Patient Care Meetings

The Patient Care Meetings function enables users to track, setup, conduct, complete, and report on meetings that may include multiple patients. It integrates with Patient Activity and the Employee Calendar.

Patient Care Meetings is only available on the server; client installations do not have access, although attendees may edit prep their notes on clients from Patient Activity.

To find a discharged patient or to see all patients related to an ID or a last name add an " * " in front of your search.

EXAMPLE: *0000000 or *Lastname instead of 0000000 or Lastname

Definitions

• Patient Care Meeting (PCM) - this represents a single sit-down meeting during which one or more patients may be discussed
• Individual Patient Meeting (IPM) - when a patient is added to a PCM, an IPM is created for that patient. This meeting also appears in Patient Activity. The attendees may be customized for each IPM
• Scribe - the "owner" of the meeting, by default the user who created it. This user has ultimate control over the patient care meeting

Views

The Patient Care Meeting function pulls together and conveniently provides access to a wide array of information. This information is distributed among several views.

• Patient Care Meetings View - shows a filterable table of PCMs. This is the default view when the page opens
• Meetings Due View - shows a filterable table of the patients due for care meetings. The same patient may appear multiple times, once for each care meeting type for which he/she is due
• Patient List View - shows the patients and individual meeting information included in the selected PCM. This view also allows permitted users to modify the PCM
• Individual Meeting View - shows and allows permitted users to edit the IPM. Key patient-related information can be gathered and viewed here with special attention given to changes since the last meeting. This view is also accessible in Patient Activity. Attendees use this view to edit their prep notes

Workflow

This section explains the typical procedure followed when conducting a PCM.

Statuses

Throughout its life, a PCM will go through several statuses. Similarly, each of the IPMs within the PCM will go through several statuses during the cycle.

The following list shows the different statuses that a PCM may have.

• Scheduled - the meeting is on the calendar, but is still undergoing preparation. Patients may be added during this time, patient data may be gathered, and attendees may enter their prep notes
• Started - in this status, the meeting is underway, and patients may no longer be added. The scribe takes notes as each patient comes under consideration. In this status, each of the IPM may be started and completed
• Completed - the meeting is over. Before a PCM may enter this status, each IPM must be completed. Once in this status, the meeting may be printed

Each IPM within the PCM has a similar set of statuses.

• Pending - the initial status for an IPM. The meeting has required fields that must be entered
• Ready - once all required data has been entered, and the IPM has been saved, it enters this status. Before a PCM can be saved, all of the IPMs must be Ready. Attendees may enter prep notes during this status
• Started - the meeting's patient is under consideration. The scribe enters meeting notes for this patient in the summary during this time
• Completed - discussion has ended for this meeting's patient. Once in this status, the meeting may be printed

Example Workflow

The following sections describe the typical life cycle of a PCM.

Preparation

1. A user with patient care meeting supervisory access creates a new PCM. This user becomes the scribe. The scribe schedules a meeting time and selects the meeting type
2. The scribe adds patients to the meeting and enters attendees for each meeting along with any other required information. Once each IPM has been saved (moving it from Pending to Ready status) the scribe saves the PCM
3. Once the PCM is saved, each IPM appears in Patient Activity and displays in the Employee Calendar and Employee Dashboard for each attendee ¹
4. At this time attendees may view the PCM and enter their prep notes in the IPM. The scribe may continue to add patients during this time

Starting the Meeting

1. Once all the preparation has completed, the attendees are gathered, and the meeting is ready to begin, the scribe starts the meeting by clicking the Start button in either the Patient Care Meetings View or the Patient List View. This automatically sets the PCM's start date and time
2. From the Patient List View the scribe selects and views the IPM for the patient currently under discussion. The scribe clicks the Start button in the Individual Meeting View, changing the status to Started and automatically updating the start date and time of the IPM
3. The scribe marks attendees as present and, as the patient is discussed, enters notes into the summary
4. When the discussion for this patient is complete, the scribe clicks the Complete button in the Individual Meeting View, changing the status to Completed

Completing the Meeting

1. Steps 2-4 in the previous section are repeated until all the patients have been discussed and all IPM have Completed status
2. The scribe clicks the Complete button in the Patient List View, changing the status to Completed and updating the end date and time for the PCM
3. At this time users may print the Patient Meeting Document report

View Details

The following sections provide in-depth explanations of each of the views in the Patient Care Meetings function.

