BOiMHC Staff Newsletter

July 09 MDS User Guides

Getting the most from the MDS – whether you’re a novice or expert user – can be enhanced through a quick reference to the online help documentation. There are three documents which currently exist on the BOiMHC?.org website to assist users in improving their understanding of the MDS.

MDS Welcome Summary

This document is a good introduction to the MDS outlining the questions/data items to be collected by the GP and the AHP. It lists question by question and provides a guide as to which items are mandatory and which are optional. This is a very basic document which provides a good introduction to the data capture aspect of the MDS. It’s also a good reference point for experienced MDS users to revisit the original questions asked at the clinical level.

MDS Online Help

This is the official MDS system user guide. It contains all the parameters of the database, outlining exact requirements for manual data entry and bulk data uploads. It is a comprehensive user guide with full reference to all aspects of the MDS. It includes information on all the functions, features and requirements of the system, including: main page, patient page, download page, upload page, admin page and security notes.

FAQs

This documentation provides troubleshooting solutions to common questions that have been raised over the years, since the introduction of the MDS. Although it exists as a separate, standalone tool, links have been created to and from the MDS Online Help, providing users with a seemless online user guide.

April 09 Staff Manual

This is a first (and trial) newsletter for the BOiMHC? project staff. The aim is to communicate any project updates across the whole team as well as highlight useful project tools and information that exist for us all to utilise.

The main topic covered in this newsletter is the Staff Manual.

The Staff Manual contains useful information and procedures pertaining to the BOiMHC project. There are currently four main topics covered in this manual. If you feel an item needs to be documented here please feel free to either add it yourself or ask Maria to do so.

Here is a summary of the topics covered in the StaffManual:

Correspondence Via Request Tracker

Request Tracker (RT) is the web interface system which manages communication for the BOiMHC? (ATAPS) project. All the Divisions involved in this project are advised to use our support@boimhc.org email address for all correspondence. Emails received via this address are centrally logged on RT and managed by the Help Desk (ie Maria Montesano). All logged communications (tickets) can be viewed and accessed by all members of the BOiMHC?? teams from University of Melbourne (CHPPE) and Strategic Data. Allowing easier management of project communications, and supporting collaboration amongst the team.

It was agreed that the support@boimhc.org email address would be published as the central contact address for all relevant communications, particularly when issuing mass emails, and publishing contact details on the website. This is to maintain continuity of contact for the project particularly in the case where staff leave and their personal email addresses become redundant. Therefore, when issuing mass communications please refrain from publishing your personal email address as a contact reference.

Mailing List

The central BOiMHC? mailing list incorporates all contacts listed on the MDS. There has been an increased usage recently of the mailing list tool which is used to send mass communications to all division contacts. The instructions for sending mass communications are located in the [http://boimhc.org/bin/view/Main/StaffManual#Mailing_List][Staff Manual]].

NB: Maria is currently working on updating the MDS contacts using the feedback from the MU team. As contact details are tied in with MDS user accounts this is slowing down the process somewhat as approvals need to be obtained prior to changing details on our system.

MDS Administration

This section provides information on how to manage the MDS as an administrator. It includes basic details of how to change contact details, locate and edit division details, set up a new user or division, etc.

It also includes a useful link to change the login page of the MDS. The login page can be used to alert divisions to urgent MDS related information, system upgrades, system outages, etc.

Accessing the MDS

In recent months the team reviewed access procedures to the MDS. Due to the high turnover of division staff it was deemed necessary to maintain a firm adherence to our protocol for accessing the MDS. These procedures were documented here.

If you have any comments on this newsletter or ideas for the next issue (due mid June) please let me know via return RT ticket please.