Skip to content Skip to main menu Skip to utility menu

Optimistic about Unity optimisation

October 25, 2019

Please print this bulletin out and display in a prominent position in your ward/area and draw attention to it for all colleagues to read.

To help you get the best out of Unity we will continue to share top tips. Please take note of these helpful reminders as they may resolve an issue you have experienced.

Planned Unity downtime while clocks change

Starting at 12:45am on Sunday 27 October, Unity will be taken offline for up to two hours whilst the clocks go back before being brought back online.

This downtime will affect all colleagues who use Unity and are on shift overnight in the early hours of Sunday 27 October.

To prepare for this you must:

What do I need to do overnight on Saturday 26 October?

If you’re on shift, make sure you sign and save everything you’re working on in Unity before it is taken offline at 12:45am on Sunday 27 October.

At 11.15pm on Saturday 26 October, access your downtime box, ensure your 724 computer is turned on and connected to the network. You will need to log on to your 724 computers using the username and password for the 724 viewer, which will be in an envelope marked ‘Unity downtime 724 username and password’. You will only be able to view, not amend, patient notes through Unity’s 724 viewer on the 724 computers.

You will need to check the medication that should be administered during the downtime and observations that will need to be carried out. Print off any medication requirements.

You must record medication and observations on paper during the downtime, in line with your business continuity plan. All activities recorded on paper must be entered on to Unity when the system is brought back online.

Desktop notifications will be released 15 minutes before Unity is taken offline and subsequently on the 724 computers when the system becomes available again.

If a clinical action was scheduled to take place between 1:00am to 1:59am on Sunday 27 October, you may see the following message, highlighting an inconsistency in times.

Daylight savings time is due to come to an end at 2am on Sunday 27 October. If the scheduled action was due to take place between 1am and 1.59am before the clocks went back, select ‘Daylight’. However, if the scheduled action was due to take place between 1am and 1.59am after the clocks had gone back, then select ‘Standard’.

Once the scheduled downtime is finished, please follow the QRG for inputting downtime information back into Unity and then return to working on the system as normal. The time will have adjusted while the system was unavailable.

When you have completed inputting your information back into Unity you must report this to the IT helpdesk on ext. 4050, stating your ward/department. If you don’t do this, then the 4050 team will call your ward/department to check on your status.

If you need help please contact your department managers.

Addressing common issues with Unity

We continue to review how well we are using the Unity system to provide safe patient care:

  • Safe administration of medicines

The RXK barcode on the patient wristband (see picture) MUST be scanned when carrying out medication administration. This is the barcode next to the RXK number and not the square QR code in the centre of the wristband. If you do not scan the barcode, this will pose a risk to patient identification.

  • Completing VTE assessments in Unity

VTE assessments are critical to providing safe patient care. All patients who require a VTE assessment must have this completed within six hours of 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.

  • Endorsing results

It is important that all colleagues are familiar with the process for endorsing results in Unity, both for laboratory and imaging reports. This indicator is one that we all need to focus on in order to improve the safety of the care we provide.

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

 

  • Documenting samples when collecting bloods in Unity

Remember that when you are collecting bloods you must collect samples first, mark them as collected in Unity and then print out labels. If you do not do this then  it is not possible to endorse the result when it is returned to the hospital from the laboratory. For more information, please see QRG RT06.

  • Save and sign – clinical workflow documents

Don’t forget to save your records if you are leaving your computer unattended.

Please see this flowchart to find out the correct pathway to follow when inputting documentation.

Meet super user Rachael Currie

Junior sister Rachael Currie is a super user in surgical services. Together with her colleagues she helped to overcome the challenge of implementing Unity.

“Go-live was fine. The things that we’d done in training went perfectly but we learned some of the other bits as we went along.

“Everyone pulled together. If one person knew something that the others didn’t then they’d teach everyone else. It went fine and there were no problems,” she said.

Although many end users knew a lot about the system, super users like Rachael provided a valuable reference point for any queries. “It was good to have someone who was supernumerary to ask any questions. We could help everyone rather than worrying about having to look after our own patients.

“As super users we managed to troubleshoot things a bit better. If one person didn’t know how to do something we could find the answer and cascade that back to everyone,” she explained.

For the Trust as a whole, the learning process continues over the coming weeks and months. There will be different elements of Unity to discover along the way.

“Every day you find something new on the system. I was working in a clinic on Saturday and in between his clinics the consultant was looking at the patients on the ward and checking that they’d had their medication at certain times,” said Rachael.

“He could see what was happening with them on the wards. That was something that I hadn’t realised.”

Remember – you can contact your super users for help and advice or call ext. 4050 if you have issues with your device or use of Unity.