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  2. eConsults & eReferrals
  3. Advanced eReferral Features in PS Suite

Advanced eReferral Features in PS Suite

Learn how to best use eReferrals with your TELUS Practice Solutions Suite EMR.

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PS Suite: Advanced Features for Sending Appointment Notifications

When scheduling an appointment from an incoming eReferral, the typical workflow involves staff importing the referral forms and information into the EMR, creating a new appointment in the schedular for the patient, and manually transcribing the appointment details back into Ocean before sending to the patient for confirmation.

Now, using the Ocean eReferral Appointment Notification Custom Form, appointment information created in PS Suite can automatically sync back to the referral.

Please Note: For Ocean to sync the correct appointment details from PS Suite via the Custom Form, your patient must have a valid Health Number associated with their referral.

Downloading and installing the custom form

Using the custom form

  • Ensure you have imported your eReferral into PS Suite. (For instructions, refer to: Importing eReferral Requests into Your EMR) 
  • Using the appointment scheduler, create an appointment for the patient.
  • Once created, open the patient's chart and verify that the "next visit" area in the top of the chart lists the date of the newly created appointment.
  • From the menu bar in the chart, select "View" > "Custom Form" (or use the keyboard shortcut F2) to open the custom form window
  • Locate and select "Ocean eReferral Appointment Notification" from the list and click the "Choose This Form" button. (Depending on the number of custom forms installed, using the search bar to filter by "Ocean" may be helpful.)

Once selected, the custom form will open a new browser window to the matching referral for the patient, which will automatically pull and populate the "Scheduling" area fields. From there, staff can then click either "Save" or "Done" to move the status of the referral to "Booking Unconfirmed" and send a notification to the patient and/or provider to confirm the appointment details.

PS Suite: Ocean eReferral Custom Form Settings

If you are a TELUS PS Suite user sending eReferrals, you can customize specific settings within the Ocean eReferral custom form.

  • First, open the Ocean eReferral custom form in a patient's chart, and choose the "Settings" button.

  • Once you enter the settings, you can choose to customize either your own user-specific settings or clinic-wide settings.

    Note: User-specific preferences (if set) take precedence over clinic-wide preferences.

  • From there, you can customize the following eReferral settings.
Set the user who will follow-up referrals:
This setting will allow you to choose the PSS user(s) who should receive the initial follow-up message. You can choose a specific user or a class of users, such as "secs" (secretaries). Leave this setting blank if you do not wish to have the follow-up message sent.
Set the follow-up wait period (the delay before the follow-up message shows in the inbox):
This setting will allow you to enter the number of days before the initial follow-up message shows up in the PSS user's inbox.
Add Pending Test/Consult: (Y/N):
Selecting this setting will turn on/off notifications about pending tests and/or consults associated with your eReferral.

Using the PS Suite Messaging Module to Follow Up with eReferrals

When an Ocean eReferral is sent from PS Suite, an internal message, or "yellow sticky note", will appear in the patient chart when the referral note has been downloaded.

This message is intended to help prevent the referral from slipping through the cracks, by ensuring someone is notified to follow up with it.

You can specify who this message gets sent to and when it will appear in their PS Suite inbox by changing the settings in the Ocean eReferral custom form, as outlined below.

  • Open the Ocean eReferral custom form, or find an existing form in a patient chart, and select the "Settings" button.
  • Select whether you want to apply this setting clinic wide, or just for your Ocean user.
  • Click "Set the user who will follow-up referrals..." to change who the PS Suite message is directed to.
  • Enter the initials of the PS Suite user or PS Suite user group that you would like to receive the follow-up message (Ocean defaults to using the secretary group, i.e. "secs"). Click "OK" to save your changes.
  • To edit the follow-up wait period, or the delay between when the referral is sent and went it shows up in the user's PS Suite inbox, repeat steps A and B above.
  • This time, in the Settings window, select "Set the follow up wait period..."
  • Enter the number of days before you would like the message to appear in the user's PS Suite inbox (Ocean defaults to 7 days). Click "OK" to save your changes.

Note: To turn this feature off completely, remove the PS Suite user initials from the follow-up message setting. You will need to be on a minimum Ocean eReferral custom form version of v1.55 in order for this setting to work. Please ensure you have other methods in place for following up with your eReferrals before turning off this functionality.

