TrakCare Solution Guide
Section 3: TrakCare System Management Tools
At InterSystems, we understand that users want their healthcare information systems to mirror the way they work. To provide unparalleled flexibility in meeting the unique needs of specific geographies and clients, TrakCare comes with a series of powerful tools that allow clients to configure the system around their specific workflows and to manage access to modules and data.
Tools available include:
- Menu Manager
- Workflow Manager
- Layout Editor
- Column Editor
- Language Support
- Security
- User-Defined Help Text
- Questionnaires
- Icons and Icon Profiles
- Floor Plans
- Custom Development
- Custom Report Writer and Printing Capabilities
- Menu Manager allows menus to be defined for an individual user, a group of users, or an entire department. Each menu has a defined start page, which is usually a presentation of the patient data that best suits the user. This may be a patient list for a desired ward, a floor plan showing a patient’s desired location, a clinic list for some or all outpatient appointments scheduled for the day, a theater list specific to a location for a day, or a sample collection list for a pathology collector. These are configurable to the user’s security group.
The start page allows the user to identify a patient either by selecting the patient from a list or by searching for the patient, and then perform the desired function. A main menu header consists of the most frequently used menu options that the user requires in a day. These menus within the main menu headers may be module-specific (e.g., Pharmacy, Emergency, and Clinician) or may cross modules as required (e.g., Registration). TrakCare distributes a standard set of main menu headers, but each site can customize these as desired. Each TrakCare menu can initiate a defined workflow or provide a list of workflow options for selection.
Each TrakCare menu item initiates a workflow. The main menu header consists of the options most frequently used.
Example Start Page: Floor Plan - Emergency
Example Start Page: Floor Plan - Ward
Example Start Page: Main Ward List
- Workflow Manager facilitates the automation of business processes, ensuring the consistency and efficiency of activities undertaken. TrakCare is delivered with an established set of workflows for all business processes commonly used within the continuum of healthcare delivery. TrakCare Workflow Manager allows the user to modify or create new workflows to meet changing needs. New tasks can be added, the sequence in which workflow steps are performed can be changed, and secondary processes such as print jobs, alerts, and messages can be incorporated. Context-sensitive workflows are supported. Workflow Manager is an intuitive tool that creates tailored, step-by step prompts for the processes and tasks required of each staff member to ensure consistent quality throughout the facility.
Example: Emergency Scenario
- Patient presents to the Emergency department.
- Patient fills out an admission form:
- Receptionist searches the database for the patient to determine if there have been previous admissions.
- Receptionist updates the patient’s demographics.
- Receptionist enters next-of-kin details.
- Receptionist enters other address details.
- Receptionist completes admission details.
- Condition: If the admission is a traffic accident presentation, receptionist enters traffic accident details.
- Receptionist starts the process again for the next patient.
To automate the previous Emergency department scenario, the following screen shot outlines the suggested workflow for each individual step in the process:
Example: Workflow Setup
- Layout Editor in TrakCare is delivered with an established set of configured screens to support the business processes commonly used within the continuum of healthcare delivery. To meet changing needs, Layout Editor is a fully unified tool that allows staff to tailor screen configuration and function after the application has gone live. Layout Editor is one of the key tools that makes TrakCare highly intuitive for users. It provides diverse tailoring options such as the ability to assign default values and mandatory fields to speed the input process or define screen configurations for a range of viewing platforms (e.g., tablet PCs or large plasma screens).
Functions include:
- Move a field
- Remove a field
- Add a field
- Make a field “Mandatory”
- Make a field “Display Only”
- Assign field properties (e.g., tool tip, shortcut, or default value)
- Change field names
- Add hyperlinks
- Set field tab sequence
- Add screen text and color
TrakCare was built with a highly configurable user interface. TrakCare modules have a built-in editor that allows users to tailor screens not only to the function being performed, but also to the needs of the individual or groups performing those functions.
- Column Editor allows the characteristics of any list to be defined when displayed on a screen.
