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Sunquest ICE Form Reprint Alert

To inform service users a change in format of reprinted Sunquest Ice Request Forms and to clarify the correct use of the reprint function for Pathology requests.

 

 

Situation: A situation has arisen whereby a patient has had to undergo repeat blood sampling and delay in treatment due to the incorrect use of the Sunquest ICE form reprint function.

Background: The Trust uses the Sunquest ICE computer system for the ordering and viewing of various diagnostic tests, including those performed in the Pathology Department. When an order is made for Pathology tests for a patient, a form is printed and a unique order number is generated, along with associated unique sample barcodes. There are many occasions where the Laboratory receives a copy of an original order, where the requestor has used the “reprint” function to generate a new form. This reprint function should only be used in cases where a print of the form has failed due to incorrect paper being used or the form being printed illegibly due to printer issues.

In some cases, requestors are using the reprint function to generate a copy of the original form to give to the patient or place in patient notes to have repeat bloods after a period of time, instead of using the correct method of generating a new, unique order. When bloods are sent using an “old” order, they are discarded by the Pathology Department in accordance with the correct protocol as two different sets of samples cannot be included on one unique order. This causes unnecessary distress to patients who have to have repeat samples taken and can lead to delays in treatment. In order to more easily identify forms which have been reprinted, a watermark has been enabled on all reprinted forms to alert the requestor or person taking the sample.

Recommendations: All staff should be aware that the only reason to use the reprint function is in case of printer failure or printing issues.

DO NOT USE THE REPRINT FUNCTION IN THE FOLLOWING SCENARIOS:

To order repeat tests on the same patient for a time/date in the future;

To re-order tests previously rejected by Pathology due to incorrect patient identification issues;

To re-order tests which are currently shown as “Pending” on the ICE system

Any such requests received by Pathology will be rejected; the correct procedure would be to use the “Reorder” function in the ICE system, this can be accessed by clicking on an order in the “View Requests By Patients” icon in the ICE requesting module where the correct option “Reorder” (highlighted below in yellow) can be selected. Any tests which are shown as “Pending” on ICE should NOT be re-ordered to avoid duplication.

Any staff member who is asked to take a sample from a patient and has been given a form with a reprint watermark should refer back to the requestor who must give a valid reason for using a reprinted order.

For further information or other queries, please contact:

Celia Critchley, POCT Coordinator, Biochemistry Department, Pathology Laboratory, Warrington celia.critchley@nhs.net telephone 01925 664216