Patient Placement staff have one of the most important roles within a hospital. Although they may not provide direct patient care in this role, their clinical expertise and problem-solving skills ensure that patients are safely and efficiently getting the appropriate care that they need. They are truly, Care Traffic Control. Although they often make it look effortless, their work is not easy in the slightest. They not only manage a constant stream of patient bed requests, but they spend an incredible amount of time on the phone trying to sort out what beds are available. With the use of TeleTracking, Patient Placement Departments will be able to:

This Reference Guide provides step-by-step instructions for the functionality needed to complete the designed Patient Flow processes and workflows specific to the department.

Launch TeleTracking and input your User Login ID and Password. Click the Sign In button.

From the Clinical Operations menu, click on PreAdmitTracking®.

You will now see the Patient Placement view.

In the upper-right corner, click on sign out or end session.

Screen Alerts are the primary communication tool used by Patient Placement staff. Once Screen Alerts are activated, Patient Placement can manage all communication related to Bed Requests as well as receive free text Instant Notify messages from departments. By using Screen Alerts, Patient Placement will see a significant reduction in the number of phone calls related to bed requests, allowing staff to focus on placement tasks without constant interruption.

From the home screen, click on the My Notifications tab to display the Delivery Methods section.

In the Deliver My Notifications Via section, click the gray Disabled button. It will now show Enabled and will be Green.

Click Save.

Once saved, click Sign Out in the top right corner and Log back in.

You will now see the Alerts button at the top of your screen.

You will see the following potential Alert activity:

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Managing bed requests is an essential piece of patient flow for Patient Placement. As bed requests are entered into the system by requesting areas, Patient Placement is provided with valuable information that allows them to quickly make the best clinical decisions regarding which beds patients get assigned to. Bed requests come from intake areas including ED and Procedural Areas as well as Inpatient Units in the form of transfers. Although requests come from different areas, it does not change the way that Patient Placement manages them in TeleTracking. Bed request workflows follow the same basic process:

In this section, you will learn about the three main components of Bed Request functionality for Patient Placement: Targeting Units, the RTM Timer, and Assigning Beds.

When a patient needs to be admitted or transferred, the Requesting Area will enter a bed request into TeleTracking. Within that request, it is the Requesting Area's responsibility to provide Patient Placement with details about the patient to ensure that the right placement unit is chosen. Once Patient Placement reviews the details of the request, they will Target a Unit.

Once a Screen Alert message is received for a bed request, either click directly on the message or identify the patient from the appropriate tab and click on their name.

The Patient/Placement Details box will open, and you can review the information provided in the request. You will be able to see the following:

Once the information is reviewed and a decision is made, the unit can now be targeted.

In the Placement Information section click on the magnifying glass to the right of the Target Unit.

Identify the unit you wish to select and click on the check box, click Select.

You will now see the Target unit display.

Save and Close the record.

Once the unit is Targeted, a notification is sent to the Targeted Unit. This allows them to know that they are expecting a new patient and they will also now have access to all patient information provided in the request. The targeted unit can now start planning for the patient and can ensure that appropriate beds are prioritized. At this point, Patient Placement will not complete any further action with the bed request until the Requesting Unit activates the RTM Timer.

The RTM Timer is an important patient flow tool used to ensure that Patient Placement is only assigning ‘Ready Beds to Ready Patients’. This is an extremely important process because it means we are no longer holding beds for patients who may not be ready to occupy them for hours. Along with proactive discharge planning, this process will significantly improve overall flow within a health system and ensure that busy areas like EDs and PACUs do not get backed up.

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Once the Requesting Unit activates the RTM Timer, Patient Placement will receive a Screen Alert with details. This message will start with RTM @ Now. Once this message is received, it is now OK to Assign a Bed to the patient.

The RTM Timer is an important patient flow tool used to ensure that Patient Placement is only assigning ‘Ready Beds to Ready Patients’. This is an extremely important practice because it means we are no longer holding beds for patients who may not be ready to occupy them for hours. Along with proactive discharge planning, this process will significantly improve overall flow within a health system and ensure that busy areas like EDs and PACUs do not get backed up. Your Health System may have elected to use a specific RTM function called the Projected Ready to Move. This type of RTM Timer allows users to identify the patient as either ready ‘Now’ or they can set a future time to when they think the patient will be ready. Projected RTMs are commonly used in Procedural Area requests based on estimated recovery times.