Functions include:
- Select columns to appear on a list
- Define column width and text wrap details
- Set sequence for column display
- Define columns by which the list can be sorted
- Set default sort sequence for displayed records
- Select number of rows per page
- Define the list as printable
- Merge columns
- Language Support in TrakCare includes a translation capability to ensure successful deployment in the native language of users. It enables ready translation of all screens, captions, messages, and error messages to provide the user interface in other languages. Translations can be carried out across the entire system, or they can be restricted to a specific screen. A language preference can be assigned to each user so that when the user logs on, the system automatically defaults to his preferred language. In Indonesian hospitals, for example, TrakCare can display a set of results for a doctor in Bahasa Indonesia or English, depending on preference. Dual-language formats, double byte characters, and date formats (other than Gregorian) are supported.
Dual-language formats for names are also accepted, as shown below.
Example: Dual-Language - English Translation with Danish Caption
(includes data entry and screen translations)
Example: Dual-Language – German Translation with English Caption
(includes data entry and screen translations)
Example: Patient List – Column Title Translation
Example: Patient Details Translated
Example: Patient Banners
- Security details are located in section 4.1 (TrakCare Technical Features).
- User-Defined Help Text includes a contextual online help feature at both the function and field levels. By selecting the F2 key, help for the function being executed is displayed.
Organizations are encouraged to refine the Help documentation to include details of the work practices within the facility. Similarly, by moving the cursor over a data item to be entered by the user, a tool-tip field can be displayed.
Example: Typical User-Defined Help Screen
- Questionnaires are user-defined forms (e.g., assessments, questionnaires, and forms) created to capture data in a structured or semistructured way. Questionnaires can be created and designed according to the need of individual sites. However, TrakCare is delivered with a sample set that can be added to as required. Questionnaires can be selected directly from the EPR or embedded in a workflow to ensure that data is collected at the most appropriate time and place. TrakCare Questionnaires include the ability to ‘nest’ questions within the form so that the need to answer a question is conditional upon the answer to a previous question. In fact, the conditional questions are hidden from the user unless they need to be completed.
Business processes that commonly use Questionnaires include order entry, order administration, results, diagnosis, clinical pathways, and patient assessment.
TrakCare Questionnaires address the challenge of obtaining consensus for what information should be collected and when among a multi-disciplinary healthcare team.
TrakCare has a contextual online help feature at both the function and field levels, which an organization can refine to include details of the work practices within the facility.
Example: Questionnaire in EPR
Example: Questionnaire – Consent for Treatment
Example: Questionnaire – Pre-Op Check List
Questionnaires are user-defined forms that provide an intuitive assessment and information-gathering tool that can be defined by a site to suit individual business requirements, be they organizational, departmental, specialty, or for individual users.
- Icons are pictorial images used throughout TrakCare to inform or invoke a command. They provide a visual alert or prompt to help users identify pertinent information. Examples include alerts and allergies, the status of an order, or the progress of a patient through the various stages of care (pre-operative, post-operative, and recovery). Icons can be static or interactive (linking to other TrakCare screens) to provide additional information and to allow the updating of details. Tool tips provide information as to the meaning of the icon. Icon Profiles bring together individual icons to form a group that can subsequently be displayed in patient banners, worklists, and floor plans (e.g., a Clinical or an Administrative status profile). Icon profiles can be site-defined.
- Floor Plans are a graphical display of waiting rooms, cubicles, wards, and procedure rooms available within a facility. At a glance, a user can see where patients are located, together with selected patient information.
Example: Icon Profile Displayed in a Floor Plan
Example: Icon Profile Displayed in the Care Provider Worklist
Example: Icon Profile Displayed in a Patient Banner
- Custom Development includes User-Defined Functions (UDF) and Custom Scripts (CS). UDFs allow site-specific coding to be added without making changes to the core TrakCare database. Examples include printing labels, defining barcode formats, and generating non-standard internal numbers. CS allows site-specific changes to screen functionality, such as making certain fields conditionally mandatory or changing the application that will open a document.
- Custom Report Writer and Printing Capabilities provide custom reports that can be defined and produced through third-party reporting tools. Printing for these reports can be defined to allow production or on-demand printing to a network printer. In addition, reports can be created in an Adobe PDF or RTF file that can be emailed.
TrakCare Solution Guide
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