Humanscale MedLink User Manual

Humanscale

MEDLINK PRO USER MANUAL

HUMANSCALE MEDLINK MEDICATION
DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM

This user manual contains information on the installation and operation
of Humanscale’s MedLink medication distribution system and associated
MedLink Pro control software. Read all instructions completely before
using MedLink.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction

1.1 About Humanscale Healthcare 3

1.2 Contact Information 3

1.3 Introduction to Medlink 4

1.4 About the T 7TM Point-Of-Care Technology Cart 4

Setting up MedLink

2.1 About the MedLink drawer system 5

2.2 Unpacking and assembly 6

2.3 Installing Shelves 6

2.4 Installing Dividers 7

2.5 Inserting and removing Cassettes 7

2.6 Inserting Drawers 8

Initial Software Configuration

3.1 Enabling MedLink Lite 9

MedLink Pro Configuration

4.1 Server Setup 11

4.2 MedLink Configuration Menu 13

4.3 Departments 15

4.3.1 Department List 15

4.3.2 Add/Edit Departments 16

4.4 Users 17

4.4.1 Users List 17

4.4.2 Add/Edit Users 18

4.5 User Groups 19

4.5.1 User Groups List 19

4.5.2 Add/ Edit User Groups 20

4.6 Rooms 22

4.7 Carts 22

4.7.1 Add/Edit Carts 23

4.8 Global Settings 24

4.9 Patient Labels 26

Operating Instructions

5.1 Login 27

5.2 Home Screen 27

5.2.1 Title Bar Buttons 28

5.2.2 User Name Button 28

5.3 Drawer States 30

5.4 Electronic Locking System 30

5.5 Mechanical Override Key Lock System 31

5.6 Assigning and Filling Drawers 31

5.6.1 Assigning a Drawer to a Patient 32

5.6.2 Refilling a Patient Drawer 36

5.6.3 Assigning a Drawer as Storage 36

5.6.4 Unassigning and Reassigning Drawers 39

5.7 Opening Drawers to Administer Medication 42

5.7.1 Opening Patient Drawers 42

5.7.2 Opening Storage Drawers 45

5.7.3 Configurable Drawer Behavior 45

5.8 Opening Drawers Without Scanning Bar Codes 46

5.9 Swapping Drawers 49

5.10 Ejecting a Cassette 52

5.11 Pharmacy Mode 53

Reporting

6.1 Generating a Report 54

6.2 Viewing and Saving a Report 55

Help and Troubleshooting

7.1 Help and Troubleshooting 56

Legal

8.1 Legal Notice 57

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INTRODUCTION

1.1 ABOUT HUMANSCALE HEALTHCARE

Humanscale Healthcare designs and manufactures ergonomic products for easier use of today’s technology and creates a

safer and more comfortable and efficient environment for the caregiver. As part of the Humanscale Corporation, a world leader

in ergonomic design, Humanscale Healthcare brings to the healthcare market a unique understanding of the importance of

ergonomics in the workplace.

Humanscale’s products for office and healthcare environments are designed to improve the health and quality of work life,

and follow the belief that if a design solves a functional problem as simply and elegantly as possible, the resulting form will

be timeless. Humanscale Healthcare applies that same design approach to ergonomic solutions that are created to improve

the caregiving experience for caregivers and patients alike. Humanscale Healthcare’s products include the ViewPoint™ series

of technology wall stations and the TouchPoint™ line of mobile technology carts.

For more information about Humanscale Healthcare, please visit www.humanscalehealthcare.com or call 1-800 -400-0625.

1.2 CONTACT INFORMATION

Humanscale

5675 DTC Boulevard

Suite 100

Greenwood Village, CO 80111

1-800-400-0625

E-mail: [e-mail]

Website: www.humanscale.com

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1.3 INTRODUCTION TO MEDLINK

Secures medication delivery.

Enhances patient safety.

Improves workflow.

Nurses are driven to care — yet poor workflows, constant interruptions and mounting workloads make it both difficult and

stressful for them to do their jobs. This cognitive overload can result in mistakes and interfere with patient care and safety,

especially when it comes to medication administration, which is a complex, multi-step process. While mistakes can happen

at any step, administration errors account for 26% to 32% of total medication errors, most of which are administered by

nurses.

MedLink, our next generation in smart point-of-care solutions, secures medication delivery while enhancing patient safety.

MedLink is expertly designed to reduce human error and supports a closed-loop medication system.

1.4 ABOUT THE T7TM POINT-OF-CARE TECHNOLOGY CART

At the core of MedLink is T7 — part of the revolutionary TouchPoint line of mobile technology cards. Built with the

caregiver’s workflow in mind, T7 addresses the challenges faced by existing medical cards by offering optimal ergonomic

positioning with minimal ( and often automatic) adjustments.

