This information pertains to VetView Version 1.6.1
What are Episode Types?
Episode Types are the standard set of episodes for use within your hospital. Because the settings for each episode can be customized for your hospital, it will be important to build consensus among all units as to what the requirements for each standard type of episode will be. This information is populated in several places, such as the Appointment Type Setup for each unit, and the Episode Header for each patient record.
You can set up appointments for Outpatients, Inpatients, Tech Appointments, Purchase Only, etc. You can also go more granular and define different rules for episodes in different service areas, such as episodes specific to large animals, or to your behavior therapy services.
Episodes can be linked to Appointments via the unit's Appointment Type Setup. See Setting Up Your Units for how to link appointment types to episode types for each unit.
Click on Add Episode Type to begin defining a new episode type. A window pane with three tabs will appear to the right of the list of episodes.
Episode Type: This is the name of the episode as it will appear throughout the system. If similar types of episodes will have different requirements between different units, be sure to create separate episode types for them with unique names.
Active Flag: Indicates to the system that this episode type is valid and available for use. Episode types cannot be deleted once created, to avoid losing historical information. If episode information is changed, the new requirements will only be applied to episodes created in the future, and will not be applied retroactively to any past episodes.
Episode Requirements
In VetView, the Episode Requirements control the display of the medical record for each episode type. These requirements also drive the Medical Record Deficiencies for each episode.
Medical Record Groups are defined under Medical Record Setup.
Episode Type: The type you are currency working with. This cannot be modified on this tab but is included for informational purposes.
Record Group: The name of the medical record group you are adding to this episode. Assigned People and Billing should be included at a minimum on all episodes.
Display: This flag indicates that the record group will always be visible on the electronic health record for this type of episode, even if nothing has been added to it yet. If an item is not set to display at a minimum, it will be removed from the list.
Required: This indicates that the medical record group will require a custom document to be added. For example, your field site visits may require an additional travel form under Assigned People that your inpatient types do not need. You can set this to be Required on this episode type.
Verify: This flag means that the documents added to this section will need to be approved by a supervising clinician. If there are not verifiable documents in your unit (as defined under Catalog Setup), then leave this flag off.
Episode Type Events
This section allows you to fire off specific actions within VetView based on triggers on the medical record.
These notifications are highly customizable and can automate many communications to RDVM and to clients, as a paitient's episode progresses through various statuses.
Note that "Auto Send" means the information will be sent immediately. If this is unchecked, then the Event will add the communication to the Comm Worklist, where it can be previewed and edited before being sent out by a client or RDVM coordinator.
In addition to the custom email notices, you can choose to automatically attach the reports included in each record group. For example, on Discharge you can include all the documents that were added to the Discharge medical record group. This will send the client or RDVM the discharge instructions.