Booking In

The booking in screen is accessed by clicking Book-in from the actions menu.

The prescription life cycle starts with booking in.

Booking in refers to inputting the prescription's information into PTS, usually via the dedicated booking in screen. Doing so creates a record of the prescription in the PTS database, which will make it appear in any relevant user views ready to be progressed and tracked through the prescription lifecycle in accordance with the prescription type setup.

Booking in is usually done manually as per the directions on this page, but it can automated via the optional e-prescribing module.

More often than not, booking in a prescription will simultaneously produce a barcode label for the prescription so that it can be progressed with a barcode scanner. For certain prescription types (e.g. TTO) a ticket may also be produced to hand to the patient for them to monitor the prescription on an outpatient display screen.

Once booked in the prescription can then be progressed through its sequence of pre-defined dispensing stages (activities) followed, optionally, by collection and delivery.

Accessing the booking in screen

The actions menu can be accessed using the actions menu button at the top right of the screen . Click Book-in to open the booking in screen.

Newer versions of PTS will prompt you to choose the prescription type from a drop down list before the booking in screen opens. This is largely inconsequential but the reason for this change is discussed in the next section.

The booking in screen

The booking in screen looks like this.

The booking in screen. It's not uncommon to leave the booking in screen open on a certain PC.

The screen is designed so that it can be filled out with just the keyboard by "tabbing" to the next field, and if any particular field only has one applicable option, the field is skipped over. This will save time as you get used to how the screen works, but it can of course be used like any other web form with the mouse if you prefer.

It's important to note that the visible fields on this page and their default settings are heavily influenced by the prescription type setup, and to a lesser extent the the users permissions, application settings and the dispensary setup. This guide will give you an idea of how the process works in a default setting.

Prescription details

• Dispensary
  The dispensary that the prescription is being booked into. This will usually show the user's pre-defined default dispensary, but can be changed to another dispensary, if applicable. This is to accommodate users who work at multiple sites across the Trust.
• Printer
  The printer from which to produce the prescription label and ticket. Defaults to the default printer for this dispensary.
• Booked-in by
  Here you can override the user that is said to be booking in the prescription. Defaults to the current user. This field is sometimes used by Trusts who decide to leave the booking in screen open to save time, meaning the user booking in can just select themselves from this list rather than logging out and back in to PTS with their own account. If the user has their BOOKINUSER permission set to No, they will not be able to change this field and therefore booking in will always be assigned to the current logged in user.
• Type
  The prescription type being booked in. Each prescription type will have different information, demographics and target time requirements, and the screen will update the required fields once a prescription type is selected. In newer versions of PTS the prescription type may have been selected already, in which case this field can just be used to make last minute changes.
• Ward
  The ward that the prescription belongs to.
• Required Date
  Each prescription type will have a target time attributed to it, and based upon this PTS will calculate the required date.
• Required Time
  Similarly PTS will calculate the required time. Both can be amended on this screen if the user has the BOOKINTARGET permission set to Yes.
• Request Time
  Prescription types can be configured to record when the prescription was requested (prescribed). This allows you to establish how much time elapsed between the prescription being requested to being started. More commonly used in conjunction with e-prescribing; this field will not be displayed if the prescription type does not have this as a required field.

If you're on an older version of PTS and users complain that the patient details section never loads make sure they are aware that they have to tab away from the prescription type field after making their selection. This is the point that the system would load the next applicable sections based on the chosen type. This issue would particularly stand out if they are in the habit of filling in the field out-of-sequence.

Newer versions of PTS prompt for the prescription type to be chosen before the booking in screen is even loaded. This change was implemented to allow for the screen to be completed out-of-sequence with fewer issues while also ensuring all the correct fields for the prescription type are displayed immediately rather than having to adjust the screen in the middle of the process.

Patient details

The patient details you are prompted to fill in is determined in part by the patient demographics definition for the prescription type.

In most situations once a patient ID is entered, a PAS lookup is performed and some or all of the following patient details will be filled in for you.

The patient details section. More often than not, this section is mostly filled in automatically by doing a PAS lookup based on the patient identifier.

• Patient ID
  You'll be prompted to enter the national ID (e.g. NHS number) and/or the local ID (e.g. hospital number) for the patient, based on what your Trust uses.
  Depending on your PAS setup, some or all of the following patient details will be filled in automatically having entered the patient ID.
• Title
  Mr., Mrs., Dr. etc.
• Forename
  The patient's forename.
• Surname
  The patient's surname.
• D.O.B.
  The patient's date of birth.
• Mobile Number
  This number will be used to send SMS messages to the patient if and when a note is recorded that is configured to text the patient. This field is not mandatory and can be skipped if the patient does not consent.
• Email Address
  This email address will be used to send emails to the patient if and when a note is recorded that is configured to email the patient. This field is not mandatory and can be skipped if the patient does not consent.
• Address
  The physical postal address to be associated with this prescription, such as the patient's home address to facilitate homecare deliveries using the delivery app.
• No. of Items
  The number of items on the script. This helps inform certain reports and is useful information for the wards, considering that a prescription with many items should be expected to take longer.
• No. Dispensed
  If some items will not be dispensed for any reason you can input a different number here. It goes without saying that it most cases you would not know this until later in the prescription lifecycle, at which point you would amend this on-screen or with a barcode scan. It is included here for completeness, but in all likelihood will be set to the same value as the No. of Items field.

Drugs

If the prescription type requires that you record the drugs or medicines that appear on the prescription, the drugs section will be displayed.

Start typing the name of the drug and then select it from the auto-complete list.

Simply start typing in the name of the drug and if it is found in the PTS drugs page (usually imported from DM+D or JAC) you will be offered a list of possible matches for you to select.

A prescription type can be set up to allow the entry of one drug or multiple Drugs. In addition each prescription type can be configured to prompt for the dose units to be entered.

If applicable you may be asked to enter the dose unit. In this example just 1 capsule is being dispensed.

Notes

It is possible to add a note to the prescription at the point of booking in. In fact, there are many situations where notes will be added automatically at this point.

A typical note that could be recorded during booking in is one that notes the current average waiting time which subsequently gets printed on the patient's ticket.

Notes can be added manually in the notes section, and any notes set to auto-record at the point of booking in will appear in this section too.

Click the add button to add a new note, o click the delete button to remove an existing one.

Notes are explained in more detail on the notes page.

Completing the booking in process

Before completing the booking in process you can change the barcode format that will be used on any subsequent barcode labels using the button. The default option is determined in the Dispensaries setup page and is usually set to Normal (meaning a traditional 1D barcode readable by all barcode scanners), but can be changed at this point to a QR (2D) code or no label at all.

You have now entered enough information to book the prescription in and start tracking it. In most cases you would now click the button to book in the prescription, simultaneously print any labels and tickets and record the current time as the start time. This is informally known as "starting the clock", meaning the prescription is now moving towards its target time. It will now also appear in any relevant user views.

To book in the prescription in a pending state - that is to say booking the prescription in but not starting the clock until further notice - click the up arrow next to the button and select Book in (as opposed to Book in and start).

The default booking in start type is defined in the Prescription Types setup page. More information on start types can be found in the booking in options tab.