Conversations may be accessed from different CST Cerner applications, including but not limited to: PM Office, FirstNet, or PowerChart.

In PM Office, the Conversations are displayed in alphabetical order under the Conversation bar, as shown below.  The Conversations that are displayed depend on your position.  

The Bedboard is used to view information for selected unit/clinics, such as:

Bed status – e.g. Whether or not a bed is available.

Pending activity – e.g. Pending transfers in or out of the unit.

Any placement warnings – e.g. Isolation alerts.

Patient demographic information – e.g. Pink indicates female, blue indicates male

Privacy alerts – e.g. No visitors

Leave status – e.g. Whether or not the patient is on a leave of absence

Preferred accommodation – e.g. Private room requests

Encounter information – e.g. Encounter type or Attending Provider

The Bedboard can also be used to perform ADT transactions by launching registration conversations. Right-click a patient’s row on the Bedboard and hover over Conversations to see a list of the registration conversations.

The Bedboard is also used to change the bed status (e.g. from Assigned to Available).  See the Change Bed Status help topic for more information.

To view the Bedboard for a particular nurse unit, single-click the appropriate facility, building, and then double-click the desired unit/clinic. That unit/clinic’s Bedboard will display on the right.

If this is your first time opening the Bedboard, no units will display.  To customize the units displayed on your Bedboard, follow the steps outlined in the Add Unit/Clinic to Bedboard help topic.

Worklists are built into PM Office to support registration functions and tasks.  

To access the worklists in PM Office, click on the Worklist bar on the left.  The list of worklists that are viewable will depend on your position.  

After selecting a certain worklist, it will trigger the appropriate conversation for executing a task (unless the worklist serves as a checklist, not requiring the launching of a conversation).

Once an item has been processed, it is removed from the list, leaving only the active task entries visible.

Worklists are derived from data entered or not entered during the registration process

Open a worklist:

Double-click the worklist you want to open.

Expand the Facility, Building and select the applicable Unit(s) or Clinic(s) that you would like to appear on your worklist.

Click Copy so that they appear on your selected list.

Enter the dates that you would like to search in between.

 Click OK.

New Group can be customized with shortcuts to frequently used Conversations, Worklists, and Bedboards.

To create a New Group, follow the steps below:

Right-click the New Group bar, select Groups and then select Add Group. 
You can also use the Groups icon  on the toolbar.

Type over New Group to customize the name of your group (e.g. Heather’s Group).

Right-click the new group again and select Work Item, select Add Work Item

Select the desired Work item type from the drop-down list.

Click OK.

Complete the setup of the work item to display it in the group as outlined below.

Bedboard 

Select Bedboard from the Work item type drop-down.

From the location tree, expand the Facility, Building and select the Unit you want to make a shortcut.

Then click OK.

To select an icon to represent your unit, double-click the Work item icon to open the Icon selection window.  

Select an icon from the icon menu or browse to import an icon file and then click OK.

The unit name automatically populates the Work item label field.

To re-label your shortcut, type the name you want to use in the Work Item label field, and click OK.

Conversation 

Select Conversation from the Work item type drop-down.

Select the desired conversation and click OK.

 Worklist

Select Worklist from the Work item type drop-down.

Select the desired worklist on the right.

To select an icon to represent your worklist, double-click the Work item icon to open the Icon selection window.  

Select an icon from the icon menu or browse to import an icon file and then click OK.

Click OK.

An Encounter is a single patient interaction and/or a series of visits to the Health Organization (HO).  An interaction can include, but is not limited to, a patient visit, residential admission, specimen examination, film review, walk-in visit, phone call, or outreach appointment.  Only humans or human tissue/samples are registered in CST Cerner. Each encounter is assigned an Encounter Type to indicate the client’s current level of care.  In Cerner, an encounter is required before orders can be entered, results can be attached, and documentation can be dictated or attached.

Encounters have multiple reporting purposes.  All hospitals are required to report all Inpatient, Day Surgery, and Emergency admissions and discharges to the Ministry of Health (MOH).  These encounters are coded by the Health Information Management (HIM) team to report to the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI), Discharge Abstract Database (DAD), or National Ambulatory Care Reporting System (NACRS).

There are other reporting requirements that drive the creation and use of Encounter Types. For instance, the BC Cancer Registry (BCCR) is mandated to report all cancer cases diagnosed in BC and Yukon Territory, but may not provide any services to these clients.

A client’s Encounter Type may change during a single visit within the facility.  For example, a client may initially be admitted with an Emergency Encounter Type, but may undergo changes to their level of care from Emergency to Inpatient, and subsequently to ALC (Alternate Level of Care).  Encounter Type changes which occur throughout a single encounter are referred to as Care Transitions. They are episodes of care and must follow the Episode of Care Guideline. Care Transitions are restricted based on Encounter Type.