To reduce the risk of injuries and change the way caregivers interact with point-of-care technology, the T7 provides simple,

quick adjustments that encourage medical caregivers to work in safe postures. Its compact footprint makes the T7 easy to

maneuver and prevents parts from sticking out and breaking. Accommodating PCs, tablets and laptops, the T7 facilitates

mobile computing in healthcare environments.

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Setting up MedLink

2.1 ABOUT THE MEDLINK DRAWER SYSTEM

The MedLink drawer system consists of:

• The Housing: is permanently attached to the T7 cart. The housing is modular and there may be a second housing fitted

under the first to create a high capacity medication cart.

• Cassettes: are removable from the housing and are interchangeable from cart to cart.

• Drawers: are where medication is placed and fit into the cassettes. There are 3 sizes of drawers: small, medium and

large.

• Shelves: are used to compartmentalize cassettes depending on the required drawer layout.

• Dividers: can be placed into the drawers to create multiple compartments within a single drawer.

• Override Keys: are used to unlock and gain access to the drawers in the event of a system or power failure. The keys

are not used during normal operation and should be held by a manager or supervisor to prevent unauthorized use.

The below image shows the various MedLink components.

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2.2 UNPACKING AND ASSEMBLY

If you have purchased a new T7 cart with MedLink, the cart will arrive with the MedLink housing pre-installed on the cart.

The MedLink cassettes will be located in the housing. Remove the cassettes from the housing and remove and discard any

protective packaging.

If you have purchased a MedLink drawer system to retrofit to an existing T7 cart the MedLink housing must be installed on the

T7 cart by a Humanscale representative or an authorized service technician.

MedLink drawers, shelves and dividers are shipped in a separate box. Before continuing you should locate the appropriate

drawer and shelf components.

2.3 INSTALLING SHELVES

Before inserting drawers into a cassette, you must first insert shelves to configure your required drawer layout. Cassettes

maybe reconfigured at any time if the layout requirements change.

1. To insert a shelf, hold the cassette in place on a flat surface with one hand. With the other hand, insert the shelf so that the
slots on sides of the shelf slide over the locating pins on the inside side walls of the cassette.

2. Ensure the rear snap features are aligned with the locating holes on the inside rear wall of the cassette.

3. When the slot and snap features are aligned with the locating features inside the cassette, push the shelf firmly into the
cassette. The shelf should click into place.

4. The shelf can be removed by reversing this process. Pull the shelf firmly outwards, ensuring you are pulling outwards
parallel to the shelf. The rear locating features will disengage and you can slide the locking slot clear of the pin.

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2.4 INSTALLING DIVIDERS

Dividers may be used to subdivide a small or medium drawer into smaller compartments. This may be useful if you want to separate

medication by type or by time of day when it is due to be administered. Dividers should not be used to subdivide a drawer into

separate compartments for more than one patient. Each drawer should be linked to only one patient for safety purposes.

Dividers are simply slotted into the drawers using the alignment ribs on the inside of the drawers.

Dividers may be inserted either way up, but when the cutouts are positioned facing upwards, it allows packaged syringes to be

laid flat on top of the dividers.

2.5 INSERTING AND REMOVING CASSETTES

Once a cassette is configured with the required shelf layout it can be inserted into the housing. Slide the cassette into an

available location on the housing and push it fully into place.

Push the cassette handle into the housing until it locks into place. The cassette is now installed and should be controllable via

the MedLink software.

During normal operation cassettes may be electronically ejected through the MedLink software. When the cassette is ejected,

the cassette handle will pop out. Pulling the handle outwards will allow the cassettes to be removed from the housing.

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2.6 INSERTING DRAWERS

Once a Cassette is configured with the required shelf layout, drawers may be inserted. Through electronic software labelling

each drawer can be assigned to an individual patient, or as a storage drawer for non patient-specific supplies.

1. When inserting drawers, they must be tilted backwards slightly to ensure the tabs at the rear of the drawer clear the

underside of the shelf.

2. Once the back of the drawer is inserted, the drawer can be tilted back to a horizontal angle and pushed all the way in.

When the drawer is fully inserted, you should hear a click. This is the locking mechanism engaging.

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Initial Software Configuration

The MedLink Lite control software is built into the T7 cart touch screen user
interface. Before you can use MedLink, you must first ensure the MedLink Lite
software is configured appropriately for your needs. Before deploying MedLink
Lite in your facility, you should consult with a Humanscale MedLink Specialist to
configure the system based on your needs.

3.1 ENABLING MEDLINK LITE

The following steps ensure the T7 cart is configured to allow the MedLink Lite software to control the drawer system, rather

than being configured for use with the more advanced PC-based MedLink Pro software.

1. From any screen on the interface, touch the “gear” icon in the header to enter the Settings screen.

Fig A

2. Scroll to the bottom of the Settings list and touch Administrative Login.

3. Enter the Administrator PIN code. On new T7 carts, the default PIN code is set to 1234. You should change the PIN to a

unique code that is only known to supervisors, managers and technical support staff within your facility. Instructions for

this can be found within the T7 User Guide.

