Aliases
Aliases can be enabled to protect privacy. Aliases are useful when your screen could be viewed by others. Aliases can be used to save space on the list view or to help keep the names of patients and physicians confidential. An alias can be configured by Admitting Staff to appear for individual patients that are marked confidential or by Administrators to be displayed for all patients regardless of their confidential status. Aliases can also be configured for users in their user profile. The format that an alias appears in can also be configured at the unit or campus level.
Aliases are displayed in place of patient names in list views of the Patient Tracking Portal and Capacity IQ® PreAdmit applications. The Patient Alias Configuration page can be used to configure alias formats for confidential and non-confidential campuses and units.
How Aliases Work
Functionality
To configure patient aliases, you must have the Unit – Cluster Management permission View or Edit unit details.
There are two ways that an alias can appear instead of a patient name.
An individual patient name can be marked confidential on the Patient /Placement Details dialog box. If so, an alias appears for that patient.
If the Confidential check box is selected on a patient Patient/Placement Details form, then an alias appears in list views and in alarm warnings instead of the patient's name.
If aliases should appear for all patients, even those who do not have the Confidential check box selected, then enable the Display Alias for Patients setting.
If the Patient Tracking Portal console setting called Display Alias for Patients is enabled, then all patient names appear as aliases in Patient Tracking Portal list views, even if they are not marked confidential.
If an alias is assigned to a patient during the Preadmit process, the patient will maintain that alias until assigned to a bed at which time the patient will take on the alias of the unit.
If a patient is transferred from one unit to another unit, the patient alias will be changed to coincide with the new unit.
You can configure the format of patient aliases.
You can use one format for patients who are marked confidential and a different format for patients who are not.
The alias for patients who are not marked confidential appears in Patient Tracking Portal list views only if the Display Alias for Patients console setting is enabled.
The formats can be configured at the campus level (one format for all units in the hospital) and at the unit level (different formats can be used for different units).
To configure the format, you choose which letter positions in the first name and the last name, and which symbols will be used to create the alias.
For example, an alias might be formed from letters 1 and 2 of the first name and letters 1 and 10 of the last name with 3 periods in between them. With this format, the alias for the name Michael Washington would be MI...WN.
You can select as many as 7 letter places in the first name and 10 letter places in the last name.
If a patient's first name or last name has fewer letter positions than the specified format, then the letters will be chosen based on an algorithm.
The first 4 characters in the first name are fixed position.
If you choose one or all of these characters for the alias and the patient's name has at least that many characters in it, those character positions will be used in the order that you specified.
If you choose characters 5-7, the actual letters used in the alias are determined by the total number of letters in the patient's name.
The first 5 characters in the last name are fixed position.
If you choose one or all of these characters for the alias and the patient's name has at least that many characters in it, those character positions will be used in the order that you specified.
If you choose characters 6-10, the actual letters used in the alias are determined by the total number of letters in the patient's name.
Some users have aliases in their user profiles (such as Physician).
If an alias should appear in a column that displays the physician’s name and an alias should appear in alarm warnings, then enable the Display Alias for Physicians setting.
If this setting is enabled and the physician's user profile does not have an alias, then the physician's first name will appear.
The alias is the first three letters of the last name and the last letter of the last name (for example, JACN is an alias for Dr. Jackson).
Patient Aliases can be modified via the Patient Alias Configuration section of the Admin Tool.
Rules must be set up for each unit of the campus.
Five events can trigger the creation of a patient alias:
On creation of a new patient record via ADT transaction.
On creation of a new patient via the Capacity IQ® user interface when the Patient Alias field is empty.
Patient is transferred from one unit to another.
Patient IsConfidential flag is updated.
Patient first or last name is updated via the user interface or ADT.
The last item checked is “patient has a new current unit”. If a new unit is found, the system uses that alias. if no current unit is found, it uses the campus default. On transfer, a new alias is always created.
The alias settings for each console can be uniquely configured to meet specific needs.
If an alias has been added for patients/staff members/physicians but they do not display on consoles as expected, verify that the console’s alias settings are properly configured.
Hiding or Showing Aliases for Physicians
To show aliases or first names for physicians:
On the Console Settings window, in the Display Alias for Physicians row, make sure Enabled appears.
If Disabled appears, click it to change it to Enabled.
To show names instead of aliases or first names for physicians:
On the Console Settings window, in the Display Alias for Physicians row, click Enabled to change it to Disabled.
Calculations for First and Last Name
Characters in Sample | M | I | C | H | A | E | L |
Character Position in MICHAEL | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 |
Character Number in Patient Name | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | n-2 | n-1 | n=X Where X equals the total number of letters in the patient's first name. |
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| Last Name Calculations |
Characters in Sample | W | A | S | H | I | N | G | T | O | N |
Character Number in Washington | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
Character Number in Patient Name | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | n-4 | n-3 | n-2 | n-1 | n=X Where X equals the total number of letters in the patient's last name. |
Example of Closest Letters Being Chosen
Format Chosen | Sample Alias on the Capacity Management Administration page is . . . | Patient Name | Fewer or More Letter Positions than Specified Format | Alias Appears As | Which is . . . |
Letter 6 and 7 of first name and letter 9 and 10 of last name with 3 periods in between | EL...ON (Alias for Michael Washington) | John Tam | Fewer | HN...AM | Last two letters of the first name, or n and n-1 where n = character 4 and n - 1 = character 3 and letters 2 and 3 or characters 2 and 3 of the last name with 3 periods in between. |
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| Annamaria Balaciagala | More | IA...LA | Last two letters of the first name, or n and n-1 where n = character 9 and n - 1 = character 8, and the last two letters of the last name, or n and n-1 where n = character 11 and n-1 = character 10 with 3 periods in between. |
Letters 1, 2, 3, 4 of first name and letter 7 of the first name with 2 periods in between | MICH..L (Alias for Michael Washington) | Li Chu | Fewer | LI...I | Letter 1 and 2 of the first name and the last letter (in this example, letter 2) of the first name, with 2 periods in between |
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| Annamaria Balaciagala | More | ANNA..A | Letters 1,2,3,4 of the first name and letter 7, or n=9, of the first name with 2 periods in between |
Letters 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 of the first name and letters 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 of the last name with two periods in between | MICHAE..WASHIN (Alias for Michael Washington) | Annamaria Balaciagala | More | ANNARI..BALACA | Letters 1,2,3,4 of the first name combined with letter 5, or n - 2= character 7, and letter 6, or n-1 = character 8, of the first name and letters 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 of the last name combine with letter 6, or n -4 = character 7, with 2 periods in between. |
Access the Patient Alias Configuration Page
Go to Admin > Settings > Capacity Management > Miscellaneous > Patient Alias Configuration.
