Knowledge base » Release Notes - EpiSoft/CareZone » 2021/08/25 Release Notes - Clinical
2021/08/25 Release Notes - Clinical
NEW FEATURES:
New Module: Future Cycles Needed
Future Cycles Needed is a new menu item to help users find those patients who have no more protocols cycles prescribed. It can search to find your patients who need more cycles and also allow you to mark protocols as not requiring more cycles, so your list becomes manageable.
On opening the worklist, patients who have had a protocol prescribed any time in the past and have no future cycles added, will show on the list. For clinicians, the list will open with the logged in user’s patients showing by default. This can be changed to show All clinicians.
There are other search filters to reduce the number of patients on the list and make it more manageable. These include, searching only patients who have an appointment in the next 7 days. This search includes appointments that are still in Booking Requests as well as those that are booked. They must also fit the criteria of having no future cycles.
You can search by any part of the protocol name, so to find patients who are on trastuzumab, you can search by this name or by Herceptin.
You can search by protocol report group. This allows you to find all patients receiving monoclonal antibodies for example, or blood products. The relevant category must have been ticked on Publish Protocol for this to work. You’re able to tick this any time, even after publishing a protocol.
There is a search by patient first and/or last name to further refine the list.
If you find patients who are on this list but who you know aren’t needing more treatment of that protocol, you can click the new icon
to mark them as not needing future cycles. The icon will then change to 
. When you search the list again, this patient will no longer show on the list.
On Protocol Cycles page, you’ll see this icon also shows here. The only difference is that once a protocol is marked as being the last cycle required, it will remain on Protocol Cycles and can be reactivated by clicking the icon again. This will return the protocol to the Future Cycles Needed list.
Though the list will be long initially, as you work through and remove patients from the list it will reduce in size and become more and more useful. In the meantime, the above filters can be used to refine your list.
Rules for Future Cycles Needed
Default display on opening of menu item:
The patient should display in Future Cycles Needed (FCN) if the patient has:
· A protocol start date in the past
· Latest cycle of that protocol is in Active Cycles or Completed Cycles (not in Ceased prior to completion)
· Latest cycle of that protocol is marked with so is expected to be continuing with more cycles
· The last cycle of that protocol is either in the past or is the only cycle of that protocol up to 14 days in the future. So, patient has either no cycles or only one cycle of that protocol in the next 14 days and the cycle is marked as the latest cycle.
· This cycle is either in Booking Requests or is a booked appointment in Manage Appointments
· The cycle is not in Booking Requests ‘On Hold’
The patient should NOT display in Future Cycles Needed (FCN) if the patient has:
· More than one cycle of that protocol in the future.
· Has one cycle created, but the start date is > 14 days in the future.
· The cycle is in Booking Requests On Hold
· The latest cycle has been marked as the final cycle with
‘Show only patients with an appointment within the next 7 days (including Booking Requests)’ is TICKED
Patients who have a previous protocol cycle but who have no, or only one protocol cycle on any date in the past or in the next 14 days, AND who have an appointment of any kind either booked or in Booking Requests in the next 7 days, should display.
· Protocol cycle in the past
· Latest cycle of that protocol is marked as continuing
· Booked clinician or protocol appointment in the next 7 days
· Request for an appointment in the next 7 days in Booking Requests
· No, or only one cycle of that protocol in the next 14 days
· Not ‘On Hold’ in Booking Requests
‘Show only patients with an appointment within the next 7 days (including Booking Requests)’ is NOT ticked
Patients who have a start date of only one protocol cycle on any date in the past and up to 14 days in the future, should display on FCN (excluding patients On Hold), regardless of any appointments booked or in Booking Requests.
· Same as default display criteria on opening menu item above
Observations Alerts
When entering vital signs via the Nursing Assessment or on the Obs popup from Manage Appointments, as a user enters vital signs and tabs to the next field, if the result falls into the alert range, the colour of the text now changes to the appropriate alert colour and the text is shown in bold to increase visibility. The ranges used for alerting are from the 2 band day centres (ACSQHC) that is the most commonly selected graph option by Episoft users in Organisation Preferences.
Below shows the colour changes to vital signs entered that are out of range:
The alert table can be viewed where the observations are recorded:
This is the display on Visit Record with the two new lines for entering patient specific systolic BP alerts or to tick to use the standard systolic BP alert range:
On the Visit Record, below Baseline Blood Pressure, there are two new lines for data entry.
On opening, 'Use standard systolic BP alert range' is selected. If required, 'Patient specific BP alert range' can be selected and an upper and lower systolic BP limit for that patient entered. There is a field for a doctor to sign to approve the patient-specific range by clicking the red 'Sign' button if they are the logged in user.
There is a new free text field labelled 'Additional Patient Alerts' for other vital sign or clinical alerts. When saved, or after being signed, both the BP and additional alerts then display in red 'read-only' text on Visit Record and everywhere the Observations are found. These include the Nursing Assessment, the Drug Admin chart and on the Obs popup from Manage Appointments.
