Background
View Tasks
Create a Task
View Tasks within a Medical Record
Edit a Task
Complete a Task
Tasks with Images cause EMR Performance Issues
Background
Tasks are actions/reminders with a due date. They are used to remind individual EMR users or groups (clinicians or admin) of any activities that need to be completed. The most common uses of tasks are:
- Task admin staff to book a follow up appointment or update demographics for a client.
- Task a clinician to review a lab result.
- Task a clinician to review a referral for a client.
View Tasks
1. From the Work Centre, click on Tasks from the segment bar.
2. Ensure that the correct filter (View) is applied.
Commonly used available filters include:
- Pending Tasks - Me and my Groups (any POS site I work at) is the default filter. Any outstanding tasks created for you or your group will be shown here. Examples of groups are: Physician and NP group, Nursing group, CSC group, etc.
- Pending Clinic Tasks (created at Current POS): Shows all the tasks created at logged on clinic. This is used to remind the entire clinic of a task.
- Pending Tasks - Other members in my groups at current POS (tasks may include clients belonging to another POS): This will show all the tasks for any other clinician you may be covering. You can use this filter to find specific tasks assigned to another clinician.
- Pending Tasks - For Others Created by Me: This will show any task created by you for anyone else. This is used to view the status of the tasks you have created.
3. Scroll through your tasks to view them.
4. Double click on a specific task to view the details.
Information
You can click on any of the column headers in the list to reorder the list and sort by that column.
Create a Task
1. You have two options in creating a task:
Option 1A. Click on the New Task icon in your toolbar.
OR
Option 1B. From the Tasks window, click on Create a new task icon.
2. Enter task description in the Subject field.
3. Select a Holder to determine who should receive the task.
| If sending task to… | … then: |
|
Group – More than 1 person |
1. Select Group from the Holder dropdown. 2. Type in your clinic’s code (eg. DCH); a list of all groups belonging to the clinic will appear. Click on the ellipses (…), if you are unsure of the code. 3. Double-click on the desired group. |
|
Clinician/User – A single EMR user |
1. Select Clinician/User from the Holder dropdown. 2. Type a few characters of the user’s name. 3. Double-click on the desired user. |
4. If you are creating the task from a client’s Medical Record, the Client field will automatically be populated with the opened client’s name. If the field is empty, manually enter the client’s name.
5. Set the Priority as applicable to your task (ex. Urgent, High, Normal, Low, Very Low).
6. The Status is automatically set to Pending.
7. Enter the task instructions/details in the Explanation and Links text box.
Note: If you created the task from Encounters or Results, a link will automatically be entered into Explanations and Links.
8. To create additional links under Explanations and Links, right-click within the Explanations and Links window and select: "Insert Link."
9. Click OK to send the task to the Holder (recipient).
View Tasks within a Medical Record
There are two options to view the tasks for a client within a Medical Record:
Option 1: In the client’s Medical Record, view pending tasks in the upper Tasks window pane. Front of Chart tasks will appear here as well.
Option 2: From the client’s Medical Record view the left hand panel saying Tasks. Click to refresh the task list.
Edit a Task
Editing a task may include changing the priority, the due date, status or the holder of the task (the person to whom the task is assigned) or it can include adding activity notes.
1. In the Tasks window (Medical Record > Tasks or Work Centre > Tasks), double-click the task that you want to edit.
2. Edit the task as necessary. If adding Activity Notes, make sure to include your signature after your note. To add your signature and the date/time stamp, type s\ into the Activity Notes.
3. Click OK to save your changes.
Complete a Task
Important! Do not use the Status dropdown to complete the task. A task should only either be Pending or Complete.
1. In the Tasks window (Medical Record > Tasks or Work Centre > Tasks), double-click to open the task and add any additional Activity Notes before completing the task. Clicking the green checkmark will mark the status as Complete, saves, and closes the task window. This removes the task from your pending tasks list.
2. Alternatively, in the Tasks window (Medical Record > Tasks or Work Centre > Tasks), single-click to select the task that you want to mark as completed. Ensure that you have previously opened the task to view any Explanations and Links or Activity Notes that may have been included in the task. Click on the green checkmark on the Task toolbar to mark it as Complete and this removes the task from your pending tasks list.
Tasks with Images cause EMR Performance Issues
Tasks with copied & pasted images cause a slow-down in Profile EMR performance. Images have a very large data storage size, while Tasks display in different places in the EMR and reload often. The recommended practice is to click on new task with the scanned document, lab result, or encounter note in your active window. EMR then automatically creates a hyperlink to that document within the Task. This will significantly reduce the Task’s data storage size.
Note that we will soon be placing a size limit on Task note fields that will prevent you from saving images or extremely lengthy text.