From Campus, select a campus.
The current Campus Configuration and Unit Configuration for confidential and non-confidential patient aliases appear.
If the enterprise has only one campus, the Campus Configuration and the Unit Configurations for confidential and non-confidential patient aliases appear when you access the Patient Alias Configuration page.
Configure Campus-Level Aliases
Access the Patient Alias Configuration page.
The current Campus Configuration and Unit Configuration for confidential and non-confidential patient aliases appear.
To configure the campus level patient alias for confidential patients:
Under Campus Configuration and under Confidential Patients, click on the currently set confidential patient alias.
The Patient Alias Configuration dialog appears.
By default, UPPERCASE is selected. If desired, click lowercase to switch the case of the letters.
Choose the desired order for letters from the patient’s name to appear in:
First Name—click the letter positions to be used to create the patient alias.
Last Name—click the letter positions to be used to create the patient alias.
Special Characters—click the special characters to be used to create the patient alias.
As you select letters and special characters, a sample of the alias appears in Preview.
To clear the Preview box, click Reset and repeat step 4.
Click Save.
The Patient Alias Configuration dialog closes.
To configure the campus level patient alias for non-confidential patients:
Under Campus Configuration and under Non-Confidential Patients, click the currently set patient alias.
The Patient Alias Configuration dialog appears.
Click Apply same settings to non-confidential patients to use the same patient alias configuration for non-confidential patients that was used for confidential patients. The non-confidential patient entry portion of the dialog disappears.
If you want to enter in a different patient alias configuration for confidential and non-confidential patients, clear the Apply same settings to non-confidential patients check box.
The non-confidential patient entry portion of the dialog appears.
By default, UPPERCASE is selected. If desired, click lowercase to switch the case of the letters.
Choose the desired order for letters from the patient’s name to appear in:
First Name—click the letter positions to be used to create the patient alias.
Last Name—click the letter positions to be used to create the patient alias.
Special Characters—click the special characters to be used to create the patient alias.
As you select letters and special characters, a sample of the alias appears in Preview.
To clear the Preview box, click Reset. Repeat step 5.
Click Save.
The Patient Alias Configuration dialog closes.
Configure Unit Level Aliases
Access the Patient Alias Configuration page.
The current Campus Configuration and Unit Configuration for confidential and non-confidential patient aliases appear.
To configure a unit level patient alias for confidential patients:
Do one of the following to access the Patient Alias Configuration dialog:
For multiple units, under Unit Configuration, select the check box for the units you want to configure and then click Edit Selected Unit.
For a single unit, under Unit Configuration and under Confidential Patients, find the unit for which you want to change the patient alias and then click the currently set patient alias.
The Patient Alias Configuration dialog appears.
If desired, click lowercase to switch the case of the letters.
Choose the desired order for letters from the patient’s name to appear in:
First Name—click the letter positions to be used to create the patient alias.
Last Name—click the letter positions to be used to create the patient alias.
Special Characters—click the special characters to be used to create the patient alias.
As you select letters and special characters, a sample of the alias appears in Preview.
To clear the Preview box, click Reset. Repeat step 4.
Click Save.
The Patient Alias Configuration dialog closes.
To configure the unit level patient alias for non-confidential patients:
Do one of the following to access the Patient Alias Configuration dialog:
For multiple units, under Unit Configuration, select the check box for the units you want to configure and then click Edit Selected Unit.
For a single unit, under Unit Configuration and under Non-confidential Patients, find the unit for which you want to change the patient alias and then click the currently set patient alias.
The Patient Alias Configuration dialog appears
Click Apply same settings to non-confidential patients to use the same patient alias configuration for non-confidential patients that was used for confidential patients. The non-confidential patient entry portion of the dialog disappears.
If you want to enter in a different patient alias configuration for confidential and non-confidential patients, clear the Apply same settings to non-confidential patients check box.
The non-confidential patient entry portion of the dialog appears.
If desired, click lowercase to switch the case of the letters.
Choose the desired order for letters from the patient’s name to appear in:
First Name—click the letter positions to be used to create the patient alias.
Last Name—click the letter positions to be used to create the patient alias.
Special Characters—click the special characters to be used to create the patient alias.
As you select letters and special characters, a sample of the alias appears in Preview.
To clear the Preview box, click Reset. Repeat step a and b.
Click Save.
The Patient Alias Configuration dialog closes.
Alias Does Not Display On Specific Console
Open the console that the aliases are not showing on
Click Console Settings
Enable desired aliases in the settings window
Save the console
Have all users that are currently using the console log out and log back in to see changes.