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Administration
Communicare Administrators can tune the way in which Communicare works at your health clinic using the configuration, tools and task information.
System Administration
Reference Tables
Qualifier Types
Qualifiers add additional meaning to a Clinical Item Type.
Create / Edit Qualifier

Administration
Communicare Administrators can tune the way in which Communicare works at your health clinic using the configuration, tools and task information.
- System Administration
  - System Parameters
    If you belong to the System Administrators user group, you can configure Communicare by setting system parameters.
  - Organisation Maintenance
    Configure Communicare for your organisation by setting organisation parameters. Changes to organisation parameters affect the Communicare system for the organisation and all workstations.
  - User Groups
    Users of the Communicare system are organised into groups. Rights to access various parts of Communicare are given to these groups of users.
  - Address Book
    The address book stores local address book entries and address book entries that are linked to external directory services.
  - Reference Tables
    - Certificates Maintenance
      The Certificates Maintenance window lists all of the currently installed certificates that can be used in various places in Communicare.
    - Appointment Facility
    - Requirements
    - Public Holidays
      Public holidays identify normal working days (or part days) that the practice will be closed.
    - MIMS Database Import
      If your site uses the Prescribing Full or Prescribing Once off/short course module, Adverse Reactions or browsing MIMS drug database, update MIMs monthly.
    - Formularies
      Use the Formulary Maintenance window to manage medication lists or formularies.
    - Locality
    - Patient Skin
    - Patient Group Maintenance
    - Encounter Place
      An encounter place can take one of two forms.
    - Text Shortcuts
      Add or modify the text shortcuts for commonly used blocks of text available in Communicare. Text shortcuts can be used by clinicians in progress notes and letters.
    - Dosage Instructions
    - Medicare Benefits Schedule Shortlist
    - Private Billing
    - Investigation
    - Clinical Item Type
      A clinical item type is a predefined value that a clinical item for a patient can take.
    - Qualifier Types
      Qualifiers add additional meaning to a Clinical Item Type.
      - Create / Edit Qualifier
      - Dropdown List Qualifiers
        List items can be enabled and disabled, which allows records of historical item selection to be maintained, while not offering these historical items for future selection.
    - Special Lookup Table Maintenance
    - Transport Mode
    - Chart Types
    - Viewing Rights
      Viewing Rights define access levels to clinical data. The rights themselves are maintained by the Viewing Rights Maintenance program.
    - SNOMED CT Import
      SNOMED CT-AU is the Australian extension to SNOMED CT, and includes the international resources along with all Australian-developed terminology for use in Australian health care settings.
    - Reference Table Codes
      Communicare reference tables use a variety of codes to identify and manage clinical data.
  - Appointment Session Templates
    Appointment Session Templates identify when appointments can be made, in a general way. They are used as a template for creating the sessions into which appointments are actually booked.
  - Providers
    The Providers window lists clinicians who have been added to Communicare as providers at your health service.
  - Medicare Number Import
  - Patient Import
  - Communicare Security
  - Daily Process Service
  - Automatic Patient Status Change
  - Terminal Server and Communicare
    The Communicare client can be installed on a Terminal Server.
  - Backup Regimes
    Backups of your Communicare database are critical for business continuity in the event of a disaster. Communicare is automatically backed up to the server nightly. Your site should take regular backups of these backups.
  - Disaster Recovery
    In the event of disaster, call Communicare Support on 1800 798 441 and follow these steps to recover your data.
  - File Transfer
    Communicare demos and updates are available from the Communicare User Portal - Help and Support tab.
  - Firewall Configuration
  - Upgrades
    Communicare upgrades are performed remotely by Communicare Support at a time arranged with the system administrator.
  - Database Connection Settings
  - Central Data Update
    This program allows a specific set of Clinical Item definitions to be centrally maintained and distributed to user sites by Communicare. These centrally maintained Clinical Item definitions are referred to as "central" items.
  - Terms Conversion
    Together with your Implementation Consultant, when your site goes live with Communicare, a clinician with Administrator user privileges can use the Terms Converter tool to convert local terms into centrally maintained terms, for example, ICPC-2 PLUS terms.
  - CAT Export Tool
    Use the CAT Export Tool to export datasets defined by the Improvement Foundation, from Communicare as XML.
  - Background Processes
    Communicare runs a number of server-side background processes that integrate with various external services.
- Tools
  Use these tools to help manage Communicare.
- Regular Administrator Tasks
  There are several regular maintenance tasks for the Communicare Administrator to perform.