The colour alerts will continue to use the ASCQHC standard ranges for changing the colour of vital signs, regardless of whether there is a patient-specific range entered. This means that if a specific alert for the systolic BP for a patient is saved, it won't change how the colour coding or graph guard rails work. It's simply to be used as a guide to staff with specific instructions for that patient.
Below is a screenshot of the Obs popup:
Distress Thermometer information icon on Nursing Assessment
On the Nursing Assessment, there is now an icon that when clicked, opens a table with action to be taken for different levels of distress.
On the Unsigned Cycles menu item, the protocol teardrop icon has changed to match the icon on Protocol Cycles, with a page and pen icon. For organisations who require more than one signature on a protocol, hovering over the icon will show them whether the protocol is unsigned
, signed by some 
or signed by all users 
on the protocol. The icon will work the same way as the teardrop, and clicking it will take the user to Edit Protocol.
New User Preference - Default Appointment Type of 'Resource' now available on the Appointment Management page
EpiSoft users now have the ability to set a new User Preference that will allow their appointment list to show their preferred appointment type by default. For example, users can now set their appointment list to display either RESOURCE appointments, CLINICIAN appointments or both CLINICIAN AND RESOURCE appointments by default. This means that when users log in to Episoft, they'll see the list of appointments they prefer.
Referrer Management - Referrer ID now displayed
To make it easier to manage your referring providers, the unique Referrer ID for each record is now displayed in a new column in Referrer Management.
Patient List -the colour of the Protocol 'Teardrop' icon has now changed to BLUE
Instead of all the teardrops on the Patient List being green, which has confused some users into thinking those protocol cycles are signed, the teardrops are now displayed in blue on this list. To see whether any cycles require signing, simply click through the teardrop to view all cycles.
Bug Fix
There was an issue when dietary preference was entered on Edit Patient and then wasn't displaying on Manage Appointments. This has now been fixed.
REPORTS:
New columns added to the Protocol Appointments by Service Setting report:
We have added two new columns to this report to further increase it's usability. The new columns include:
1. 'POSITION' - the 'position' number of a patient's health Fund card will now be displayed in the report
2. 'CONTRACT' - the billing contract linked to a visit will now be displayed in the report
New column of Primary Clinician added to the 'Patient By Primary Clinician' report:
The Primary Clinician report now has a column for display of the primary clinician if the user is searching on All clinicians and needs to see each patient's clinician.
New Module: Future Cycles Needed
Future Cycles Needed is a new menu item to help users find those patients who have no more protocols cycles prescribed. It can search to find your patients who need more cycles and also allow you to mark protocols as not requiring more cycles, so your list becomes manageable.
On opening the worklist, patients who have had a protocol prescribed any time in the past and have no future cycles added, will show on the list. For clinicians, the list will open with the logged in user’s patients showing by default. This can be changed to show All clinicians.
There are other search filters to reduce the number of patients on the list and make it more manageable. These include, searching only patients who have an appointment in the next 7 days. This search includes appointments that are still in Booking Requests as well as those that are booked. They must also fit the criteria of having no future cycles.
You can search by any part of the protocol name, so to find patients who are on trastuzumab, you can search by this name or by Herceptin.
You can search by protocol report group. This allows you to find all patients receiving monoclonal antibodies for example, or blood products. The relevant category must have been ticked on Publish Protocol for this to work. You’re able to tick this any time, even after publishing a protocol.
There is a search by patient first and/or last name to further refine the list.
If you find patients who are on this list but who you know aren’t needing more treatment of that protocol, you can click the new icon
to mark them as not needing future cycles. The icon will then change to . When you search the list again, this patient will no longer show on the list.On Protocol Cycles page, you’ll see this icon also shows here. The only difference is that once a protocol is marked as being the last cycle required, it will remain on Protocol Cycles and can be reactivated by clicking the icon again. This will return the protocol to the Future Cycles Needed list.
Though the list will be long initially, as you work through and remove patients from the list it will reduce in size and become more and more useful. In the meantime, the above filters can be used to refine your list.
Rules for Future Cycles Needed
Default display on opening of menu item:
The patient should display in Future Cycles Needed (FCN) if the patient has:
· A protocol start date in the past
· Latest cycle of that protocol is in Active Cycles or Completed Cycles (not in Ceased prior to completion)
· Latest cycle of that protocol is marked with
so is expected to be continuing with more cycles · The last cycle of that protocol is either in the past or is the only cycle of that protocol up to 14 days in the future. So, patient has either no cycles or only one cycle of that protocol in the next 14 days and the cycle is marked as the latest cycle.
· This cycle is either in Booking Requests or is a booked appointment in Manage Appointments
· The cycle is not in Booking Requests ‘On Hold’
The patient should NOT display in Future Cycles Needed (FCN) if the patient has:
· More than one cycle of that protocol in the future.
