Notes

Notes possibly represent the biggest single upgrade in PTS 5. Many formerly disparate system facilities are now found here and are now heavily customisable.

Fundamentally notes are used to quickly add additional data to a prescription. Notes are preconfigured by a system administrator, and are either selected on the prescription details screen or printed out and scanned with a barcode scanner.

Based on our statistics, the most common use of a note is to suspend a prescription for a set amount of time, and provide a reason why. Secondly is a note that is recorded upon delivery of a prescription, that takes the signature and surname of the recipient and will not allow delivery to proceed without it, and thirdly a note that sends itself as an SMS message to an outpatient when their prescription reaches the "waiting for collection" status.

As you can see notes not only store data but are also a means to provide customised additional control to meet your precise pharmacy requirements. They can be used to record errors, cancel a prescription, text a patient or ward, suspend a prescription and more. Notes can be recorded manually or automatically when the prescription meets specified criteria. They can be configured to prompt for additional data such as a signature, a date/time, or a hand typed string and so on, and you can configure how they look with customisable icons and colours, and even which types of user can see or record them.

Accessing the setup page

The PTS sidebar with Setup selected.

Like many of the different PTS utilities, setup is found in the left-hand side bar.

Hover over the sidebar with the mouse cursor and the side bar will expand. Select Setup to reveal a drop-down list of the various setup pages you have permission to access.

To choose a setup page click on its name in the list to be taken to the setup page.

PTS 5 is the most user configurable version of our Prescription Tracking System to date. As a result parts of this Wiki assumes that the reader has permission to access the elements of the system in question. If you don't see specific items and utilities where they are supposed to be you may not have permission to access them.

Adding new notes

To create a new note access the actions menu by clicking on the actions menu icon at the top right of the page, then from the actions menu click the New Note button.

The process then continues in the note popup.

Editing existing notes

To edit an existing note, select the note you wish to amend by clicking on its entry in the list to load the note popup (note clicking the tickbox has another dedicated function).

Note Popup

The note popup appears after adding a new note, or clicking on a note in the list to edit it.

Enter the following information and click the Save button to finish creating or editing the note. Some fields may be optional.

Note details tab

The note details tab.

• Icon
  You can add a distinctive icon and colour for that icon to the note. These icons will appear on the home page, custom barcode sheets, in prescription details and on tickets given to outpatients.
• Abbreviated Text
  This is a free-format field and is displayed as the name of the note underneath its barcode, and how it appears in any lists when the note is being selected on-screen.
• Text
  This is what is stored when this note is recorded. This can be a simple hard-coded string, or can be heavily customised using the note builder option. See the Note Builder section below for more.
• Note type
  What kind of note is being recorded. Notes are handled differently dependent upon their type:
  1. Cancellation
     Recording the note will cancel the prescription.
  2. Suspension
     This will (usually) add the specified suspend duration to the target time for the prescription.
     1. Suspend Duration (mins)
        The time, in minutes, that the prescription will be suspended for.
     2. Hide on resumption?
        When the prescription is subsequently resumed, the note will be hidden.
  3. Normal
     A standard note that doesn't trigger an event when recorded.
  4. Error
     Error notes appear on the error reports when recorded.
     1. Activity causing error
        If the error relates to a specific part of the process, you can specify the activity here. This adds further detail to the error reports.
  5. Error & Suspension
     Combines error and suspension into a single note.
  6. Error & Cancellation
     Combines error and cancellation into a single note.
  7. Collection
     Marks the prescription as collected.
  8. Delivery
     Marks the prescription as delivered.

A quick word on collection and delivery notes

It can be difficult to understand when to use a collection or delivery note type, versus when to attach a "normal" note to the collection or delivery status of the automatic notes section of a prescription type.

Collection and delivery note types, when recorded, will collect and/or deliver a prescription or bag. They can, as will be explained below, also be configured to require a signature and name etc. You can record them by scanning their barcode or by selecting the note on the prescription details screen or the homepage actions menu. On the face of it, this probably sounds like the ideal way to record collection and delivery across the board and grab the necessary information.

However, what may be more appropriate is to actually mandate that before a item can be delivered, a signature and surname must be recorded or delivery of the item cannot proceed. That's obviously a very different thing to providing an optional note that may or may not be recorded by the user. The correct way to mandate a signature etc. upon delivery is to create a Normal note type and attach it to the delivery status of the prescription type.

In reality you should eventually find that you need examples of both kinds of collection and delivery note. For example you may want the mandatory delivery note, but also offer a way for users to override the normal bagging/collection/delivery procedure and record that an item was spontaneously collected at the hatch by a nurse.

The directions for setting up all of these different examples are described below.

Display options tab

• Min. status
  This designates the minimum, or earliest status of a prescription where this note can be added. e.g. you may not want a delivery note to work on prescriptions that are not yet waiting for collection.
• Display on label
  Defines whether the note will appear on any subsequent barcode labels.
• Display on ticket
  Defines whether the note will appear on any subsequent outpatient tickets.
• Flag patient
  Whether the note will alert the patient via the outpatient or collection status displays.
  1. Never
     Will not flag the patient.
  2. With dispensary's 'Collection Status Flagged' message
     Flags the patient with the generic message specified in the dispensary setup screen.
  3. With the text of the note that was recorded
     Displays the content of the note. Be mindful not to show anything confidential.