Patient Care Meeting View

This view provides a sortable table view of PCMs.

Columns

• Scheduled Date/Time
• Start Date/Time - the time when the PCM was started
• End Date/Time - the time when the PCM was ended
• Type - the patient care meeting type (see the Patient Care Meeting Type table)
• Attendees - up to 8 attendees are shown for each meeting. Hovering over the cell displays the full list
• Patients - up to 8 patients included in the meeting are shown. Hovering over the cell displays the full list
• Scribe
• Status - Scheduled, Started, or Completed

Filters

The following filters are provided and allow users to customize which meetings display in the table. Each user may save his/her own default. Filters are accessible using the icon in the upper right of the page.

• Scheduled Date Range
• Type - multi-select of Patient Care Meeting Types
• Status - multi-select of statuses, either Scheduled, Started, or Completed

Actions

The following actions are available in this view and vary depending on the user's permissions.

All

• Meetings Due - opens the Meetings Due View
• View - only available when a single PCM is selected and the user either (1) has supervisory access or (2) is a meeting attendee. Opens the Patient List View

Supervisory Access

• Create - creates a PCM with the current user as the scribe. Opens the Meetings Due View so that the creator may begin to add patients

Scribe

• Start - only available when a single PCM in Scheduled status is selected. Updates the PCM's status to Started, sets the start date and time, and opens the Patient List View
• Delete - deletes the PCM. The user is prompted whether to also delete all the ICMs at the same time

Meetings Due View

This view provides a sortable table view of patients who are due for PCMs. The same patient may appear multiple times, once for each care meeting type for which he/she is due.

Columns

• Acct # - the patient's account number
• Name
• Sex
• Age
• MR # - the patient's medical record number
• Meeting Type - the patient care meeting type for which the patient is due
• Last Meeting Date (Days) - the date of the last PCM scheduled for this patient and the number of days difference. This date may be future if a meeting has been scheduled
• Last Meeting Reason - the reason of the last IPM scheduled for this patient with a matching meeting type
• Meeting Due Date - the date that the patient is next due for a meeting. This is calculated using the patient care meeting type (see the Patient Care Meeting Type table)
• Status - Overdue if the due date is on or prior to today, Coming Due if the due date is in the next 4 days, and Due otherwise

Filters

The following filters are provided and allow users to customize which meetings display in the table. Each user may save his/her own default. Filters are accessible using the icon in the upper right of the page

• Due Within - limits the patient's shown to those with meetings due within the specified number of days
• Company - multi-select of patient companies
• Location - multi-select of patient locations

Actions

No actions are available when accessed directly from the Patient Care Meeting View using the Meetings Due button.

When accessed from the Patient List View using the Add Patient(s) button or from when first creating a visit, two actions are provided.

• Add Patient(s) - only available when at least one patient is selected from the table. When clicked, if one patient is selected, then an IPM is created for the patient, and the Individual Meeting View opens directly. If multiple patients are selected, IPM are created for each patient, and the Patient List View opens
• Find Patient - opens a view that allows the user to search for a patient in a manner similar to the patient search on the NDoc home page. Only admitted patients and patients discharged within the past 7 days are included in the results. When a result is selected, the Add Patient action becomes available, which, when clicked, adds an IPM for the patient and redirects the user back to the Patient List View

Patient List View

This view provides a sortable table view of IPMs included in the current PCM. In this view the scribe may change the scheduled time and meeting type.

Columns

• Account # - the patient's account number
• Patient Name
• Reason - the reason for this meeting (see the Patient Activity Reason table)
• Attendees - up to 8 attendees are shown for each meeting. Hovering over the cell displays the full list
• Date/Time
• Status - either Pending, Ready, Started, or Completed

Actions

The following actions are available in this view and vary depending on the user's permissions.

