Clinic Assistant Updates - Table of Contents
Jan. 9th, 2015 – Clinical Updates and Reminders: 3
Next Gen Updates 3
PCMH – What is it and what can Clinic Assistants do to help? 3
Staying Healthy Assessments 4
Clinic Assistant Skills Update 4
Oct. 17th, 2014 – Clinical Updates & Reminders: 5
1. SUMMIT 5
2. Flu Shot Reminder 5
3. Ebola Screening 6
Oct. 2nd, 2014 – Clinical Updates & Reminders: 6
1. Tobacco Usage 6
2. Flu Shots 7
Sep. 23rd, 2014 – Clinical Updates & Reminders: 8
1. Next Gen Updates: 8
a. Tracking 8
b. Height and BMI 8
c. Tobacco and Allergies 8
2. Clinic Assistant Skills Update (LEADS): 11
Sep. 16th, 2014 – Clinical Reminder: 11
Sep. 2nd, 2014 – Clinical Reminder: 11
Aug. 11th, 2014 – Next-Gen Reminder: 11
Jul. 28th, 2014 – Next-Gen Reminder: 11
Jul. 23rd, 2014 – Clinical Reminder: 12
Jul. 17th, 2014 – Clinical Reminders: 12
1. Patient Labels: 12
2. Well Child Checks (WCC): 12
Apr. 25th, 2014 – Clinical Reminder: 12
Apr. 22nd, 2014 – Clinical Reminder: 12
Apr. 22nd, 2014 – Clinical Reminder: 12
Apr. 18th, 2014 – Volunteer Dress Code Reminder: 13
Mar. 11, 2014 – Clinical Reminder: 13
Mar. 5, 2014 – Clinical Reminders: 13
1. Homeless Patient Screening – Next-Gen Procedure 13
2. Follow Up on ER Visit or Hospitalization 13
3. NO BMI Plans 14
Feb. 12, 2014 – Clinical Reminder: 14
Jan. 9th, 2015 – Clinical Updates and Reminders:
Next Gen Updates
Homeless Patient Screening: Please be aware that the recent NextGen upgrade eliminated the Homeless Patient Template. In order to complete the required Homeless Patient Screening, please notate “Lack of Housing” as one of the Reasons for Visit.
· The Front Desk will indicate “HP” in details whenever a patient identifies themselves as homeless.
· Under HPI Detail for “Lack of Housing”, please enter where the patient is staying.
o Ex: Street, Beach, Car, etc.
o This information is important for our Homeless Grant.
Women’s Progress Notes: The Next-Gen upgrade has also affected the way in which we enter “Women’s Progress Notes”. In order to complete Women’s Progress Notes, please select “Preventative Exam” as one of the Reasons for Visit.
· You will recognize that the Women’s Progress Note is now mapped to the preventative exam option.
PCMH – What is it and what can Clinic Assistants do to help?
* Click here to watch a short video about PCMH.
* Huddles: Thank you for huddling! Your effort has helped your teams improve work flow and even patient care. Please review the following reminders at the attached Huddle Expectation Sheet (which has been shared with all nursing staff and providers) as we continue the Huddles.
* Expectations for Clinic Assistants: Clinic Assistants are expected to and will be required to:
1. Assign yourself to a team at the beginning of your shift
2. Join the MA and provider huddle (preferable). Or debrief with the MA.
3. ALWAYS consult with your MA and Provider to ensure all necessary steps are completed. If you pick up a chart that is meant for a different team, consult with the MA that is assigned to that patient
4. Check in with your MA throughout the session
* Chart Prep! Our MAs have done an amazing job prepping charts in the midst of our clinics’ busy flow. Please continue to prep even if you are not able to prep for your entire patient list.
* Meet! Chart prepping is only part of the huddle. Be sure to meet with each other and discuss face to face. Attached are more guidelines for huddling. Like huddles on the football field, it is important to take a “time out” for the team to discuss their game plan.
