eStar upgrade coming April 7; here is a roundup of what you need to know
Downtime and Support Model Plans Announced for eStar Upgrade on April 7
eStar will receive a substantial upgrade in the early morning hours of April 7. As part of this effort, a 3.5-hour downtime for the system will be necessary beginning at 1 a.m. Downtime procedures will be in effect, and all users must log out of the system. A read-only version of eStar will be available to review patient information.
The team performed extensive testing to guarantee the various changes are all working as designed. Three practice events are being conducted this week to also prepare for rolling out the new changes.
Command centers will be operational during and after the transition to track and address any issues related to the upgrade. Additionally, several mechanisms are in place to help support Vanderbilt colleagues during the process:
- The Help Desk (343-HELP) will be augmented with additional eStar experts
- Support teams will be dispersed throughout the Medical Center (located on the main campus, One Hundred Oaks and many other “remote” sites) for on-call support
- Local, embedded support will be available through Clinician Champions and eStar Representatives who received additional training on the new features and functionality
Since the initial launch of eStar in 2017, this network of Clinician Champions and eStar Representatives has been created and nurtured. These individuals are Vanderbilt employees—mainly providers and nurses—who receive ongoing training and communication so they can help their peers and improve the use of eStar at Vanderbilt. Their involvement in the April upgrade should prove to be invaluable in terms of peer support.
eStar Upgrade Spotlight: Side-by-Side Medication Reconciliation
Clinicians can now reconcile orders for discharge faster and more easily with home medications and inpatient medications side-by-side on a single screen. Learn more about side-by-side medication reconciliation on the HealthIT website.
eStar Upgrade Spotlight: My Health at Vanderbilt
A number of enhancements are coming to My Health at Vanderbilt, but one change in particular will enhance workflow and productivity for many employees. Instead of employees having to manually elect to send a patient enrollment information, adult patients without a My Health at Vanderbilt account will now receive an Auto–Instant Activation link to the email address on file.
New features will allow patients to:
- Electronically sign some documents before their appointment
- Provide insurance information and even upload images of the front and back of their insurance cards
- Let Vanderbilt care team members know about recent or upcoming travel outside the country
- Give temporary, secure access to some of their health information in eStar to a provider outside Vanderbilt
- More easily reset their password (no more security questions to remember)
Some Functionality Unavailable in eStar Beginning March 31
Certain functionality in eStar will be unavailable beginning March 31, affecting the ability to make changes that customize certain aspects of workflows. These limitations are necessary, because while colleagues continue to use eStar, the system is updating related data “behind the scenes” to prepare for the upgrade on April 7. These limitations will be in effect from March 31 until the upgrade is complete on April 7.
Affected functionality includes the following:
- Applying filters in Chart Review: An error message appears when you try to create a new filter in Chart Review or try to edit a filter that is already used in Chart Review.
What to do: If you see an error message when attempting to add or edit a filter, close the error message and continue your workflow. The changes that you made before the error message appeared aren't applied to Chart Review. Use Chart Review as it is currently set up and make any needed changes after April 7.
- Creating or editing SmartPhrases and SmartLinks: During the lockdown, you won't be able to create new SmartLinks and SmartPhrases or edit your existing ones.
What to do: Type the text that you want to appear instead.
- Personalizing dashboards: After you click the gear icon ( ) and update settings or edit the components of a Radar dashboard, an error message appears when you click Accept.
What to do: Close the error message and continue working in Hyperspace. You won't be able to make your changes until after April 7.
- Creating, Editing, and Sharing NoteWriter Macros: If you click attempt to create a macro or save changes to a macro during the lockdown, an error message appears. Additionally, the Owners/Users tab in the SmartBlock Macro Editor is read-only during the lockdown, so you can't add owners or users for the macro.
What to do: Wait to make your changes, create macros, or share macros until after April 7.
- Moving Activities to a Sidebar or Floating Window: You cannot move activities, such as the Notes activity, to a floating window or sidebar during the lockdown.
What to do: Wait to move the Notes activity until after April 7.
- Creating or editing QuickActions: When you create or edit a QuickAction in In Basket, an error message appears indicating that the QuickAction is locked. Note that there are two different error messages that can appear.
What to do: Wait until after April 7 to create a new QuickAction. Continue to complete the action as you did previously. If you need to edit a QuickAction before using it again, you might need to complete the action without using the QuickAction until after April 7.
- Saving SlicerDicer Sessions: When you save a SlicerDicer population or session, an error message appears when you click Save Session, and the session isn't saved.
What to do: Continue working in SlicerDicer, but be aware that you can't save your work until after April 7.
If you have questions or encounter any issues completing a workflow during the lockdown, contact the Help Desk (343-HELP).
“Freeze” Period in Effect for eStar
In preparation for the April 7 upgrade to eStar and to ensure a smooth transition, there will be a “freeze” on changes to the system. The freeze period began on March 15 and will remain in effect until April 21. Exceptions will be made for critical reasons, such as patient safety, and will be determined and prioritized by senior leadership.
How to Prepare for the eStar Upgrade (Coming April 7)
Enhanced features and functionality are coming April 7 to eStar: read below for some tips on how to prepare for these changes.
- Complete eLearnings before April 7.
Users have been assigned eLearnings to help orient them to the changes and prepare them for what they will see beginning April 7. Users should log into the Learning Exchange (https://learningexchange.vumc.org) and click on “My Courses” to see the eLearnings that they should complete before April 7.
- Spend some time practicing in the eStar Playground.
The eStar “Playground” is a special environment that allows users to become accustomed to the new features and functionality in eStar before they are live on April 7. Users should spend as much time as possible in the Playground practicing the skills they gain after completing their assigned eLearnings. Instructions for accessing the Playground are available on Hubbl. Please note that VUNet IDs will not work for Playground access--users will need to instead use a role-specific training ID (list also available on Hubbl).
- Maximize playground time with exercise booklets.
While any time spent in the playground will be beneficial to users, the eStar team recommends that users download the appropriate Exercise Booklet, which will provide typical scenarios that will help them become more accustomed to the new features and functionality. Exercise booklets are available for nurses and clinicians.
Tableau Reports Available for Managers to Track eStar Training
Managers can access a dashboard on Tableau to track completion of online learning modules assigned to clinicians, nurses and staff related to the eStar April 2019 Upgrade. Managers can access Tableau here (VUNet ID and password required.
For any access issues to Tableau, please contact Bill Harrell (bill.harrell@vumc.org) or place a Pegasus Ticket. For any questions about assignment of the eLearning modules, please contact the Training team at estartraining@vumc.org.
Resources for using Tableau are available here.