IMI System Release Notes for Version 9.0

Based on the feedback, complaints and request received from Member State authorities using the new IMI modules for PQ alerts we have already managed to put in place several changes and improvements in the system; please find below the summary of the improvements to the PQ alert mechanism. Note that the listed changes are already in place and might have already been noticed by some of the users.

The subject of the automatic e-mails now also includes reference to the country which sent the alert and clear reference to the alert module in which the alert is sent (requested by actors registered for multiple alert modules).

When alert coordinators broadcast their alerts they always received two automatic e-mails after the action (as they were senders and recipients of the same alert at the same time), this duplication has now been discarded.

Alert related e-mails were previously not only sent to the functional e-mail address registered for the alert modules, but also directly to the users. On request of Member States the rule has been changed. According to the modified rule the alert related automatic e-mails are no longer sent directly to the IMI users, but only to the functional mailboxes which are registered for the different alert modules.

If need be competent authorities internally may decide to implement automatic forwarding rules for these mailboxes if they wish that some of their users receive the automatic e-mails also in their personal mailboxes. If they would like another mailbox (than the one which currently receives the automatic messages) to receive the automatic e-mails their local administrator or IMI access manager can change the e-mail addresses that are currently registered for the different modules. This is how it can be done:

1. The authority' details should be opened from the Administration menu option
2. On the first page the Edit button should be clicked
3. On the modules page, in the list of modules the relevant Alert module should be selected and in the bottom of the page the currently registered e-mail address can be changed.
4. Once all necessary changes are done the Save button should be clicked in the top left corner of the page.
5. Due to the fact that IMI users no longer receive automatic e-mails in their personal mailboxes, we strongly advise those who are responsible for handling PQ alerts in IMI (especially users in authorities with alert coordinator role) to regularly check the Dashboard menu option in the system. From the last section of the dashboard tab alert users can easily access the alerts that they received recently. The same section is also an access point for alert coordinators to display the list of alerts that is waiting for their approval.

Based on the usage of the system and on MS feedback the predefined list of professions in the alert forms have been updated and now also include the following entries:

1. For alerts concerning specialised doctors: Histopathology, Otolaryngology, Haematology, Public health medicine, General (internal) Medicine, Oral and Maxillo Facial Surgery, Rehabilitation Medicine, Genito-Urinary Medicine, Infectious Diseases
2. For alerts concerning nurses: Mental health nurse, Adult nurse, Second level nurse, Children's nurse, Learning disabilities nurse, School nurse, Public health nurse
3. For alerts concerning other health professions: Biomedical Scientist, Occupational Therapist, Operating Department Practitioner, Paramedic, Social worker (Health sector), Psychotherapist, Clinical Psychologist, Practitioner psychologist
4. For alerts concerning the education of minors: Social worker (Education)

The list of professions in the IMI forms are based on the regulated professions database and include professions that are regulated in several Member States. To reduce the use of free text definition of professions in alerts we would be happy to further improve the current lists and add professions, which authorities find missing from the lists. Please let us know if additional entries should be incorporated in the current lists.

The search screens of the different alert modules now all include the following search criteria: First name, Surname and Date of birth of the professional. These criteria have been added based on request of competent authorities. Note however that the criteria fields for the professional's name take into consideration special characters, i.e. a result is only returned if the correct character string form a professionals name is entered (incl. accents etc.). Please also note that the relationship between the different search criteria in IMI is always an AND relationship, i.e. if several criteria is set for a search the result list will only include those alerts which match all criteria.

The result lists of module specific searches have been improved as requested by MS. (Applies to searches accessed via the PQ Alerts / Search / PQ Alerts – Doctors… etc. menu options) The exportable alert lists now also include the free text definition of professions (where applicable), the firstname, surname and the date of birth of the professionals who are subject of alerts. As the last three columns include personal data, their content will only be visible to authorities, which are added to the alerts as recipients.

Our development team is already working on further improvements to the PQ Alert modules, namely on

1. a functionality that will allow alert coordinators to disclose personal details included in alerts by a single click, without the need to search for their own authority to be added as a recipient
2. a functionality that would allow alert coordinators to broadcast alerts with a single click, instead of today's two-step process (Submission and Broadcast)