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Patient Attributes
Joe Caffrey avatar
Written by Joe Caffrey
Updated over 2 weeks ago

Patient Attributes

Patient attributes are standard and custom qualities associated with the patient. For example, the patient might have a contagious respiratory illness or might be blind or hard of hearing. The patient might need to be in isolation or be in a special bed or unit.

Who, Why, When:

  • Who: Healthcare providers and administrative staff.

  • Why: To ensure patients are matched with appropriate beds based on their specific needs.

  • When: During patient admission, placement, and bed assignment processes.

Where you can find this feature:

  • PreAdmitTracking application

  • PatientTracking Portal application

How Patient Attributes Work

Functionality

Patient attributes are characteristics associated with patients that are used in conjunction with bed attributes to locate an optimal bed for a patient in the advanced bed search in the PreAdmitTracking application and PatientTracking Portal application.

Examples of patient attributes include:

  • Fall Risk

  • Hard of Hearing

  • Legally Blind

  • Language Barrier

Examples of bed attributes include:

  • Near Nurses' Station

  • Negative Airflow Room

  • Hardwire Monitor

  • Tele-Medicine Room

Patient attributes are selected on the Patient/Placement Details form when the placement request is created or edited. They are used to match a patient with an appropriate bed. For example, a patient with a MRSA attribute could be placed in a bed with an Isolation attribute.

Notes:

  • Patient attributes cannot be used for notifications and alerts.

  • If the patient should be in isolation, select the patient's isolation type (such as Contact Isolation) in the Isolation list.

  • Your organization might require you to select an option in the Isolation list before a bed can be assigned. If this setting is enabled, you must either select an isolation type or select None in the Isolation list.

  • On an electronic bedboard view, a single text character will represent the isolation type associated with a patient.

  • Transporters and EVS bed cleaners will receive messages indicating the patient's isolation type to take appropriate precautions.

  • The "User May Edit Patient Isolation Types" permission is required to complete this step.

  • If a bed attribute is associated with the selected isolation type, it appears in the Bed Custom Attributes box automatically.

Workflows

Setting Patient Attributes

  1. In the Patient Attributes section, select custom patient attributes (such as Legally Blind, Prisoner, or Hard of Hearing).

  2. Click the magnifying glass icon.

  3. Click the plus sign (+) beside the patient attribute category to display a list of patient attributes within that category.

  4. Select the check boxes for the appropriate patient attributes (for example, Falls Risk).

  5. Click Save to place the selected custom patient attributes in the Patient Custom Attributes box.

  6. Click Save on the Patient/Placement Details form.

Users Unable to Pick Patient Attributes

Issue: Users are unable to select patient attributes.

Solution: This is most likely due to missing the correct permission. Users need the electronic BedBoard function in their Global PreAdmitTracking Permissions, with change location attributes enabled.

Steps to Enable Permission:

  1. Go to Admin > Settings > Capacity Management > Group Management.

  2. Select your PreAdmitTracking application group.

Note:

  • There is no way to block users from editing certain patient attributes.

  • To prevent users from editing any patient attributes, limit their role to view-only access to ensure data remains unchanged and accurate.

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