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Once the Requesting Unit activates the RTM Timer, Patient Placement will receive a Screen Alert with the details. There are two different types of RTM messages that you will receive.

RTM @ Now - This means the patient is Ready to Move now, and the Requesting Area needs a bed assignment as soon as possible.

RTM@ Time - A specific time will be identified in the message. This means that a Projected RTM has been set. The time displayed will be the future time when the Requesting Area will need the bed. If Patient Placement receives a Projected RTM message, a bed assignment should NOT be provided just yet. Once the projected time arrives, Patient Placement will automatically get a second Screen Alert identifying the patient as RTM @ Now. At that point, it is now OK to Assign a Bed.

Once the RTM @ Now screen alert is received, it is now ok to Assign a Bed. From the moment that Patient Placement received the initial Bed Request, planning for providing an assignment was initiated. Remember that Patient Placement has already targeted the unit based on patient needs and bed availability. Once the unit was targeted, the Receiving Unit could see the patient details and could then plan for which bed they want Patient Placement to assign. The Receiving Unit does this by identifying what we call Bed Assignment Priorities.

Bed Assignment Priorities are a way for Nursing Units to communicate the order they want Patient Placement to assign their beds. Therefore, when it is time to Assign a bed, Patient Placement will look for the priorities set on the unit to guide them in their decision. If no priorities are selected, Patient Placement should use their best judgment based on the patient’s needs and current bed availability

Once a Screen Alert is received with an RTM @ Now message, either click directly in the message or identify the patient from the appropriate tab and click on their name.

Adv. Search provides info about bed availability on the unit.

Once the preferred bed is determined, click Bed Number to set.

You will now see the Assigned Bed appear.

Save and Close the Record.

Once the bed is assigned, both Requesting and Receiving Units get a notification alerting them of the assignment. If there are issues with the assignment, the Receiving Unit should alert Patient Placement to provide a new assignment.

NOTE:

Specific patient records can be found by using the Patient Search functionality. Patient Search will allow you to search for any patient that is registered in the ADT System.

Left-click on the Patient Search icon.

In the Search Text field, type the patient’s Visit Number and select the Visit Number search option from the drop-down menu. Click Search to see the results.

NOTE:

Most patients admitted to hospitals enter through Intake Areas such as the ED or Procedural Area. However, some patients are admitted directly to a unit from places like Physician Offices and Long-Term Care Facilities. These requests need to be entered into the system so the Receiving Unit and Admitting know a new patient is coming.

NOTE:

To enter a Direct Admit, click the New PreAdmit icon.

A blank Patient/Placement Details box will open. Enter the information that you received about the patient.

Save and Close the record.

Identify the Patient on the Direct Admit tab and single-click on the RTM @ Timer. You will see a time appear.

Click back on the name of the Patient and assign the bed as you would for any bed request.

Set Hold Start Time ("Allow to start Hold" permission required. Not available for patients in Discharged or Visit Cancelled statuses.)

Note:

Select Time That Hold Ended ("Allow to stop Hold" permission required. Not available for patients in Discharged or Visit Cancelled statuses.)

To Cancel a Behavioral Health Hold:

To Select the Time That Behavioral Health Hold Ended on the Hold Timer Dialog Box:

Note:

Surgical patients can account for a large percentage of hospital admissions and managing these requests is critical to efficient patient flow. Ensuring that we plan for these admissions not only helps keep everyone informed, but it also helps keep patients moving efficiently and safely out of recovery areas without causing backups. The Anticipated Admits list is used to manage procedural patients who are expected to be admitted post-procedure.

Procedural Areas can also put surgical add-ons on the list to quickly incorporate them into the daily plan.

Once the list is created, Patient Placement is responsible for Targeting the unit that will receive the patient.

Left-click on the Patient Search icon.

In the Search Text field, type the patient’s Visit Number and select the appropriate search option from the drop-down menu. Click Search to see the results.

Note:

Identify the correct patient from the search results and click on the patient’s name. This will open the Patient Placement Details box.

Update/Verify the following data items below. Save and Close the record once completed.

Save and Close the record.

Once the Anticipated Admits List is built, the Targeted Units will now be able to see these patients.

Click on the Anticipated Admits Tab.

Click on the Patient’s name.

Review the information provided in the Patient/Placement Details box, and Target the appropriate unit.