Fig B

Fig C

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Fig D

4. On the Admin Settings screen, locate the “Enable MedLink Pro” option. MedLink Pro is the more advanced control

software for the MedLink system. Disabling MedLink Pro enables MedLink Lite, and vice versa.

5. If the toggle control is gray (off), MedLink Pro is disabled, meaning MedLink Lite is already enabled and you can exit

from the settings screens by touching the “gear” icon in the header again.

6. If the toggle control is green (on), touch the control to switch it to gray and disable MedLink Pro. This will enable

MedLink Lite.

7. When switching this control on or off you will be prompted to confirm the change. Touching OK will confirm the change

and the cart will reboot with the new setting configured.

Fig F

Fig E

8. Once fully booted with MedLink Pro enabled, the system is ready for use with the MedLink Pro software installed on

your PC or laptop.

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MedLink Pro Configuration

MedLink Pro is an advanced software application with many configurable user
permissions, workflow options and customizable preferences. Before deploying
MedLink Pro in your facility, you should consult with a MedLink Specialist to
configure the system based on your needs.

4.1 SERVER SETUP

Before using MedLink, you must point the application to the server where the MedLink server application and database is

installed. The server application and database should only be installed by an authorized service technician. The following steps

explain how to configure MedLink to point to the correct server.

1. Load the MedLink application. You will be presented with the login screen. Click on the menu icon in the title bar to access

the Setup screen.

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Fig 1

2. In the Setup screen, enter the server address where the MedLink server application and database are installed.

The COM port field will automatically populate if the MedLink drawer system is connected properly. You must enter

the credentials of a user with administrator privileges to save the changes.

Fig 2

3. MedLink is now set up to connect to the right server. You should only need to go through this process once during the initial

installation or if a different PC or drawer system is used on the cart.

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4.2 MEDLINK CONFIGURATION MENU

The MedLink Configuration menu contains all the settings that control the function of the MedLink software. Before deploying

the system in your facility, you should work through all the options and configure the system in the way that best meets the

requirements of your workflows and organizational needs.

1. To access the MedLink Configuration menu, you must login to the software using an account with administrator privileges.

Fig 1

2. Once logged in, click on the menu icon in the title bar.

3. This will display the MedLink Configuration menu. Below is a brief description of the purpose of each section. Further

chapters detail specific options.

Fig 3

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Departments

• Associates patients and Carts into same organizational units.

• A user can be in multiple Departments.

• A Cabinet can only be in one Department.

Users

• Defines a user and login information

User Groups

• Permissions that apply to a user in the assigned group

• A user can only be assigned to one User Group

Rooms

• Rooms are created from the HL7 feed.

• Rooms are associated with Departments.

Carts

• Associates Cabinets with Departments and PC.

Global Settings

• Settings that apply to all Users and all Cabinets

Patient Labels

• Configures displayed information on drawer fronts and current drawer selection header.

Reports

• Reports usage information.

• Reports can be exported in CSV format.

Fig 4

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4.3 Departments

4.3.1 DEPARTMENT LIST

Fig 5

Displays list of Department

• Select “Remove” to remove that department.

• Select “Edit” to edit that department’s information.

• Select “Add Department” to create departments.

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4.3.2 ADD / EDIT DEPARTMENTS

Fig 6

Name:

• The name that will be displayed in program.

Description:

• Description of the department. Only displayed in Department List page.

Active Directory Group Name:

• Active Directory Groups must be prefixed with “MedLink_Dept_”

• Each User can be in multiple departments.

Open all Storage drawer:

• Defines if and when storage drawers will automatically open.

• Options are to open:

o On Click Only

o On Login and On Click

o With Patient Drawer and On Click

Relock drawer after:

• Defines how long the drawer will sit in the “Unlocked” state before auto-closing.

Allow users to exit withou replacing a drawer:

• If a drawer is unlocked and removed and this option is not checked, the user will not be able to continue without replacing the

drawer.

• This option shows and hides the cancel button on various screens.

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4.4 Users

4.4.1 USERS LIST

Fig 7

Displays list of users

• Can filter or search list using the given fields.

• Select “Remove” to remove a user.

• Select “Edit” to edit that user.

• “User Groups” button is a shortcut to User Groups.

• Select “Add User” to add a new user.

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4.4.2 ADD / EDIT USERS

Fig 8

Personal Information

• Users name with optional Title and Suffix.

Login Settings

• Username, Password and Expiration are required.

• The Password Requirements are configured in Global Settings. The requirements will be displayed here.

• Expires is for the user’s account, not their password.

• If a user is NOT set to “Never Expire,” they are considered to be a “Temporary” user.

• Deactivate will deactivate this users account and they will not be able to login.

User Group and Department Settings

• User Group: Assigns this user to the selected User Group.

• Departments: Assigns this user to the selected departments.

o Select “Add” in the left list to assign the user to that department.

o The list under “Departments for:” on the right displays a list of assigned departments.

o To remove the user from an assigned department, select “Remove” in the list on the right for that department.

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