Enhancements to MEDITECH PCS 5.64
By Pamela Prefontaine
As MEDITECH continues to enhance their Patient Care System (PCS) new features are added to improve patient safety and end user satisfaction. Below are some of
newest enhancements from PCS 5.64, and tricks to set them up properly.
Integrating Documentation Limits into Intervention Schedules (Say Good-Bye to Pink)
With this enhancement, PCS integrates time limits for documenting scheduled occurrences into intervention schedules. Documentation within these time limits
removes the scheduled occurrence and all past due occurrences from the schedule. The time limits are defined by new fields in the Intervention Dictionary and PCS
parameters. The time limits can be defined as a percentage of time between scheduled occurrences or the number of minutes before and after a scheduled occurrence.
Documentation outside of the defined time limits is considered an unscheduled occurrence and does not affect the intervention schedule.
This new feature will greatly improve end user satisfaction with PCS, because it will remove the “pink” from the Status Board and Intervention List.
Generation of Re-Assessments Based on Medication Administration
With this enhancement, reassessment indicators will be generated on the Nursing Status Board and eMAR to alert the nurse when a reassessment is due following
the administration of a medication. With this new function for Reassess, a nurse will be able to document the reassessment in the eMAR.
This feature will be beneficial for nurses because it will remind them to complete a necessary assessment. This is especially important for pain reassessments
after the patient has received pain medication.
Electronic Signature and Co-Signature for Assessments
This enhancement will allow users to electronically sign and co-sign assessments. The Electronic Signature (e-sign) feature is set up in the Intervention
Dictionary in a new field – Require E-Sign. When this field is set to Yes, users are prompted to e-sign when saving the assessments. Multiple signers can be
entered at this time. In addition, users can add signers at any time using the Sign button on the Document Assessment screen. This button is available when
accessing the Document Assessment screen through Intervention History.
The Require Co-Signature for Care Providers field in the Intervention Dictionary determines which users are prompted for a co-signature when documenting the
assessment. Users with the care provider types listed are prompted for a co-signer when saving documentation on the assessment.
The co-signature feature will allow an RN to sign off on LPN documentation or a nursing instructor to sign off on their student’s documentation.
Annotated Images in PCS Documentation
With this enhancement annotated images can now be documented within the Intervention routine in the PCS. The pictures are available through the MIS Picture
Dictionary. Once a picture has been defined it can be added to an assessment in the same manner as a query, thus allowing the end user to document on the image.
Integration of Order Entry, PCS and Pharmacy Medication Acknowledgment Process
With this enhancement, acknowledging a medication order on the PCS Status Board can also acknowledge the order on the eMAR. This is determined by the new Status
Board to eMAR Acknowledgement parameter in PCS Parameters. When this parameter is set to Yes, acknowledging a medication order on the Status Board will update the
acknowledgement status of the medication order on the eMAR.
The acknowledgement flags on the eMAR have also been enhanced to better reflect the reason for the needed acknowledgement, such as a new order or an order
edit.
In addition, a pharmacist can now remove a rejected acknowledgment placed on a medication order by the nurse and then transmit a comment back to the nurse. The
order is then flagged as an edit for the nurse. The pharmacy comment will display on the Order Acknowledgment Screen on the PCS Status Board and the eMAR.
Collapsing and Expanding Repeatable Occurrences on Queries
With this enhancement, keyed queries on assessments within an intervention can be set to collapse after filing the initial documentation. End users will be
able manually expand or collapse occurrences within the assessment or on the documentation spreadsheet. Only keyed queries will appear when collapsed.
Discontinued occurrences will sort to the bottom of the active occurrences on the documentation spreadsheet.
VCS can help your organization understand and incorporate all MEDITECH application enhancement features. For more information contact us at (610)444.1233 or
vcs@getvitalized.com. You can learn more about VCS at our website
www.getvitalized.com.