Emergency Backup Procedures

Everyone needs a disaster plan in the event of a service outage. Your internet may be off, the power may go out, a server may have an issue that causes down time. While it's not likely, it does happen and here are some steps you can take to protect your process. 

Have a Blank Copy of the Chart Available

Ideally, you have multiple blank charts in binders in your facility. In the event of an outage you can quickly move to paper, then when service is restored, upload the documentation into the patients chart. 

In ZenCharts, it's easy to obtain a copy of your blank chart; first you will need to navigate to Other > System Administration > Form Templates. From here you'll be able to not only download the entire chart but also pull chart info to see what signatures need to be on each document. 

Click the "Chart Info" button to pull a list of all the requirements of your documentation.

Click the "Blank Chart" button to download your entire chart to individual PDF's.

Make sure you have backup versions of the eMAR

Medical errors can be easily prevented by making sure you have your eMAR backup procedure working. This option can be selected in a users profile and will allow those users to receive an emailed copy of the entire eMAR daily. There are two requirements for this to work for your facility.

1.) Make sure you have a password set on the eMAR backup. This will protect against any possible HIPAA violation and password protect the excel file that we send you.

Go to Other > System Administration > Settings > Med Frequency Settings and set the password to the document, then save. 

2.) Make sure the user(s) have the option to receive the document, turned on. 

Navigate to the gear icon in the top right of the screen, hover over and click "profile settings." Then select the option for "receive eMAR backup."

Location specific eMAR backups

Also, in order to get the eMAR for the appropriate facilities you need to make sure your profile is set to receive emails from the specific location or all locations:

You will only have the option(s) for locations you have access to. 

Additional Preventative Measures

There are several other measures you can take that can really help in the event of an emergency. For example, you may want to:

1. Run a weekly report to pull all patients allergies, contacts, contacts with ROI's, etc.

2. Use a whiteboard in your facility for serious concerns.

3. Keep an ROI report handy, with Zen we can even email you the ROI summary whenever you like (System Admin > Notifications).

All of which can help in the event of an outage of any kind. 

Be prepared and make sure patient care doesn't suffer during an outage by following these recommendations.