Note for Ontario Users: In Ontario, Ocean eConsults are currently in a limited release. For more information on eConsult in Ontario as part of the Ontario eServices Program, please review the Overview of eConsults in Ontario article.
It's a good idea to keep a backup of all your Ocean eReferrals, as they are purged from the Ocean Portal over time.
As Ocean eReferrals are purged from the Ocean Portal over time, it is recommended that you keep a backup of the referrals received at your site. This can be done on a weekly basis, by following the steps below:
- Log in to the Ocean Portal and navigate to the eReferrals & eConsults area.
![]("http://www.cognisantmd.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/eRequests-tab.png)
- Expand the Actions menu at the bottom left. Then select "Export".
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Select your start and end date for your export. You can download data within a specific date range, based on the referral's modification date. Or, you can pull all data since you started receiving referrals by leaving both dates blank.
Note: If your specified date range exceeds 31 days and includes more than 500 referrals, you will be prompted to specify a date range of 31 days or less.
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Select “Export unexported referrals only” if you would only like to export referrals that have not been previously backed up. If you want to export all referrals in the Ocean Portal, uncheck this box.
Note: Ensure this checkbox is enabled if you are exporting more than 500 referrals.
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Select “Mark referrals exported” to mark the referrals as backed up once you've completed the export. This will add a green checkbox icon beside the referral in the Ocean portal, once the export is completed. If this box is left unchecked, the next time the export is done, the previously exported referrals will be pulled once again.
Note: Ensure this checkbox is enabled if you are exporting more than 500 referrals.
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Finally, click "Export". This will export your data in a .csv file that can be opened using Microsoft Excel.
Note: If you are exporting more than 500 referrals, continue to click the 'Export' button to download multiple .csv file batches until a completion alert is shown.
Final Comments
The referral export(s) will contain patient health information and should be stored somewhere securely at your site.
Referral information pulled in the export includes; referral reference, patient name, description, status, referral date, booked date (if present), referring site, recipient site, clinician, professional ID, patient phone number, patient email, internal comments, referrer comments, and the entire contents of the referral note.
The API also provides access to this referral information. For more details, please refer to: "Ocean Open API".