* Communicate throughout the session! Do you have tips on how PCPs, MAs, and CAs can communicate about patients during the session? If so, please let me know so that we can share your best practices.
* Give feedback! Don’t forget to tell your teammates when s/he does something great! And don’t be afraid to share your ideas on how your team can work better. Communication is vital for any team!
Staying Healthy Assessments
You will notice a pink piece of paper that reads “STAYING HEALTHY SCREENING” in the red sleeves. This is alerting us that Front Desk gave the patient a Staying Healthy Screening tool that is required by the patient’s insurance. The patient is to fill out screener and give to provider. Provider needs to review and sign. Unfortunately, many providers neglect to sign form and without provider signature, the form is invalid.
This little pink piece of paper is letting us know to encourage patients to fill out form and tell patients to hand it to provider for review and signature. If the patient has finished the form, feel free to insert into red sleeve so provider can review. Place in front of encounter for good visibility.
I attached a sample form for your review, but not that there are different forms for different age groups. The Adult form is attached. These forms are very important for patient’s insurance and we, as an agency, are required to fill them out.
Clinic Assistant Skills Update
Level 1 - Basic CA Skills:
Reminders-
· Buddy with LEAD CA or Clinic Staff: All new Clinic Assistants should continue to work alongside a LEAD Clinic Assistant or MA, until receiving your designation as a Level 2 Clinic Assistant volunteer.
· Next-Gen: New volunteers that have not yet completed their Level 1 Clinic Assistant Skills Checklist, should refrain from utilizing Next-Gen until they complete their “Basic Skills Checklist” or are otherwise instructed by a VFC Staff member. If you do enter information into Next-Gen, please be sure to always get your work checked by Staff!
· Basic Skills Update: Please note that since Clinic Assistants will no longer be working with pediatric patients, we have removed pediatric skills from the Basic Skills Checklist.
o New Clinic Assistants are no longer required to complete the following skills:
§ Height & Weight (Child)
§ Temperature (Axillary
§ Blood Pressure (Child)
· Congratulations! You completed your Basic Skills Checklist: What’s Next?
1. Check your service hours in Volgistics!
§ In order to level up, Clinic Assistants will need to complete the skills checklist on the back of their green name tag and complete a minimum of 30 hours of service as a Clinic Assistant.
§ To check your service hours, log in to Volgistics and click the “My Service History” tab.
2. Alert Volunteer Services
§ Once you have completed your checklist and 30 hours, please notify the Volunteer Services Department in order to receive your Level 2 name badge.
§ Please email and attach a photo of your completed checklist.
Oct. 17th, 2014 – Clinical Updates & Reminders:
1. SUMMIT Reminder: If you are not familiar with how to screen patients for the SUMMIT program, please review our step-by-step SUMMIT guidelines, which are available online on our Volunteer Resources page. It is very important that you thoroughly understand the screening process for SUMMIT and what to do with a positive screen. The SUMMIT survey should be reviewed with patients at the beginning of every work-up.
When a patient has a positive screen, please refer that patient to the Nursing Staff for further assistance! This screening process allows medical providers to quickly identify patients with harmful levels of substance abuse, provide a brief intervention, and then refer patients to SUMMIT for further screening and treatment.
2. Flu Shot Reminder: It’s flu season, and VFC has started to offer flu shots to all patients! Please remember to ask every patient if they are interested in a flu shot as part of their work up.
· If the patient is interested in receiving a flu shot, give them the Vaccine Information Sheet (VIS) and the Flu Vaccine Screening Checklist/Consent. Please alert Nursing Staff that the patient is interested in receiving a flu shot, and give the Nursing Staff the completed consent form.
o If the patient declines, please note this in “HPI details”
§ Notate “Patient declines flu vaccine/shot. VIS given.” in the comments section
§ Your note helps the provider know that we screened the patient, and the provider can then update their clinical care guidelines.
