Welch Allyn AcuityLink Clinician Notifier User Manual

AcuityLink

Clinician Notifier

Directions for use

Software version 1.5x

ii Welch Allyn AcuityLink Clinician Notifier

© 2013 Welch Allyn. All rights are reserved. To support the intended use of the product described in this publication, the purchaser of the product is permitted to copy this publication, for internal distribution only, from the media provided by Welch Allyn. No other use, reproduction, or distribution of this publication, or any part of it, is permitted without written permission from Welch Allyn.

Welch Allyn assumes no responsibility for any injury to anyone, or for any illegal or improper use of the product, that may result from failure to use this product in accordance with the instructions, cautions, warnings, or statement of intended use published in this manual.

Welch Allyn, Acuity, AcuityLink, Propaq and MicroPaq are registered trademarks of Welch Allyn.

For patent information, please visit www.welchallyn.com/patents.

Adobe, Adobe Reader and Adobe Acrobat are registered trademarks of Adobe Systems Incorporated.

Software in this product is copyright Welch Allyn or its vendors. All rights are reserved. The software is protected by United States of America copyright laws and international treaty provisions applicable worldwide. Under such laws, the licensee is entitled to use the copy of the software incorporated with this instrument as intended in the operation of the product in which it is embedded. The software may not be copied, decompiled, reverse-engineered, disassembled or otherwise reduced to human-perceivable form. This is not a sale of the software or any copy of the software; all right, title and ownership of the software remain with Welch Allyn or its vendors.

For information about any Welch Allyn product, visit www.welchallyn.com/about/company/locations.htm.

Manual 80018558 Ver A

Welch Allyn Protocol, Inc. 8500 SW Creekside Place Beaverton, Oregon 97008-7101 USA

Regulatory Affairs Representative Welch Allyn Limited Navan Business Park Dublin Road, Navan County Meath, Republic of Ireland

www.welchallyn.com

Contents

1 - Introduction .............................................1

2 - Overview ...............................................7

iii

Intended use.....................................................1

Conventions .....................................................2

General warnings and cautions.......................................3

Related documents................................................5

Welcome! .......................................................7

System components...............................................8

Clinician Notifier workflow ..........................................9

Common page components ........................................10

3 - Get started .............................................13

Start the Clinician Notifier program...................................13

Home page .....................................................15

Assign patients to yourself .........................................16

Set up a patient’s ID in the Acuity System .............................18

4 - View patient information .................................21

View the status of Acuity System patients in your unit ...................21

View a list of recent alarms ........................................24

View a list of active alarms sent to your device .........................26

View a realtime waveform .........................................28

View a patient’s history of alarms....................................30

View details of an alarm ...........................................32

5 - Respond to alarms and alerts .............................35

Patient alarms delivered to mobile devices ............................35

Two possible alarm delivery modes ..................................36

11:00:00.......................................................37

11:00:30 .......................................................37

11:01:00.......................................................37

Alarm and alert notifications ........................................38

Respond to patient alarms .........................................41

Respond to equipment alerts .......................................44

6 - Log out of Clinician Notifier to change units or end your shift . . . 49

7 - Troubleshooting and maintenance .........................51

Contact information ..............................................51

Troubleshooting .................................................51

iv Contents Welch Allyn AcuityLink Clinician Notifier

Maintenance ....................................................56

Index ....................................................59

Introduction

Intended use

The AcuityLink®option is Welch Allyn’s mobile alarm management solution. It consists of Clinician Notifier software for non-proprietary mobile devices and administrative software for the Welch Allyn Connectivity Server (WACS).

Mobile devices running the Clinician Notifier software deliver patient alarm information and realtime waveforms gathered from patient monitors connected to the Acuity®Central Monitoring System. The devices are not intended for use as primary alarm notification devices. Devices running Clinician Notifier software are not directly connected to patients.

The AcuityLink option is designed to extend the patient monitoring functions of the Acuity Central Monitoring System. The software enables administrators to track the status of clinician-patient assignments, and it enables clinicians to track, respond to and view Acuity System patient alarms, view historical alarm details and waveforms, and view realtime patient waveforms. The mobile devices can be used for barcode scanning to enter patient ID and room number.

