A Use Case Template

Title – The goal of the use case study

Description – Goal to be achieved by use case and sources for requirements

Assumptions – Conditions that must be true for use case to be successful

Cohort Selection – The subject selection criteria

Preconditions – A numbered list of conditions/states that must be true for a subject to be included in the cohort

Post conditions – Define the results that will define this use case successful

Research and Business Process – Current State

Clinical (patient case – “at the bed side”) –

1. Patient admission – the process of accepting a patient at the point of care
2. Aggregation of patients
3. Care delivery options – the different options for the provision of health care
4. Pathway or protocol use - admission and discharge criteria
5. Timeliness of intervention - the time from patient admission, or when the order was written, to when patients were seen by staff
6. Regulatory requirements interpretation
7. Documentation methodologies
8. Nursing participation  (practices and competencies)
9. Patient education staff utilization and productivity
10.                      Used for financial data
11.                      Patient satisfaction
12.                      Post-discharge care/follow up
13.                      Service deficits
14.                      facility analysis and planning

Clinical Research - Seeks to answer a specific scientific or health question.

1. Agreement between sponsor and site regarding potential study.
2. Initial feasibility study
3. Send reports, informed consent to IRB and necessary subcommittees
4. Following IRB approval, identify potential subject
5. Schedule patient visits
6. Complete Case Report Forms (CRF’s), queries, pharmacy and any other issues
7. Study closeout

Basic Research –

1. Literature Review – Investigate what questions other researchers already have addressed
2. Question Development – Develop a research question; identify what is being investigated and steer the research project in the direction of providing an explanation for a specific phenomenon.
3. Proposal
4. Data Collection – specify how the data will be gathered in the most practical and efficient manner.
   1. Documentation;
      1. Written records of previously gathers information.
      2. Database query
   2. Observation; either directly or indirectly.
   3. Interviews  and Surveys
5. Analysis – does the evidence support the hypothesis?
6. Findings and Conclusions – report what was uncovered, what its significance is, and where future research projects in this area should focus.