Sidebar Charting Tools
A "Sidebar" is available in most patient charts, in many clinical contexts (inpatient, emergency, critical care, etc.). It can be collapsed or expanded. When open, it facilitates quick access to information that can help with charting tasks performed in the main (centre) chart area. The Sidebar can also be used to complete documentation tasks, while the centre views are used to gather and review needed information.
Inpatient Sidebar Index
Patient charts opened in Hyperspace to an inpatient encounter have a right "Sidebar" default view topped with an "Inpatient Sidebar Index". This supports rapid switching between different Sidebar activities. The primary intent of the Sidebar is to bring commonly needed tools to the forefront for rapid access. A secondary purpose is to provide aids for quickly finding, displaying and editing information in either the main (central), Sidebar (right) or pop-up chart spaces.
There are two columns in the Sidebar index, each with rows containing links that, when selected, jump to an indicated activity. Link rows can have up to three parts, each performing different actions when selected (clicked):
Left arrow - A left-pointing arrow signifies that a related activity can be opened in the main (centre) chart panel.
Activity title - A central phrase or abbreviation gives a rough indication of the information that will appear in the Sidebar if the link is selected.
Right arrow - In some cases, actionable activities (e.g., editing tools) can be opened in the Sidebar itself by selecting the right arrow, if present.
Available links can have different actions depending upon patient (e.g., pediatric), provider (e.g., specialty) or setting (e.g., login department) characteristics. Link behaviours may change over time as new tool optimizations are discovered. Current Sidebar index activity links include:
Checklists, Plans
Also the default inpatient Sidebar Summary view, this shows daily, admission and discharge checklists, as well as a transition planning section that summarizes discharge readiness information with embedded "hotspot" links for just-in-time access to relevant data-entry tools.
Left arrow - Opens the physician checklist tab within the inpatient Summary activity.
Question mark - Opens help information in a pop-up window.
Inpatient team
Highlights the current inpatient attending provider, involved specialty teams, inpatient treatment team, outpatient providers and emergency contacts.
Left arrow - Opens the care team activity (with editing ability) in the centre panel.
Right arrow - Opens the care team activity (with editing ability) in a popup display.
Problems & Hx
Lists hospital problems (grouped by priority), as well as medical, surgical, implant, social and family histories.
Left arrow - Opens the main problem list and history activity in the centre panel.
Right arrow - Opens problem list and medical history editing tools in the Sidebar so that information can be abstracted from displays (e.g., Netcare reports) appearing elsewhere.
Problem charting (problem-oriented charting, POC)
Gives a quick overview of all structured documentation content captured as a by-product of POC workflows. The prose has many clickable hotspots (links are in darker blue font) that open relevant tools that speed the review or generation of POC content. This sidebar is designed to work in concert with the POC centre panel activity.
Left arrow - Opens the POC activity in the centre panel.
Right arrow - Opens the Hospital Course (i.e., inpatient wiki-like record of key developments and milestones, a key part of summative documents) for editing in the Sidebar, easing preparation of a succinct summary of the patient's inpatient experience while reviewing other clinical material in the Sidebar.
Meds, Imm | Adverse
Medications and immunizations are summarized, with home and inpatient medications distinguished. Embedded links activate supplemental pop-up information displays and access to tools for submitting serious adverse drug reaction reports.
Left arrow - Opens the home medication review (reconciliation) activity in the centre panel.
Right arrow - Opens adverse reactions and serious adverse reaction reporting in the Sidebar.
Med admin (Medication Administration Record, MAR)
Shortened listing of recent medication administration times, routes and actions.
Left arrow - Opens the main MAR in the centre panel.
Right arrow - Opens pharmacy medication check report in the Sidebar.
Vitals, IO (input & output), lines
Recent vitals, diet orders, intake and output records, and an inventory of lines/drains/airways are listed.
Left arrow - Opens the main inpatient vitals flowsheet in the centre panel.
Right arrow - Opens the Synopsis activity in the centre panel, at the default Timeline view.
Blood (products) | Consents
All information related to blood product orders and administrations is listed in summary boxes.
Left arrow - Opens the main patient consents activity in the centre panel.
Right arrow - Opens a listing of recent consents in the Sidebar.
Recent results
Recent (last 24-48 hours) glucometry, laboratory and oxygen measurements are listed together.
Left arrow - Opens the inpatient laboratory results review activity in the centre panel.
Right arrow - Opens a listing of recent imaging and lab orders to facilitate selecting items for notification via In Basket
Warnings | Scores
Provides MEWs or PEWs calculations and warnings, together with a summary of the source data.
