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Common issues in Unity

September 24, 2019

today and tomorrow the support is focussed on coaching colleagues to carry out a number of tasks in Unity correctly. We want all users of the system to become comfortable and confident in how to complete the necessary tasks in the right order.

1. Recording of VTE assessments

VTE assessments are critical to providing safe patient care. All patients who require a VTE assessment must have this completed within six hours of the patient being admitted, in line with our Safety Plan. VTE assessments should be entered into Unity in real-time. Failure to process VTE assessments will result in a ‘hard stop’, effectively preventing a patient from progressing through to discharge home. Congratulations to AMU1 and AMU2 at City who so far today have completed all VTE assessments triggered.

2. Results endorsement

It is important that all colleagues are familiar with the process for endorsing results in Unity, both for laboratory and imaging reports. Today and tomorrow, this indicator is one that we all need to focus on in order to improve the safety of the care we provide. We currently have 20% of results that have been endorsed in Unity. The best department by far for endorsing results is our Emergency Department – well done.

The following QRGs on Connect can be referred to for help:

Results for tests such as radiology and pathology returned after 16 September are logged within Unity. However, if results for tests were returned before 16 September, you will find these in CDA/CSS.

3. Saving, signing and submitting clinical documents in Unity

Don’t forget to save your records if you are leaving your computer unattended. We have nearly 20,000 unsigned entries in Unity. Half of those comprise the impression and plan document, the physical exam document and the history of presenting illness document. Remember that your colleagues cannot see any unsigned documents within the patient record.

See the flowchart below to find out the correct pathway to follow when inputting documentation.

4. Discharging patients

It is essential that the suggested discharge care plan is commenced within six hours of admission. This enables the discussions to take place around discharge arrangements for your patients and in setting EDDs (Expected Dates of Discharge). Ensuring this is done will help us to safely manage our sites based on the capacity we have within the hospitals to admit our patients.