The AcuityLink option is to be used by authorized health care professionals using standard institutional procedures and good clinical practice guidelines for patient monitoring. Staff training in the operation of the AcuityLink option is essential for optimal use. Users should be skilled at the level of a technician, nurse, physician, health care provider or medical specialist, with the knowledge and experience to acquire and interpret patients’ vital signs data.

Individuals using the AcuityLink option should be familiar with its operation as described in this manual, and they should understand all warnings and cautions in the manual.

2 Introduction Welch Allyn AcuityLink Clinician Notifier

Conventions

Symbols

On the product

The CE Mark and Notified Body Registration Number signify that the product meets all essential requirements of European Medical Device Directive 93/42/EEC.

On the product, means “Consult the accompanying documentation.”

In this document

WARNING Indicates conditions or practices that could lead to illness, injury, or death.

Caution Indicates conditions or practices that could damage the equipment or other property.

Electronic navigation within this document

If you are reading this document on a computer screen, you can click blue text and art links to jump to another topic, and you can return to the previous page with one click.

Blue links

See “Clinician Notifier

workflow” on page 9.

Click blue text to jump to the listed cross reference.

Click pages with blue borders to jump to a full description of the page.

“Return to the previous view” button

Click this button to jump to the page that you were previously viewing. This button is in the Adobe®Reader®or Adobe Acrobat®border.

Directions for Use Introduction 3

General warnings and cautions

Warnings

Related to system components and configuration

WARNING Use only accessories approved by Welch Allyn. Visit

www.welchallyn.com. The use of any other accessories can result in inaccurate

patient data, can damage the equipment, and can void your product warranty.

WARNING Always use accessories according to the standards of your facility and according to the manufacturer's directions.

WARNING Preserve Clinician Notifier program files and maintain mobile device settings that were configured during installation of AcuityLink Clinician Notifier software. Modifying, deleting or replacing any Clinician Notifier files or changing any of the following device settings can result in sub-optimal Clinician Notifier performance, including inhibition of patient alarm delivery: alarm clock, backlight, external power, power off, screen alignment and orientation, time settings, volume, wake-up and wireless network connection.

Related to patient alarm notification

WARNING If your system administrator has used the server to set only auditory alarming for all mobile devices in your unit, the mobile devices will not vibrate to indicate Clinician Notifier patient alarms, even if a user sets a mobile device to vibrate.

WARNING Depending upon the alarm delivery holdoff configured at your facility, mobile devices running the Clinician Notifier program might not indicate certain short-lived events, such as couplets.

WARNING Connecting mobile devices to the Internet, or running too many programs in the foreground or background while the Clinician Notifier program is running, can greatly reduce the battery life and memory of the devices, thereby compromising alarm delivery.

WARNING Non-Clinician Notifier audio or vibratory notification, barcoding, passwords or popup windows can interfere with effective Clinician Notifier program performance, including alarm notification.

If you notice similar interference with the Clinician Notifier program when you accidentally tap certain mobile device buttons, contact a biomedical engineer regarding re-programming the buttons or locking the mobile device keypad.

WARNING Always recharge a mobile device when it is not in use and at first notification of low batteries. A device with low batteries might not indicate or appropriately clear all of a patient’s alarms. Allowing batteries to fully discharge can result in depletion of the backup battery and loss of Clinician Notifier configurations.

4 Introduction Welch Allyn AcuityLink Clinician Notifier

Related to close physical surveillance and specific patient populations

WARNING Do not rely solely on mobile devices running the Clinician Notifier program to indicate patient alarms and patient monitor equipment alerts. Always continue to monitor patients at patient monitors and the Acuity Central Station, and respond to patient monitor equipment alerts. In these examples, mobile devices do not indicate patient alarms:

• A clinician is not assigned to the mobile device.

• The mobile device is turned off or the battery is depleted.

• The assigned clinician has exited the Clinician Notifier program.

• The assigned clinician is logged out of the Clinician Notifier program.