Messaging options tab

The messaging options tab.

This facility relies on PTS being connected to an SMTP email server and an SMS service provider (e.g. TMS SMS Credits). See the SMS and Email Setup page for technical instructions on getting SMS and Email working.

• Text Patient
  The note will be sent to the patient via SMS, assuming their phone number was provided with consent during the booking in process.
• E-Mail Patient
  The note will be sent to the patient via email, assuming their email address was provided with consent during the booking in process.
• Text Ward
  The note will be sent as an SMS to any associated ward staff who have the "receive text/email alerts" option enabled and have a phone number added to their account.
• Email Ward
  The note will be sent as an email to any associated ward staff who have the "receive text/email alerts" option enabled and have an email address added to their account.
• Text Dispensary
  The note will be sent as an SMS to any associated dispensary staff who have the "receive text/email alerts" option enabled, have a phone number added to their account, and have the DISPENSARYSTAFF permission set to Yes.
• Email Dispensary
  The note will be sent as an email to any associated dispensary staff who have the "receive text/email alerts" option enabled, have a phone number added to their account, and have the DISPENSARYSTAFF permission set to Yes.

Role permissions tab

Every role added to PTS will be listed here next to a dropdown where you can set the access that they have to this note.

• Hidden
  Users of this role will not see this note anywhere, even when viewing a prescription that contains it. This is useful for hiding potentially sensitive note types.
• View
  The note will be visible when recorded, but the user will not be able to record the note themselves.
• Create
  User will be able to see and record this note themselves, assuming the user has permission to create notes in general i.e. CREATENOTES = Yes. This setting will not override CREATENOTES = No.

Delete note

You cannot delete a note that has been recorded in the past and the option to delete will not be available. If the option is available, click on the delete note button and confirm that you want to proceed.

Print barcodes

Click on the Print Barcodes button and the available printers will be listed, along with the option to print a QR code for use exclusively with 2D barcode readers.

Click on the printer you want to use and the barcode label will be printed. If you chose Browser Printing then your web browser will handle the print job as opposed to PTS and a print preview will be displayed along with the option to choose an attached printer.

Note Builder

The most fundamental part of a note barcode is its "Text" setting. At its most basic level this is a pre-defined string of text that the note barcode represents, and scanning the barcode adds the text to the prescription for others to see. Users of our PTS 4 system will remember this used to be the extent of the notes system, however starting with PTS 5 notes have become significantly more powerful and flexible and this is achieved partly by adding "special characters" to the Text field that serve a specific purpose.

Special characters can be added anywhere in the Text field that when encountered by the system trigger special behaviour, namely either prompting for additional information from the user when recording the note, or replacing the special character with dynamic information calculated live by the system.

As there are dozens of special characters and commands, a Note Builder utility has been developed where you can simply make your choices from a drop down list. To access the note builder, open the Note details tab within the Note popup and click the Note Builder button to the right of the Text field.

The note builder popup.

Text field

Contains the note text value that you are currently editing. You can still edit the field by hand at this point if you want to. You can also use this field to place the caret (keyboard cursor) in the position in the string you would like the special characters to be added when you make a selection below. The field is also useful to make manual changes and corrections as you go along.

Special characters that will prompt for extra information

This is a list of special characters and commands that prompt the user to enter additional information. Simply select the option you want from the list and the special character will be added to the Text field. The position of the character in the field is where the additional information will appear to other users once the note has been successfully recorded.

For example a note built as such:

Signed for by ^ at @. Signature: |

Would prompt for a free text field (^), a date and time (@) and a signature (|). Once recorded the note would look something like this when the prescription is later viewed:

Signed for by Mr. Bloggs at 01/12/2022 10:56. Signature:

For obvious reasons, it's not recommended to make extensive use of these characters if the note is primarily going to be recorded with a barcode scanner as they lack the facilities to allow the user to easily enter the additional information.

Special characters that will display information about the prescription

This is a list of special characters and commands that will display the chosen prescription data. Simply select the option you want from the list and the special character will be added to the Text field. The position of the character in the field is where the additional information will appear to other users once the note has been successfully recorded.

For example a note built as such:

Dear ~, your Prescription (no. #) is ready for collection from the pharmacy.

Would reinterpret (~) as the patient's name and (#) as the ticket number, so the note becomes:

Dear Joe Bloggs, your Prescription (no. 1471) is ready for collection from the pharmacy.

It is perfectly valid to combine both types of special characters (meaning ones that prompt for information and ones that display additional information) into a single note.

Automatic and mandatory notes

You can configure different prescription types to record notes automatically when a prescription reaches a certain status.

The prescription type setup screen allows you to specify notes that should be automatically recorded against a prescription of that type whenever it reaches a certain status.

When an automatic note is also configured to prompt for additional input from the user, as per the Note Builder section above, the note effectively becomes mandatory, and the user is required to enter the information before the note can be recorded and the prescription is allowed to move onto the next stage.