Save and Close the record.

Complete the remaining patients on the Anticipated Admits tab.

Environmental Services (EVS) play a very important role in Patient Flow. The work they do ensures that as patients are discharged, beds are quickly and safely turned over for the next patients waiting to occupy them. Without an automated system, it is often up to busy unit staff to communicate their bed cleaning needs verbally. BedTracking is the automated system used for all Bed Cleaning functionality. As patients are discharged, EVS staff are notified in real-time that the beds are now empty and ready to be cleaned. Not only can EVS see the vacated beds, but Patient Placement can see them too, allowing for transparency in bed capacity.

Although Patient Placement primarily works out of the PreAdmit application, there are some important functions in Capacity IQ® EVS that Patient Placement can use to help facilitate more patient flow.

As patients are discharged the beds will automatically dirty and notify EVS staff in TeleTracking. However, on rare occasions, a bed might need to be dirtied manually.

Click on the electronic whiteboard icon and choose the appropriate bedboard.

Identify the bed that needs to be dirty.

While holding down the Shift button on your keyboard, Click on the bed. You will see a pop-up box appear.

Select, Bed Information. This will open the Bed Detail screen.

From the Bed Detail screen, click on the colored Bed Status.

A new box will open, click on the Action drop-down and select, Create Cleaning Request.

Once selected, you will see the New Status column available. Select the appropriate status and then click, Submit.

The Bed Status will update to show the new status

If EVS staff is no longer needed to clean a bed, it must be canceled in the system. When a cleaning request is canceled, a Reason Code explaining why the request needed to be canceled is required.

Click on the electronic whiteboard icon and choose the appropriate bedboard.

Identify the bed that needs to be canceled and click on the bed. This will take you directly to Bed Information.

Click on the Bed Status button.

A new box will open, click on the Action drop-down and select, Cancel.

Once selected, you will see the Reason Code column available. Select the appropriate reason and then click, Submit.

The Bed Status will be updated to show the new status.

As patients are discharged and beds are now empty, Patient Placement staff are often eager to assign those beds to their awaiting bed requests. If there are several dirty beds throughout the hospital, Patient Placement may have a specific bed that needs to be cleaned over others. Patient Placement staff can upgrade cleaning status priorities in the system to communicate this request to EVS staff. There are two types of upgrade priorities; Clean Next and Stat.

Clean Next - Identifies the bed as the next bed that should be cleaned. If EVS staff is currently cleaning a bed and a Clean Next request comes through, they will finish the current bed and move on to Clean Next directly after.

Stat Clean - Identifies bed needs to be cleaned immediately. If EVS is currently cleaning a bed and a Stat Clean request comes through, they will Suspend the current bed and start the Stat right away. Stat cleans should be used sparingly and reserved for true emergencies.

Click on the electronic whiteboard icon and choose the appropriate bedboard.

Identify the bed that needs to be upgraded and click on the bed. This will take you directly to Bed Information. From here follow the steps outlined in requesting a bed cleaning manual section.

There are situations when a bed may be empty, but it is not able to be used for a patient (ex: maintenance issues). Patient Placement can temporarily block a location in the system to ensure the bed doesn’t appear available for admission. Your hospital has defined the Blocked Bed reason codes you will find in the system. Once the block is no longer needed, Patient Placement will also be able to release the block.

Click on the electronic whiteboard icon and choose the appropriate bedboard.

Identify the bed that needs to be blocked and click on the bed. This will take you directly to Bed Information.

Click on the Bed Status button.

A new box will open, click on the Action drop-down and select Block Location.

Once selected, you will see the Reason column available. Select the appropriate reason and click, Submit.

The Bed Status will be updated to show the new status.

Before unblocking the bed, please confirm with the Nursing Unit if the bed needs to be cleaned by EVS once unblocked.

Click on the electronic whiteboard icon and choose the appropriate bedboard.

Identify the bed that needs to be unblocked and click on the bed. This will take you directly to Bed Information.

Click on the Bed Status button.

A new box will open, click on the Action drop-down and select Release Block.

Once selected, you will see the New Status column available. Select the appropriate status and click, Submit.

The Bed Status will be updated to show the new status.

NOTE:

As patients are admitted and discharged, the TeleTracking electronic bedboard will update appropriately. However, sometimes patients accidentally get displaced from the system due to user error or not following the appropriate TeleTracking process. If this happens, Patient Placement can reoccupy the patient back into their bed.