Left arrow - Opens the inpatient early warning system activity in the centre panel, age-appropriate.
Right arrow - Opens a listing of common inpatient scores, in interactive update format, in the Sidebar.
Risks, screening
Summarizes risks for unintended readmission, frailty scale report, and travel and exposure screening results.
Left arrow - Opens the readmission risk activity in the centre panel.
Right arrow - Opens the frailty scale as a pop-up for editing.
Billing | Stickies
Lists a summary of personal billings recently filed (last 7 days) for the current patient.
Left arrow - Opens the professional service code (billing) activity for charge capture in the centre panel.
Right arrow - Lists sticky notes in the Sidebar, including "my sticky note" (personal post-it style comments), specialty sticky note (shared by members of specialty), note to most responsible provider (equivalent of "doctors board" rounding to-dos) and care team sticky note (transition planning).
Notes, Sidebars
Opens a series of Sidebar summaries, providing rapid access to recent summative documents (Histories, Consults, Discharge Summaries) that can be selected and viewed within the Sidebar (to ease, e.g., medication reconciliation in the main activity panel).
Provides a set of "hotspot" links that initiate summative documents (History, Consults, Operative Notes, Discharge Summaries, etc.) with "POC" (problem-oriented charting) or "Basic" (AHS standard format but not leveraging POC tools) templates pre-loaded.
Left arrow (within new notes links) - Opens the Notes activity in the main panel with the appropriate note type pre-selected.
Other (clinical) systems
Opens a set of secondary links that facilitate opening other clinical or guidance information systems in the main Hyperspace activity panel (left arrow), in a pop-up window (centre system name) or in the Sidebar itself (right arrow).
Left arrow - Opens Netcare in the centre panel.
Right arrow - Opens Netcare in the Sidebar.
Other Clinical Systems Sidebar Tools
New patient assessments offer important opportunities to initiate core clinical data in the patient chart. This decreases documentation work thereafter, allowing clinicians to revise or validate information already entered.
Sidebar tools can be help clinicians when they review information in other clinical information systems (e.g., Netcare) or in unstructured Connect Care documentation (dictated notes that, e.g., did not include updated problem lists). The user needs to review and document information at the same time, ideally without jumping back and forth between different windows. The Sidebar can help in two ways, either when used to review information that informs documentation performed with main panel tools, or when used to enter information gleaned from the main panel.
Use-cases include:
Problem and History Documentation
Prior letters, summaries, Netcare or other clinical information can be displayed in the main (centre) panel while documentation is performed in the "Problems & Hx" Sidebar activity, OR
Prior documentation is reviewed in the Sidebar "Notes & reports" activity, or the "Other systems" (Netcare) Sidebar views while problem lists and medical or surgical histories are updated in the main (centre) panel.
Medication Reconciliation
Medication reconciliation tools open in the main (centre) panel while a Netcare medication profile (drug dispensing information) is open within the "Other systems" Sidebar activity.
The links available in the "Other systems" Sidebar index will vary by patient, provider and clinical context. They will also grow over time as new features are added for particular specialties.
Clinical system links are formatted like the Sidebar index links described above. There may be a left arrow (generally opening functions in the main Hyperspace panel), a link topic/title (often opening functions in a pop-up window) and a right arrow (opening functions in the Sidebar itself). Core links available to all clinicians in all inpatient charts include:
Netcare EHR
Left arrow - Opens the Netcare electronic health record in the main (centre) Hyperspace activity, exactly as happens when Netcare is opened from the patient Storyboard (leftmost Hyperspace column). The current patient chart is opened by default within Netcare.
Netcare title - Opens a Netcare login screen within a pop-up window. This allows Netcare to be accessed outside of a specific patient. The pop-up window can be positioned, e.g., on a separate monitor screen, and can be used to access more advance patient lookup features.
Right arrow - Opens Netcare within the Hyperspace Sidebar. This allows access to, e.g., Netcare medication information while entering orders or doing medication reconciliation in the main activity panel.
Calgary CIS
Left arrow - Opens a read-only view of information from Calgary Zone clinical information systems (Sunrise Clinical Manager, SCM) in the main (centre) Hyperspace activity, exactly as happens when the same system is opened from the patient Storyboard. The current patient chart is opened by default.
Right arrow - Opens a read-only view of information from SCM in the Sidebar.
Problem-dependent Sidebar Tools
Some Sidebar displays and tools become available only when a patient as a particular health condition, as reflected in the problem list (active problems). These usually appear within the Notes & Reports section. Clicking on the relevant link will open the relevant Sidebar toolkit.