Cataract Surgery Study: Mayo Clinic Radio Health Minute

medication lists: Why does the Portal and MICS not communicate? I update all my meds and information on the portal prior to my appointments and it is not updated or wrong in MICS. It seems like a waste of time to keep my record updated on the portal. What else is not being updated IE: history, symptoms, etc…

I completely agree. I've also filled out all the "pre appointment info" stuff, like the demographics, the "do you feel safe in your own home" stuff, the female specific questions, all that, online well before my appointment as they asked me to do. A week and a half after I filled it out online, the same 15 page paper questionnaire arrived in the mail. And then I got the whole thing printed off again when I arrived at my appointment. If we offer the option to fill stuff out in the patient portal in advance of the actual appointment, we really must get it integrated to the rest of the system so the patient isn't bombarded with the same information over and over again, and I have to believe that by not having to print all that stuff off a zillion times and not having to mail as many out would be a significant cost saver over an average year.

Along with the other PTO questions, I heard about some groups that will only allow employees to take the amount of PTO that they accrue in that given year. Based on work/life balance values (weddings, funerals, children) the amount of PTO taken in a given year inevitably varies. Also, if an individual needs to not take a day off they may have planned on and the PTO rolls over it can no longer be used based on that policy. How does this not abuse the system forcing people to take PTO and also allow for PTO to not be used if not taken in the year accrued?

Unfortunately, as I've discovered, it doesn't seem to be as simple as submitting the form and having it update the system. Clinical assistants or any other staff who process these forms have to go in through PPI and select the option to process the online submissions. I had to discover this process on my own- never had training on that.

Regarding your question about whether your medical record is up to date, please read all of your clinical documentation. If you have questions regarding the content of a note or if you find something that is incorrect, it is your right as a patient to have the information corrected.

The medication reconciliation software and process were designed so that whomever is printing the medication list can easily look to see when medication reconciliation was last done. Although I am unable to find it in the policy, a patient only needs to have medication reconciliation done once during an outpatient episode of care. For most visiting clinic patients an episode of care is approximately one week so this time frame was used to define an episode of care for medication reconciliation. To view when Medication Reconciliation was last done staff need to use MICS Lastword, select the patient, outpatient orders – medication list review and look for a line entry that the medication list was verified. There is a possibility that the verification notification was not completed at the last clinic visited by the patient. Following this procedure would reduce the number of times a patient is asked about what medications they are taking at home, save paper and improve the patient experience.

I have a serious disagreement with the response that a manager should have the ability to delegate timekeeping responsibilities to a colleague of mine. That would provide access to my personal information and, to me, would be an actionable offense reportable to HR. It would be extremely inappropriate for a supervisor to delegate in such a manner, and is a clear violation of my personal and private information. Illegal even, imo.

I agree. If the person assigned time cards is not an assistant supervisor, they shouldn't be looking at them.

As far as I know – they are not accessing personal information (such as rate of pay, Social Security Numbers, address, dependents, etc.) they are merely approving, reviewing and/or editing time in WTK. Even if their role or title is not that of a supervisor (or assistant supervisor) they still need to uphold integrity and confidentiality as part of their delegate duties.

What personal info does this give them? What days I worked what shifts? That's already available to anyone who wants to read the schedule. What PTO I have accrued? What is personal about that? I'm missing the privacy concern here – help me out.

Unscheduled absenses have the reason noted on the time card. That would be personal information that I may not want anyone besides supervisors to see.

Allowing just anyone access to my timecard is inappropriate. Maybe I don't want anyone besides supervisors to see the reason I had an unscheduled absence. What if it's a personal reason I don't want people in my work unit to know? What if it was due to a medical reason and that is noted? I'm not allowed confidentiality?

What if I am on STD for an ongoing medical issue where there are regular treatments, and I don't want my colleagues to know about my illness? Are my colleagues trained to respect the privacy of my information like a supervisor is and not gossip? What are the boundaries for whether or not my colleague can question me on my activities?

I would find it extremely odd if a detailed medical explanation was noted on a time card. Would it not just say "medical appointment"? You don't need to tell your supervisor what the appointment if for do you?

Maybe I don't even want people to know I had an emergency medical appointment. Maybe I even don't want anyone to know I called in ill. Maybe I don't want anyone to see what I did give as a reason.