EMIS tips and tricks 1

Having attended the NUG conference last week, one talk outlined useful tips for using the EMIS that others may find helpful. This blog will outline the first batch of tips and next week I will provide another list. Please feel free to add your own useful tips using the commenting function below!

1. This feature will really help to reduce errors when past drugs are inadvertently restarted and also provides useful drug information on why a drug was stopped. Whenever you decide to cancel a drug, before doing so press Q to change dose, but in the dose line write the reason it was stopped e.g. “stopped due to asthmatic symptoms” or “stopped at cardiologist request due to...” then choose quantity 1 and save the drug. Then it can be cancelled. It is now possible to quickly see why a drug was stopped when scanning the past drugs list (x). This can be very helpful for seeing why drugs were stopped, especially when patients have been on lots of drugs for the same condition and can’t remember why they were stopped. It will also stop the receptionists from restarting a drug in the past that was stopped due to a clinical reason.

2. Use the insert button when in a free text field, you can then type in a Read code and it will input the code automatically. The disadvantage of this is that you have to remember the exact Read codes! However, it is a quick way of inputting data.

3. In MR>>C (consultation list), you can filter down the list of consultations by year- press Y then type in year- then only that years consultations will be shown. You can also search for text by pressing T then typing in your search term e.g. “tonsillitis”. Press F4 to jump to the next consultation with the term in it.

4. If there are lots of consultations from the nurses for dressings and you don’t want to see them, you can filter whose consultations you only want to see. You can set only to see the doctors consultations if you want. Press F for filter then follow the instructions to display the consulters you want to see. This is terminal specific.

5. Appointment list changes: you can choose for the appointment list to remain at a time in the future or come back to today’s date when F1 is clicked. For example you may be in a doctor’s appointment list in three weeks' time but then want to swap to a different doctor at that point in the future. The default setting is to bring you back to today’s date. However, if you click AM >> X then choose T for time then it will remain in the future rather than coming back to today’s date.

6. You can order the appointment list how you want using this useful tip. AM >> L >> O. Then use the U key to move people up the list and D key to move people down. You can then order it so that you are always at the top of your terminal and choose your most frequently used consulters. This is terminal specific so won’t affect others machines. You can also change the default session holder but remember this cannot be changed back once done!

If you found this useful then access EMIS tips and tricks 2 here >>