NOTE:

Click on the electronic whiteboard icon and choose the appropriate bedboard.

Identify the bed that needs reoccupied and click on the bed. This will take you directly to Bed Information.

NOTE:

While holding down the Shift button on your keyboard, click on the bed.

Select, Reoccupy Patient.

Identify the correct patient and click on the Reoccupy button.

NOTE:

You will receive a pop-up message asking if you are sure you want to reoccupy the patient, click OK if you are sure.

You will now see the bed occupied by the patient.

The electronic bedboard is one of the most important tools to Patient Placement staff. When using the electronic bedboard, Patient Placement can perform functions as well as see the real-time status of every bed in the hospital, helping them to efficiently manage patient flow.

NOTE:

Click on the electronic whiteboard icon and choose the appropriate bedboard. The bedboard will open in a separate window.

Census: Overall census of units included in bedboard. Some units may not be present based on your hospital’s design.

Requests: Number of active bed requests that DO NOT have a bed assignment.

Assignments: Number of active bed requests that DO have a bed assignment.

Pending Departures: Combined total of Requests and Assignments.

Unit Name: Appears at the top of each column.

PB: Physical Beds-Licensed physical bed count of the unit.

SB: Staffed Beds-Current staffed beds.

CN: Census Count-Current unit census.

The colored Border represents unit capacity:

R: Requests - Number of active unit bed requests that DO NOT have a bed assignment.

A: Assignments - Number of active unit bed requests that DO have a bed assignment.

P: Pending Departures - Patients leaving the unit as a Pending/Confirmed Discharge or Transfer.

Gender - Denoted by background color

Bed Assignment Priorities - Display to the left of the Bed Number. See Assigning a Bed section for more information.

Observation Status - If the patient is in an observation status, you will see an ‘O’ displayed. The background color will change from green to yellow to red the longer the patient is in an observation status.

Bed Status - written and indicated with a background color.

Patient Status - Displays the patient status for the patient either coming to or departing from a location.

Bed Attributes - Identified characteristics associated with a bed. For example, Near the Nurses Station. Bed Attributes are represented with a color background.

Patient Attributes - Identified information related to a patient. For example, Fall Risk or Confusion. Patient Attributes are represented with a number, letter, or symbol.

NOTE:

Instant Notify is a quick way to send non-urgent messages to groups like Patient Placement and Admitting. By using Instant Notify you are helping to reduce phone traffic to these busy areas, allowing them to focus on urgent matters. An example of when it would be appropriate to send an Instant Notify would be to let Patient Placement know a room needed to be blocked for maintenance. Instant Notify should not be used to communicate emergencies.

Click the Instant Notify icon to open the Instant Notify dialog box.

In the Search Users and Groups field, type a few letters of the User or Group to find the recipient. Repeat the process for additional recipients.

Type the contents in the Message section then click Send. You will see a notification at the top of the box that confirms the message has been sent.

Click cancel when finished to close the Instant Notify box.

Notes:

Access the Screen Alerts dialog box by clicking on the Alerts icon at the top of the screen.

The Screen Alerts webpage opens. To the right of each received message are two columns, Reply and Reply All. Click the appropriate option.

Compose the message and click, Send.

Staffed Beds is a functionality that identifies if units are not currently staffed to capacity. When the Staffed Bed number is updated per shift, Patient Placement can easily see which units are staffed to take new patients if there are empty beds. Using Staffed Beds also helps Hospital Leadership capture more accurate information for the current census for units that do not always staff to full capacity.

Click on the Admin Tool Tab at the top of the screen and select Staffed Beds.

Identify the unit, day, and shift and update the number as appropriate.

Continue until all units are completed and click Save. You will now see the SB (Staffed Bed) numbers on the bedboard updated to the new values.

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The Message Board is an additional communication tool that can contain messages from a Campus or Unit level. The Campus Message board is controlled by Patient Placement and contains information relevant to all Nursing Units. The Unit Message board is controlled by the unit and is only meant to be seen by that unit. Campus Messages will display on the left of the screen and Unit Messages display on the right. Message Board functionality can only be accessed in the PatientTracking Portal™ application.

To access the Message Board, click on the icon and select Unit Message Board in the Patient Tracking Portal.

Type your message in one of the five Message options.

Click Save when finished.

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