See the automatic notes tab section of the Prescription Types page for more information.

Common note examples

Here are the steps to create from scratch some of the more popular PTS 5 notes. Only the important steps are included. Some of these notes are probably pre-installed for you, however going over the steps required to create them provides a useful training exercise.

Suspend a prescription for 30 minutes due to doctor delay and require a reason

1. Click New Note from the Actions menu.
2. Set the Abbreviated Text to "Waiting for Doctor" or similar.
3. Using either the text field or the note builder, enter "Waiting for Doctor to: ^."
4. Select Suspension as the Note type.
5. Set the suspend duration to 30 minutes.

Text the patient with their ticket number when the prescription is created

1. Click New Note from the Actions menu.
2. Set the Abbreviated Text to "Prescription In Progress" or similar.
3. Using either the text field or the note builder, enter "Prescription no. # is in progress."
4. Select Normal as the Note type.
5. Under display options, set the Flag Patient setting to "With the text of the note that was recorded."
6. Under messaging options, set Text Patient and Email Patient to Yes.
7. Go to the Prescription Types setup screen and click on the (e.g.) Outpatient prescription type.
8. Under demographic options, set Record Mobile Number and Record Email to Yes.
9. Under automatic notes, add the note to the requested status for this prescription type.

Text the patient that their prescription is ready

1. Click New Note from the Actions menu.
2. Set the Abbreviated Text to "Prescription Ready" or similar.
3. Using either the text field or the note builder, enter "Prescription no. # is ready for collection."
4. Select Normal as the Note type.
5. Under display options, set the Flag Patient setting to "With the text of the note that was recorded."
6. Under messaging options, set Text Patient and Email Patient to Yes.
7. Go to the Prescription Types setup screen and click on the (e.g.) Outpatient prescription type.
8. Under demographic options, set Record Mobile Number and Record Email to Yes.
9. Under automatic notes, add the note to the completion status for this prescription type.

Automatically display the current average waiting time on the patient's ticket

1. Click New Note from the Actions menu.
2. Set the Abbreviated Text to "Avg. Wait" or similar.
3. Using either the text field or the note builder, enter "Average waiting time is currently [AVG]."
4. Select Normal as the Note type.
5. Under display options, set the Display on label and Display on ticket settings to Yes.
6. Go to the Prescription Types setup screen and click on the (e.g.) Outpatient prescription type.
7. Under automatic notes, add the note to the start status for this prescription type.

Require a recipient signature and surname upon delivery

1. Click New Note from the Actions menu.
2. Set the Abbreviated Text to "Received at location" or similar.
3. Using either the text field or the note builder, enter "Received at location by: | (Surname: ^)"
4. Select Normal as the Note type (not Delivery - see above for explanation of note types)
5. Go to the Prescription Types setup screen and click on the (e.g.) Inpatient prescription type.
6. Under automatic notes, add the note to the delivery status for this prescription type.

Bypass the collection and delivery procedure and record that a bag or prescription is being collected at the hatch, whilst taking a signature and surname

1. Click New Note from the Actions menu.
2. Set the Abbreviated Text to "Collected from hatch" or similar.
3. Using either the text field or the note builder, enter "Collected from hatch by: | (Surname: ^)"
4. Select Delivery as the Note type.

Record that a dispensing error occurred and that the wrong drug was dispensed

1. Click New Note from the Actions menu.
2. Set the Abbreviated Text to "Wrong Drug" or similar.
3. Using either the text field or the note builder, enter "Wrong Drug - should have been [DRUGREQUESTED] but [DRUGDISPENSED] was dispensed."
4. Select Error as the Note type (see above for explanation of note types)
5. Set the "activity causing error" to "dispensing".

Record that a prescription has been collected from the pharmacy by ward staff and bypass the existing delivery procedure

1. Click New Note from the Actions menu.
2. Set the Abbreviated Text to "Collected by nurse" or similar.
3. Using either the text field or the note builder, enter "Collected by [NOTERECORDEDBY]"
4. Select Delivery as the Note type (see above for explanation of note types)

Allow porters to instantly email pharmacy about delivery problems from the delivery app

1. Click New Note from the Actions menu.
2. Set the Abbreviated Text to "Report issue with delivery" or similar.
3. Using either the text field or the note builder, enter "There was an issue with this delivery: ^."
4. Select Normal as the Note type.
5. Under messaging options, set Email dispensary to Yes.

Printing note barcodes

To begin, select the notes for which you want to generate barcodes by ticking the tick box to the left of their entries in the list. You can select multiple notes at once. Once you've done so the Actions Menu will slide in from the right-hand side of the webpage.

Click on the Print Barcodes button and the available printers will be listed, along with the option to print a QR code for use exclusively with 2D barcode readers.

Click on the printer you want to use and the barcode label will be printed. If you chose Browser Printing then your web browser will handle the print job as opposed to PTS and a print preview will be displayed along with the option to choose an attached printer.

Available barcodes

• Note
  Will record the note for the current user and prescription.