• The mobile device is not communicating with the Welch Allyn Connectivity Server.

• The Welch Allyn Connectivity Server is not communicating with the Acuity Central Station.

• The patient monitor is not communicating with the Acuity System.

• The patient is disconnected from the patient monitor.

Caution

• Your facility’s AcuityLink Clinician Notifier option includes only the barcoding feature.

WARNING Ensure that Acuity System patients are kept under close surveillance, especially patients prone to arrhythmia events. Use AcuityLink software only in conjunction with close surveillance by trained clinicians.

Caution U. S. Federal law restricts this device to sale by or on the order of a physician.

Directions for Use Introduction 5

Overview

Welcome!

We hope that you enjoy the expanded flexibility for patient monitoring that the AcuityLinkTMClinician Notifier program provides.

Using the Clinician Notifier program, you can do these things for all Acuity Central Monitoring System patients in your unit, right at your mobile device.

• At a glance, view the status of all patients in your unit

• Receive alarms for patients whom you have specified, and respond to the alarms, system-wide

• View alarm details and waveforms

• View realtime waveforms

• View alarm histories for up to 96 hours (depending upon configuration), even after patient disconnection from the Acuity System

• Electronically scan or manually tap in ID and room numbers to confirm patients in the Acuity System (an optional feature).

8 Overview Welch Allyn AcuityLink Clinician Notifier

System components

A. Welch Allyn patient

monitors

B. Acuity Central Station Monitors all connected patients, provides arrhythmia analysis (an optional feature),

C. Welch Allyn Connectivity

Server (WACS)

D. Network and mobile

device running the Clinician Notifier program

Wireless and hardwired monitors measure a variety of vital signs. Monitors include the Welch Allyn 1500 Patient Monitor, Propaq Encore, CS, LT, and the Micropaq.

stores patient information and displays alarms and alerts.

Supports bi-directional communication between Acuity Central Stations and a variety of external systems and software modules. The server has one or more optional software modules installed on it, such as the AcuityLink option.

Network carries information to the Acuity System and carries patient data to the hospital information system (HIS/CIS).

Mobile devices running AcuityLink Clinician Notifier software enable you to receive patient alarms, suspend them and view alarm details and history. You can also view realtime waveforms.

E. Laptop computer for

hospital administrators

Enables hospital administrators to oversee the AcuityLink system.

Directions for Use Overview 9

Clinician Notifier workflow

When you tap Clinician Notifier navigation icons and buttons, you follow these pathways.

To read more information about a page, click on any page in this illustration.

Enter here.

Patient alarm!

You are notified in any page.

Always log in.

In escalation mode, logging in brings you to Assign Patients.

In broadcast mode, logging in brings you Home.

Acuity System patients in your unit, and their status

A patient’s alarm history

Active alarms in your unit

A patient’s realtime waveform

Recent alarms

Details of a current or historical alarm

10 Overview Welch Allyn AcuityLink Clinician Notifier

Common page components

A. Exit or log out B. Alarms status bar C. Page title and unit name D. List sort and column adjustment

E. Scroll bars

F. Navigation and function buttons

G. Navigation and status icons

Function Description

A. Exit or log out Tap to log out, and tap it again to exit the Clinician Notifier program.

B. Alarms status bar Red: Your mobile device has received notification of one of these events:

C. Page title and unit name Each page has a blue title.

D. List sort and column adjustment Tap some column headings to sort the list by the column title. Your assigned

E. Scroll bars Click the vertical scroll arrow to view the entire list. Click the horizontal scroll

F. Navigation and function buttons Buttons serve different purposes. Some take you to another page, and others

• One or more active Acuity System patient alarms. If any of the alarms have been suspended, the number suspended is also listed.

• Disconnection from the WACS network or the Acuity System.

Orange: All active patient alarms on your device are suspended. Green: Your device has no notification of active Acuity System patient alarms.

Tap a red or orange status bar to navigate to the Active Alarms page.

patients always sort to the top.

Click and drag a column border to adjust the width of the column. Some pages have a fourth column that is out of view.

arrow to view a fourth column.

perform a function within the page.

