

• type (required) - survey type - followup
• patient_id (required) - related patient ID, age and sex
• evidence (required) - survey's initial symptoms, risk factors and other assessed previously symptoms
• sections - survey questions sections that will be displayed during the interview. If no data is provided, all sections will be visible. If data is provided, the interview will include only the specified sections along with mandatory questions about sex, age, and dependents (if not provided earlier or during 'patient' creation). The assignment of questions to specific sections is specified in the table in the below.
• expiration_date - the expiry date of the interview, after which it will not be possible to complete it

More information on creating a survey can be found here.

Summary of all the questions within the Follow-up survey:

4. Next steps

This workflow supports low-acuity patients during their recovery. Re-evaluation of symptoms identifies potential symptom deterioration and the need for medical professional consultation. Follow-up surveys can be conducted for as long as the patient desires. Collected data can be integrated with other systems, such as patient accounts or doctor panels. Integration methods vary depending on the specific solutions used by each organization and must be developed client-side.