3. Ebola Screening - I’m sure you have all heard what is going on in the news regarding Ebola. Although we feel we are not at high risk for Ebola here at VFC, we wanted to share with you what Ebola precautions and procedures the clinic currently has in place.
A. All front line staff (including the Nursing Staff) will be asking ANY patient that presents with fever if they’ve had recent travel (within the last month) out of the country.
· What does this mean for Clinic Assistants?
o Be sure to screen anyone with fever, by asking if they have travelled out of country in the last month.
o If the patient responds “Yes”, the next question is “Did you travel to West Africa?”
o If your patient states “Yes” that they have travelled to West Africa, STOP what you are doing and take patient immediately to a designated “Isolation Room” .
o If the patient has travelled to West Africa, be sure to ask which country they travelled to. The West African countries where Ebola has been confirmed are Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.
o Once you have escorted the patient to the designated Isolation Room, please close the door and notify an RN or Medical Provider ASAP.
B. Signage will be placed on all ports of entry asking patients to disclose if they have recently travelled to West Africa and/or have fever.
C. Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) has been sent to all locations. This PPE kit includes gloves, gown, shoe covers, goggles and mask. Please make sure you know where the PPE is located. At Rose, the PPE kits are located in Room 15 and at the Triage area downstairs where we keep emergency supplies.
D. Clinical Leads at every site will identify “Isolation Rooms”. The goal is to minimize exposure to other patients and staff.
a. Rose: Alcove area on the 1st floor behind security and Room 15 on the 2nd floor
b. Simms: Triage Room on the 1st floor and Room 11 on 2nd Floor
c. Colen: Patient bathroom (potential isolation room)
E. Attached are instructions on how to don PPE and how to remove it.
F. In the event that a patient needs to be reported as an Ebola suspect - Contact Public Health Phone Line: (213)240-7941, After Hours: (213)974-1234.
Oct. 2nd, 2014 – Clinical Updates & Reminders:
1. Tobacco Usage - The Next-Gen upgrade did NOT transfer patients’ “Tobacco Usage” information completely. When entering patient information into Next-Gen, please always make sure that the patient’s Tobacco Usage information is up-to-date.
· Always check to make sure both the “Smoking Status” box and the “Tobacco Use” box are filled in.
· “Smoking Status” and “Tobacco Use” fields are required in order for the clinic to meet Meaningful Use (MU) requirements.
· Applies to all patients that are 13 years of age and over.
A. To update Tobacco Use Information, please click on “Tobacco Usage” on the right side of the screen
B. Complete “Tobacco Use Status” by selecting an option from the drop-down menu (see below)
Please note: For children 12 and under, you will need to answer the questions under “Passive Smoke”. Please ask if you are not sure how to update these fields.
2. Flu Shots: It’s flu season, and VFC has started to offer flu shots to all patients!
· What does this mean for Clinic Assistants?
o Always ask your patient if they are interested in receiving the flu vaccine.
o If the patient is interested in receiving a flu shot, please alert Nursing Staff so that they can administer it.
o If the patient declines, please note this in the “Comments” section of the Chief Complaint / Reason for Visit page
§ Notate “Patient declines flu vaccine/shot” in the comments section
§ Your note helps the provider know that we screened the patient, and the provider can then update their clinical care guidelines.
Sep. 23rd, 2014 – Clinical Updates & Reminders:
1. Next Gen Updates:
- Tracking: We must now track patients when we start work up by selecting WITH NURSING and then track when we finish to WAITING FOR PROVIDER
· This new system will help the Clinic better track the flow of patients and, eventually, improve our efficiency and ability to serve more patients
- Height and BMI: Please use feet/inches or cm. Not total inches. It does not automatically calculate BMI.
ERRONENOUS entry:
CORRECT entry:
- Tobacco and Allergies: Please update Tobacco usage and update allergies at every visit
This is how the templates should look like. Please see screen shots below. Please always feel free to ask nursing supervisors on staff and other medical assistants for help.