The Clinical & Systems Transformation (CST) project is designed to improve the safety, quality and consistency of patient care across Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH), Provincial Health Services Authority (PHSA) and Providence Health Care (PHC).

CST will:

  • Provide support to the above health organizations to establish streamlined clinical, research and process standards — including workflows, order sets, clinical guidelines, integrated plans of care and a common electronic health record.
  • Implement a common clinical information system — called CST Cerner — which will replace multiple existing outdated systems. The new system will act as a single electronic record of patient care and will provide significantly more clinical functionality to support clinicians at point of care.  

CST Cerner and Research

Depending on your research role, access to CST Cerner may be required in order to use the PowerChart and PowerTrials applications.

Cerner PowerChart is the primary place to view patient history, documents, lab results and radiology results. Studies that have been reviewed and approved by the research ethics board may require access to information held in PowerChart.

You will need access to PowerChart if you are:

  • Part of a clinical trial team;
  • Conducting observational real-time clinical research; or
  • Requiring data from labs or transcriptions from a VCH site live with CST Cerner.

Cerner PowerTrials is a part of PowerChart that provides functionality for individuals involved in the clinical research process. Learn how to navigate the Cerner PowerTrials in the CST Tips document.

Will this interfere with Clinical Trials Management System (CTMS)?
No. PowerTrials facilitates the connection between clinical care and research within the patient health record. CTMS gives full visibility to a research portfolio with patient tracking, analytics and finance/billing.

CST Cerner for Your Study

Depending on your research study, you and your staff members may require:

  • A CST Cerner PowerTrial
  • A CST Cerner PowerPlan
  • Access to CST Cerner (to use the PowerChart and PowerTrial applications, your staff will require access to CST Cerner)

Monitoring information can be found on the SOP and Tools page, including:

  • Standard operating procedures: Study Monitoring and Communication, Audits and Inspections, Monitor Access Provisioned by VCH
  • Tools: Site Selection Visit, Study Initiation Visit, Site Monitoring Visit
  • Fact Sheet for site assessments
  • Confidentiality Undertaking for Monitors filing in regulatory binder

Read Cerner Tips and FAQ and the Cerner System Fact Sheet for more information.

Requesting a Cerner build for your study:

  1. Complete the Research and Clinical Trials Survey
  2. Save the completed copy of the survey with your study title in the file name
  3. Send the completed survey to VCHClinicalInformaticsTrials@vch.ca

The VCH Clinical Informatics Trials team will review your survey results, and respond with next steps for your study team. For any further questions or concerns regarding CST Cerner for your study, please reach out to VCHClinicalInformaticsTrials@vch.ca. 

Getting Access to CST Cerner and Change Requests

Researchers will need access to CST Cerner if access to electronic charts is required for study purposes. Prior to requesting Cerner access, ensure you have completed and received the following for a Health Authority (HA) account:

  1. VCHRI Certificate of Operational Approval
  2. Record of Completion of the VCH & PHC Confidentiality Undertaking for Researchers

Please complete the Privacy Training for VCH & PHC Researchers prior to accessing charts in Cerner.

If you do not have an active HA account, you may request an account by completing and submitting the VCHRI Researcher Request for a VCH Account Form to VCHRIDataSupport@vch.ca. A VCHRI representative will contact you to confirm receipt within two days.

Once you have your HA account, you can request Cerner access. Using the link below, you are able to:

  • Request a new account
  • Request a change to an existing account
  • Request a change in current CST Cerner position
  • Reset a password

CST Cerner Request for Access

Determining your Cerner Position

In the Cerner Access Request Form, you will need to indicate what level of CST Cerner access you require. There are five different roles for research staff. Refer to the information below and the Research Role Comparison Table to determine your research level.

Research Level 1 (RL1) — For researchers working on retrospective projects, monitors, auditors or inspectors.

Position details:

  • View of PowerChart
  • No view of registration/scheduling
  • No patient search box
  • No “do” functionality (includes no printing capability)
  • The only way to access the chart at R1 is through PowerTrials or a patient list. This can be created by Health Information Management (HIM) for retrospective and chart reviews and by a research nurse or coordinator for monitors, auditors and inspectors

Research Level 2 (RL2) — For researchers working on a prospective study. To be used by data or research coordinators who are not directly involved in patient care.

Position details:

  • View of PowerChart
  • Includes view of registration/scheduling
  • Search box active
  • Scanning and limited printing functionality

Research Level 3 (RL3) — For researchers working on a prospective study and coordinators who are involved with direct patient care, including documentation, appointment coordination and assessments.

Position details:

  • Use of message center
  • Scanning and limited printing functionality
  • Enroll patients in PowerTrials and place process alerts (where required)
  • Use tracking shell (an electronic list that gives a snapshot of all patient information in a specific department)
  • Limited documentation
  • Can activate lab phase in PowerPlans (for researchers trained in phlebotomy, they can activate the labs from which they are collecting)
  • Can place some research orders (e.g., research scheduling orders, collect samples for research and research communication to lab or nursing)

Research Level 3+ With Registration/Scheduling (RL3+) — For researchers working on a prospective study and coordinators who are involved with direct patient care, including documentation and appointment scheduling in CST Cerner. Note: If your clinic is not live on Cerner or the clerical staff is in charge of booking, this position is not required.

Position details:

  • View of PowerChart
  • Search box active
  • Use of message centre
  • Scan and print
  • Enroll patients in PowerTrials and place process alerts (where required)
  • Use tracking shell (an electronic list that gives a snapshot of all patient information in a specific department)
  • Limited documentation
  • Can activate lab phase in PowerPlans (for researchers trained in phlebotomy, they can activate the lab orders they are collecting)
  • Can place some research orders (e.g. research scheduling orders, collect samples for research and research communication to lab or nursing)
  • Register and schedule research participants in CST Cerner

Research Nurses (RN) 

A nurse who administers medications in hospital will require the corresponding nursing training:

  • A research nurse who also uses PowerTrials will need RL3 training
  • If in need of registration/scheduling, RL3 with registration/scheduling is required
  • A research nurse will need to use position picker to switch between positions depending on the work they are doing
  • If you are a nurse by background but do not administer medications, access lines/tubes/drains or document assessments in Cerner, you will NOT require nursing training

Contacts