Directions for Use Overview 11

Function Description

G. Navigation and status icons Navigation icons: Tap these to move from page to page.

Home

Back

Patient List

Recent Alarms

Active Alarms

Set Up Patient ID

Status icons: The far right icon indicates connection status.

Mobile device is communicating with the WACS network.

OK button

Mobile device is not communicating with the WACS network.

The location of the OK button, which is used to log out of Clinician Notifier, might be in a different area based on the model or configuration of your PDA. The graphic shown above indicates the two locations.

12 Overview Welch Allyn AcuityLink Clinician Notifier

Get started

Start the Clinician Notifier program

Use a fully charged device.

Mobile devices can run a variety of programs. If you do not see a Clinician Notifier page on the device, you must start the program.

To start the Clinician Notifier program

1. In the upper left corner of the device screen, tap .

The Windows Start menu appears.

2. Tap Clinician Notifier.

The AcuityLink Clinician Notifier splash page appears.

Note

If is not visible on your mobile device, perform a soft reset of the device. For soft reset instructions, see “General performance” on page 51.

14 Get started Welch Allyn AcuityLink Clinician Notifier

Log in to the Clinician Notifier program

Always log in to the Clinician Notifier program each time you accept a mobile device. This ensures that alarms can be delivered to the device, and that the device and patients are assigned to you.

The system allows you to be logged in to the Clinician Notifier program on only one mobile device at one time. If there is a conflict, the system notifies you when you attempt to log in.

AcuityLink Clinician Notifier page

To verify that the prior clinician logged out

1. If you receive a mobile device displaying a Clinician Notifier page that differs from one of the above pages, you must log out of the program:

a. Tap .

A confirmation popup window appears.

b. Tap Yes.

You are logged out of the Clinician Notifier program.

To log in to the Clinician Notifier program

1. Verify that the AcuityLink Clinician Notifier page lists your current unit.

If the device is not registered to your current unit, contact your system administrator. Patients listed on a device correspond with the unit registration of the device.

2. Tap Log In.

The Login page appears.

3. Tap in the user name given to you by your system administrator.

4. If you see a Password field, tap in your password.

5. Tap Submit.

You are sent to the Home page or the Assign Patients page, depending upon your unit configuration.

You are now logged in, and you can receive patient alarms.

Directions for Use Get started 15

Home page

The Home page is a launching point to several commonly used pages.

To view the Home page

1. From the bottom of any page, tap .

The Home page appears.

2. Verify that the user name on the page is your name.

If another name is shown, you must log out:

a. Tap , and then tap Yes.

You are logged out of the Clinician Notifier program.

b. Log in using your user name and password.

To navigate to another page

1. Click one of these buttons:

• To view the list of Acuity System patients in your unit, tap .

The Patient List appears.

• To view all recent alarms sent to your mobile device or unit, tap .

The Recent Alarms page appears.

• To view all active alarms sent to your mobile device, tap .

The Active Alarms page appears.

16 Get started Welch Allyn AcuityLink Clinician Notifier

Assign patients to yourself

The Assign Patients page is available if your unit is configured in escalation mode.

The page lists patients who are monitored by the Acuity System in your unit. The list includes only patients with ID numbers confirmed in the Acuity System.

In the Assign Patients page, you can do these things:

• Assign patients to yourself to receive first notification of their alarms (primary notification).

• For other patients, indicate that you will receive alarms that other clinicians have not suspended (receive secondary notification).

For details about primary and secondary alarm notification, see “Escalation mode” on page 38.

Patients remain assigned to you unless you log out of the Clinician Notifier program for longer than two hours.

If one of your assigned patients is disconnected from Acuity System monitoring, the patient remains in your Assign Patients list.

Note

To navigate to the Assign Patients page

1. From the bottom of any page, tap .

2. Tap Assign.

If the Assign Patients page is not available, your unit is configured in broadcast mode, and you cannot assign patients. You receive all alarms delivered to mobile devices in your unit.

The Patient List page appears.

The Assign Patients page appears.

+ 44 hidden pages