Create / Edit Qualifier

Qualifier Properties

Table 1. Qualifier Properties
Property	Description
Description	Name of the qualifier. This should uniquely identify the data even when the qualifier is reported on without the context of the clinical item to which it is attached.
Summary	Ticking this checkbox will add this qualifier type to the qualifier summary in a patient's clinical record. This shows the latest date and value for this qualifier for that patient. If this checkbox is ticked or unticked for a qualifier that already has a lot of data then saving the change may take a few moments because patient data is being processed.
Show on Alert Summary	Ticking this checkbox will add this qualifier type to the alert summary section in a patient's clinical record.
Export Code	Code used to facilitate identification of qualifiers for reporting purposes.
System Code	Code used to facilitate specific behaviours in the Communicare program. Nothing should be entered here without consultation with Communicare to confirm the behaviours that will arise for that code. Unrecognised codes will have no effect.
Aboriginality	Determines whether this qualifier is only for persons of a particular Aboriginality. Leave blank if it should be applicable to everyone. This cannot be changed once the qualifier has been created.
Gender	Determines whether this qualifier is only for persons of a particular sex. Leave blank if it should be applicable to everyone. This cannot be changed once the qualifier has been created.
Value Type	See Table 2
Definition	This section will appear above the qualifier on the clinical item when a user is entering data. It can be used to clarify the measurement description or to add extra specific instructions as to when and how the qualifier is to be used.
Currency	Currency is the period of time that the qualifier will be current or "up to date". If a qualifier is added to a patient's qualifier summary, then it will be current for the amount of time specified here. If a qualifier is older than its currency period, then in the qualifier summary list the date value will appear highlighted in red. If you leave this field blank then the qualifier will always be treated as current.

Value Types

When adding a new qualifier, you are required to select the 'type' of value it should store. This cannot be changed once the qualifier has been created.

Table 2. Value Types

Address Book Lookup	Allows the user to select an address book record that is available for secure communications from the Communicare address book.
Date	Value is any valid format date.
Date Time	Value is any valid format date and 24 hour time.
Drawing	A preset template image to draw on (for examinations, etc.). This qualifier type is not currently user-definable. Contact COMMUNICARE for requests for further drawing qualifiers.
Dropdown list	A single value can be selected from a predefined list. Define the options in the lower grid. See Dropdown List Qualifiers for more information.
Free text	Values can be any short text.
Image	An image (picture or drawing) file can be loaded. Supported file types are JPEG (.jpg;.jpeg), Windows Bitmap (.bmp), Icon files (.ico), Windows Metafiles (.emf;.wmf), GIF (.gif) and Portable Network Graphics (.png).
Investigation Request	Define a qualifier of this type and provide a keyword that identifies one or more investigation requests. Adding the qualifier to a clinical item provides a button when the user completes that item. Clicking the button generates an investigation request with the identified test pre-selected. When the clinical item is saved there is a record that the investigation request was generated from that clinical item. In future this will allow results of specific tests to be matched to the item (say, antenatal check) that generated the request.
Memo	Value is an unlimited amount of free text.
Numeric	Values can be numbers, including decimals. Units must be defined. Specifying a range of values: Numeric qualifiers can have maximum and minimum values defined. This will prevent users from entering values below the minimum and/or values above the maximum. If the user enters a value outside the range they are warned that 'Hb (Haemoglobin) (g/L) must be between 18 and 220.' and they must then correct the data before they can save the clinical item.
Person	A person (patient) in the Communicare database.
Tick box	A checkbox that can be set. Defaults to unselected.
Time	Value is any 24 hour format time.
Title	A section header. Does not collect patient data.
Yes, No	Values can be Yes, No or blank (not stated). Defaults to blank.