PS Suite: Tracking Pending Tests/Consults with Ocean eReferrals

  • When sending an Ocean eReferral from PS Suite, you have the option of tracking the referral through the green "Pending Tests/Consults" module in PS Suite.
  • This module will allow you to quickly search for patients whose tests or referrals are still outstanding, including Ocean eReferrals, among the other tests and/or referrals ordered from your EMR.
  • As Ocean eReferrals are typically marked completed when the patient has been seen for their appointment, this module also helps you track when the actual consult note or report has been received from the recipient site.
To turn this feature on, please follow the steps outlined below.
  • Open the Ocean eReferral custom form, or find an existing form in a patient chart, and click the "Settings" button.
  • Select whether you want to apply this setting clinic wide or just for your Ocean user.
  • Click the "Add Pending Test/Consult" setting to change it from an "N" to a "Y".
  • Once configured, the next time you send a referral, a green "Pending Tests/Consults" note will be added to the patient chart, along with the referral note and Ocean eReferral custom form. The category that the test/consult falls under will be dependent on the Ocean Health Service selected on the referral.

Note: After the Ocean eReferral form has added the pending test/consult to the chart, it will not be automatically updated with the referral status updates on the Ocean eReferral form. Therefore it is up to the user who receives the notifications about the referral to manually update the pending test/consult throughout the referral life cycle.

To date, the following test categories have been set up and linked to their corresponding Ocean Health Service:

  • CT
  • Ultrasound
  • X-ray
  • Mammogram
  • Bone Mineral Density
  • MRI
  • ECG
  • Dietitian
  • Endocrinology
  • LLS Chiropody Podiatry
  • Orthopedics
  • Ophthalmology

Note: If Ocean cannot find a particular PS Suite category that matches with the Ocean health service selected on the referral, then it will default to using the miscellaneous/consult category.

 

PS Suite: Attaching a Clinical Note from PS Suite to an eReferral

Before following the steps in this guide, ensure you have downloaded and installed the latest version of the Ocean Attachment Exporter (click here to download CFM file.) Version 2.0 and above will now upload attachments directly to Ocean instead of exporting them as a file.

Ocean makes it easy to select and "green bar" notes in a patient chart in PS Suite that can be uploaded directly to Ocean. The file can then be automatically included in an eReferral sent through the Ocean Healthmap.

To attach a note from PS Suite to an eReferral:

  • Find the note(s) in the patient's chart that you want to generate as a PDF attachment.
  • Check the checkbox next to the note to enable the “green bar”.
  • Click the Attach link on the Ocean Toolbar.
  • This will pop up an input box allowing the user to specify the attachment file name. Rename the file, if desired, and select OK. (By default, the file name will include the patient initials, EMR user initials, and current date).
  • A prompt will then appear to confirm that this attachment has been successfully uploaded to Ocean. Select the desired option. (Note, it will not appear if you previously selected "Don't Show This Again", or toggled it off in the Attachment Exporter's custom form settings).
  • Select Refer on the Ocean Toolbar to launch the Ocean Healthmap. Choose the desired listing and select to Send eReferral. The attachment will automatically be included at the bottom of the referral form.
  • Quick Tip: If you "green bar" an item and then select "Refer" on the Ocean Toolbar to initiate a referral, the attachment will automatically get generated to attach to the referral (without having to click the "Attach/Paperclip" link). You will need to click "Yes - Create Attachment" on the confirmation prompt, before continuing with step D to F above.
  • You can preview your referral attachment by clicking on the “eye” icon, or remove it by clicking on the “X” icon.
  • If you remove an attachment and would like to add it to the referral again, select the Add Attachments button at the bottom of the referral. A list of any attachments uploaded to Ocean for that patient will appear. Choose a file from the list or choose “Select Local File...” to browse for a file on your computer.
  • Quick Tip: If would like to include additional attachments, to an already sent eReferral, follow steps A to E above. Then open the sent eReferral using the "Open" lightbulb on the Ocean eReferral form. Scroll down to the Messaging pane of the referral and choose "Add Attachments". Select the desired file from the list and click "Send".

To customize the settings of the Ocean Attachment Exporter form:

  • Open the Ocean Attachment Exporter form in a test patient chart, and click the Settings button.
  • Select "Toggle the Display of the Export Information Message" if you would like to show the user an explanatory message about the attachment, after the upload to Ocean is complete.
  • Select "Toggle the Prompt to Export Lab Table" if you would like to be prompted to include the lab table each time an attachment is generated.