All

• View - only available when a single IPM is selected and the user either (1) has supervisory access or (2) is a meeting attendee. Opens the Individual Meeting View
• Prepare - only available when a single IPM is selected and the user is a meeting attendee. Opens the Individual Meeting View with prep notes for the current user editable

Supervisory Access

• Change Scribe - prompts the user to select a new scribe. If the current user is the scribe, then the option is only available if there are no unsaved changes to the PCM or any of its included ICMs

Scribe

• Add Patient(s) - opens the Meetings Due View
• Start - only available if the current PCM is in Scheduled status. Updates the PCM's status to Started and sets the start date and time
• Complete - only available if the current PCM is in Started status. Updates the PCM's status to Completed and sets the end date and time
• Save - only available if changes have been made to the current PCM or any of its ICMs. Saves all changes to the database
• Edit - only available when a single ICM is selected. Opens the Individual Meeting View in edit mode
• Delete - only available when a single ICM is selected. Deletes the ICM

Individual Meeting View

This view displays information for an IPM. Its operation is closely matched to viewing and editing meetings in Patient Activity. The reader is referred to the help notes there for further details.

When an IPM is added to a PCM, if the scribe is not one of the patient's referred clinicians, then the scribe is automatically added as an attendee to the end of the listWhen the scribe first chooses a meeting reason, the "Standard Total Minutes" from the Patient Activity Reason table populates the total time field. A default of 10 minutes is populated if the table entry has no value.

Editing is also allowed for permitted users. This view has three modes.

• View - all fields are viewable, but none may be edited
• Prepare - the current user's prep notes are editable, but no others
• Edit - all fields are accessible for editing

Actions

The following actions are available in this view and vary depending on the user's permissions and the view mode.

Attendees

• Prepare - only available when (1) the user is a meeting attendee, (2) the display is in view mode, and (3) the IPM's status is Ready. Makes the prep notes for the current user editable
• Save - only available when the display is in prepare mode. Saves the prep note changes

Scribe

• Edit - only available when (1) the user is the scribe and (2) the display is in view mode. Changes the view to edit mode
• Save - only available when the display is in edit mode. Stages the changes to be saved, although the changes are not finally saved to the database until the Save button in the Patient List View is clicked

Reporting

Three PDF reports can be printed from Patient Care Meetings. The reports may be generated using the print icon in the upper right corner of the page.

Meetings Due Report

This report can be printed from the Meetings Due View. It displays the results shown in the table with the same filtering and sorting applied.

Note that this report may not be printed when accessed while adding patients to a PCM.

Patient Activity Report

This report can be printed from the Patient List View and from the Individual Meeting View. When printed from the former, all the IPMs in the PCM are displayed on the report. When printed from the latter, only the current IPM is included.

This report can be printed with or without a history of changes.

Patient Meeting Document Report

This report can be printed from the Patient List View and from the Individual Meeting View. When printed from the former, all the IPMs in the PCM are displayed on the report. When printed from the latter, only the current IPM is included.

This report can be printed with or without a physician signature line on the last page.

Permissions and User Access

There are two main permissions that can be assigned to user types in Administration->System->Settings->User Access to provide Patient Care Meetings access and edit capability.

• Patient Care Meetings - allows view access to the page. Users with this access level only are only allowed to view PCMs for which they are listed as attendees. They may also edit their prep notes
• Patient Care Meetings Supervisory Access - gives users the ability to create and view all PCMs and change the scribe for any PCM

Having supervisory access and being the scribe for a PCM gives several additional capabilities for that PCM.

• The ability to delete the PCM
• The ability to add patients to the PCM
• The ability to remove patients from the PCM
• The ability to edit, start and complete the PCM
• The ability to edit, start, and complete IPMs

By default, the scribe for a PCM is the user who created it, although the scribe may be changed later to give a different user expanded access.

Notes

1. The IPMs only appear on the Employee Calendar if the setting "Patient Activity: Display Meeting entries on Employee Calendars?" is enabled. This setting is found in Administration->System->Settings->Employee Activity