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The Mobile Patient Index is the single interface for all PatientKeeper Enterprise applications. It allows its users to more efficiently and effectively manage their patient lists, the work related to those patients and move into and between other clinical and administrative applications for a given patient.
Security
Each handheld is uniquely assigned. You are only allowed access to those applications for which you are authorized and which are installed on your handheld. So, for example, if you are an attending or practicing physician in a medical center you may be able to use ChargeKeeper for charge capture and LabKeeper for lab result reviewing, while a resident may have access only to LabKeeper.
An Information Technology (IT) administrator sets these "permissions" using a sophisticated central administration system mechanism. Permissions can be established according to organization (e.g. a facility within a multi-facility institution), person (e.g. patients or healthcare providers), encounters (e.g. a hospital stay) and clinical events (e.g. charges or lab results). The administrator also sets up a "position" for you, determining what information you can access and what actions you can perform within each application. You will then only have access to those patients in the master patient list with which your position and permissions have been associated.
For example, you may be able to treat patients at "St. Mary's Hospital" and access their information, but you may not be able to access patients who are treated at "Memorial Hospital," or certain maybe only access certain patients at that hospital.
An audit trail is created for each time a user opens an application, recording the module that was opened, the user, and the date and time of the access. This information is logged on the PatientKeeper Mobilizer server.
Authentication security features—part of the PatientKeeper Platform—are used on the handheld as well. These features include an automatic log-off, unique user identification, and a password. The customer has the ability to determine the length of the password and how often the password needs to be entered.
Automatic Updating
The mPI can automatically populate your personal patient list based on parameters set by the IT administrator, freeing you from continually having to add patients from the master patient index. The data population is based on relationships the administrator sets for the user.
In addition, parameters can be set for inpatients to be on the patient list "n" days prior to admission and "x" days after discharge. Outpatients who have an appointment time within a fixed time interval relative to the current day will appear on your patient list; the administrator sets the time interval. For example, all appointments within five days prior to and five days after the appointment date will be on the patient list.
All these "business rules" relieve you from having to manually remove patients from lists, saving administrative time. In addition, you can add patients to their list manually by selecting them off the "master" census contained on the handheld, as described below under "Adding Patients."
Viewing and Managing the Patient List
The patient list is the your "window" into management of any given patient. The main view of the patient list contains the patient name, location or date and time (depending on whether the setting is inpatient or outpatient) and a configurable field, as set by the administrator. It can contain data such as the patient's room and/or bed number, or appointment time. Other PatientKeeper Applications licensed for use appear as "tabs" in the mPI. Patients' names are highlighted if they have any data in any of these applications.
You can sort on any of these fields—"location" or "appointment" for example—according to what most effectively meets your needs. You also have the ability to change the sort order of the locations for the inpatient setting using your PatientKeeper Web site, further customizing the patient list. If necessary, you can "filter" the patients on the patient list so that you only see a subset of all the patients. Examples here might include inpatient, outpatient, consults, and cross-coverage filters. Of course, you can view all the patients on the patient list as well.
Viewing Patient Demographics
Within each patient chart, mPI allows you to view basic demographic data according to parameters set by the administrator. At a minimum, the demographic screen will provide contact information on each patient, such as next of kin and telephone number. Other information that is useful can populate the screen, such as like date of birth, religion, race, gender, insurance information,and medical record number. This feature allows you to find important information quickly, rather than hunting down a patient's chart. The information may be used to influence treatment decisions. For example, a physician can check religious information to find out if a user will likely be averse to receiving blood during the course of treatment.
Adding Patients
Besides the population of the patient list mentioned above, mPI makes it possible to add information to a patient list. There are several ways this can be accomplished. First, you can add patients from the master patient index manually by selecting them on the list. Second, the administrator can set up relationships for groups of patients, such as different units, care teams or wards. That way, the user can select to get all patients with this relationship. Third, you may add a patient using a bar code scanning device if the customer supports this type of device. Finally, the user can add a "placeholder" patient as discussed below.
Placeholder Patients
Creating placeholder patients gives you the ability to add a patient to a list if the patient isn't on the master patient index. This happens frequently with walk-in patients at an outpatient clinic. To create a placeholder patient, you simply enter data in identification fields, such as name, medical record number or account number, and then enter a charge into ChargeKeeper. Other fields may also be optional. The next time you synchronize the handheld, mPI will reconcile the placeholder patient with the updated master patient index. If it doesn't find a potential match, you will have to deceide whether or not to add the actual patient to the patient list.
Removing Patients
You can manually remove patients as well, by identifying them separately, checking them off, or removing all the patients on the list. In addition, you can filter the patient list so that all of the patients with a particular relationship are removed at once. For example, as you come "off-service" from a surgical intensive care unit, you can filter your patient list to just those patients, and then remove all of them at one time, instead of manually selecting to remove every single patient.
Sending Patients
You may send any patient from your patient list to another provider, a function that is especially helpful when one provider is "covering" for another provider, or is asking another provider to consult on a patient's case. You have the option here of filtering all the patients you want to send and send all of them at one time, rather than sending the patients individually. This can be accomplished in one of two ways, via synchronization or infrared (IR) beaming. When you send patients via synchronization, the recipient obviously needs to synchronize to get these patients. Alternatively you can "beam" using the handheld's infrared beaming function. In this situation, no actual patient data is transferred. Instead, a "token" is sent to the recipient, alerting him or her that they have received "x" number of patients. Then, the recipient user must synchronize the handheld in order to get the patient data.
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