· Has one cycle created, but the start date is > 14 days in the future.
· The cycle is in Booking Requests On Hold
· The latest cycle has been marked as the final cycle with
‘Show only patients with an appointment within the next 7 days (including Booking Requests)’ is TICKED
Patients who have a previous protocol cycle but who have no, or only one protocol cycle on any date in the past or in the next 14 days, AND who have an appointment of any kind either booked or in Booking Requests in the next 7 days, should display.
· Protocol cycle in the past
· Latest cycle of that protocol is marked as continuing
· Booked clinician or protocol appointment in the next 7 days
· Request for an appointment in the next 7 days in Booking Requests
· No, or only one cycle of that protocol in the next 14 days
· Not ‘On Hold’ in Booking Requests
‘Show only patients with an appointment within the next 7 days (including Booking Requests)’ is NOT ticked
Patients who have a start date of only one protocol cycle on any date in the past and up to 14 days in the future, should display on FCN (excluding patients On Hold), regardless of any appointments booked or in Booking Requests.
· Same as default display criteria on opening menu item above
Observations Alerts
When entering vital signs via the Nursing Assessment or on the Obs popup from Manage Appointments, as a user enters vital signs and tabs to the next field, if the result falls into the alert range, the colour of the text now changes to the appropriate alert colour and the text is shown in bold to increase visibility. The ranges used for alerting are from the 2 band day centres (ACSQHC) that is the most commonly selected graph option by Episoft users in Organisation Preferences.
Below shows the colour changes to vital signs entered that are out of range:
The alert table can be viewed where the observations are recorded:
This is the display on Visit Record with the two new lines for entering patient specific systolic BP alerts or to tick to use the standard systolic BP alert range:
On the Visit Record, below Baseline Blood Pressure, there are two new lines for data entry.
On opening, 'Use standard systolic BP alert range' is selected. If required, 'Patient specific BP alert range' can be selected and an upper and lower systolic BP limit for that patient entered. There is a field for a doctor to sign to approve the patient-specific range by clicking the red 'Sign' button if they are the logged in user.
There is a new free text field labelled 'Additional Patient Alerts' for other vital sign or clinical alerts. When saved, or after being signed, both the BP and additional alerts then display in red 'read-only' text on Visit Record and everywhere the Observations are found. These include the Nursing Assessment, the Drug Admin chart and on the Obs popup from Manage Appointments.
The colour alerts will continue to use the ASCQHC standard ranges for changing the colour of vital signs, regardless of whether there is a patient-specific range entered. This means that if a specific alert for the systolic BP for a patient is saved, it won't change how the colour coding or graph guard rails work. It's simply to be used as a guide to staff with specific instructions for that patient.
Below is a screenshot of the Obs popup:
Distress Thermometer information icon on Nursing Assessment
On the Nursing Assessment, there is now an icon that when clicked, opens a table with action to be taken for different levels of distress.
On the Unsigned Cycles menu item, the protocol teardrop icon has changed to match the icon on Protocol Cycles, with a page and pen icon. For organisations who require more than one signature on a protocol, hovering over the icon will show them whether the protocol is unsigned
, signed by some or signed by all users on the protocol. The icon will work the same way as the teardrop, and clicking it will take the user to Edit Protocol.New User Preference - Default Appointment Type of 'Resource' now available on the Appointment Management page
EpiSoft users now have the ability to set a new User Preference that will allow their appointment list to show their preferred appointment type by default. For example, users can now set their appointment list to display either RESOURCE appointments, CLINICIAN appointments or both CLINICIAN AND RESOURCE appointments by default. This means that when users log in to Episoft, they'll see the list of appointments they prefer.
Referrer Management - Referrer ID now displayed
To make it easier to manage your referring providers, the unique Referrer ID for each record is now displayed in a new column in Referrer Management.
Patient List -the colour of the Protocol 'Teardrop' icon has now changed to BLUE
Instead of all the teardrops on the Patient List being green, which has confused some users into thinking those protocol cycles are signed, the teardrops are now displayed in blue on this list. To see whether any cycles require signing, simply click through the teardrop to view all cycles.
Bug Fix
There was an issue when dietary preference was entered on Edit Patient and then wasn't displaying on Manage Appointments. This has now been fixed.
REPORTS:
New columns added to the Protocol Appointments by Service Setting report:
We have added two new columns to this report to further increase it's usability. The new columns include:
1. 'POSITION' - the 'position' number of a patient's health Fund card will now be displayed in the report
2. 'CONTRACT' - the billing contract linked to a visit will now be displayed in the report
New column of Primary Clinician added to the 'Patient By Primary Clinician' report:
The Primary Clinician report now has a column for display of the primary clinician if the user is searching on All clinicians and needs to see each patient's clinician.
