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.

A user may only belong to one user group. If a user requires a unique set of system rights or clinical item rights, create a new user group.

To display and maintain user groups for your organisation, select File > User Groups.

Typical user groups are:
  • Doctors
  • Health Workers
  • Receptionists
  • Registered Nurses
  • System Administrators

All users in the System Administrators group can add, delete and change other users' details. Changes to users and user groups, including when a system right is added or removed from a user group, are logged.

Finding existing users & user groups

To search for any user group, in the Locate Group field, enter a search phrase.

To search for any username regardless of their user group, in the Locate User field, enter a search phrase. As you type in this box the search will highlight a user from any group that matches the search alphabetically as it progresses (i.e. if you are looking for SMITHP then the first keystroke will find the first user starting with 'S' ordered alphabetically, then the first user starting 'SM' and so on).

Adding new user groups

To add a new user group:
  1. Select File > User Groups.
  2. Above the User Group Name grid, click Add user group iconAdd Group.
  3. In the Add a new user group window, enter a descriptive name for the new user group and click OK.
  4. Set Provider to mark a user group as a provider group. A provider group means that the users belonging to this group provide health services to clients. If you want to use the responsibility feature in the recalls, you must mark the user groups appropriately.
  5. Click Save.

Results:

The new user group is added to the User Group Name list. You can now add users and rights to the user group.

Renaming user groups

To rename a user group:
  1. In the User Group Name grid, double-click the required user group.
  2. In the Change user group details window, enter a new name for the user group and click OK.
  3. Click Save.

Deleting user groups

User groups cannot be deleted unless the group is empty. The user group can be emptied by dragging the existing users into a new group or deleting the user from the group directly.

To delete a user group:
  1. In the User Group Name grid, highlight the user group.
  2. Click Remove user group iconRemove Group.
  3. Click Save.

Adding users to user groups

Note: Use the System Administrators group with caution. Never put anyone in this group who does not have to be a System Administrator. System Administrator is a position of great trust and responsibility since this role allows the user to do just about anything within Communicare and the Communicare Database.
To add users to a user group:
  1. Select File > User Groups.
  2. On the Users tab, click Add user iconAdd User.
  3. In the User Name field, enter a unique username for the user. Usernames in the System Administrators group can contain only alpha-numeric characters and cannot contain any of the following characters: \, /, :, *, ?, ", <, >, |, '
  4. In the Password and Confirm Password fields, enter and confirm a password that will be used by that user to access Communicare. Communicare limits the password to a maximum of 8 characters.
  5. If you want the user to have access to Communicare immediately, set Active.
  6. If you have entered a temporary password that you want the user to change at their next login, set Can change password. For Administrators, if you change your password, you cannot reset user passwords until you restart Communicare. For information about SSO, see User Maintenance.
  7. Click Save.

Moving users between groups

To move users from one group to another, on the Users tab, click and drag the username to the required user group in the User Group Name grid.

Deleting users from user groups

To delete a user:
  1. On the Users tab, click Remove user iconRemove User.
  2. Click OK.

User Group Rights

For each user group, set the following rights:
  • System rights
  • Viewing rights
  • Program rights
  • Formulary rights
  • Scope of Practice

System Rights

System access rights define which of Communicare's modules can be accessed by a group of users. Modify the system access rights of a User Group on the File > User Groups, System Rights tab.

System access rights for the typical user groups are shown in the following table.

For more information, see System rights.

Table 1. System Access Rights
System Right Doctors Health Workers Receptionists Registered Nurses System Administrators
Address Book Maintenance Y Y
Adverse reaction Administration Y
AIR Patient Integration
AIR Patient Integration Update
Alerts and Other Information
Appointments Y Y Y Y
Appointments Administration Y Y
Billing Y Y Y
Billing Administration Y
Biographics Y Y Y Y Y
Birth Notifications
Clinical Records Y Y Y Y
Clinical Reporting Y Y Y Y
Consolidated Order - Manage
Data Entry Wizard Y Y Y Y Y
Document Scanning Y Y Y Y Y
Electronic Documents Y Y Y Y Y
Imprest Management Y Y
Investigations Y Y Y
Management Reporting Y Y Y
MeHR
MeHR Administration
MeHR e-Registration Auto-Prompt
Medication History Y Y Y
Medication View Y Y Y
Medications Administer Y Y Y
Medications Supply Y Y Y
My Health Record Access Y Y
My Health Record Assisted Registration Y Y
NCSR Integration
Patient Add Y Y Y Y Y
Patient Deletion Y Y
Patient Edit Y Y Y Y Y
Patient Status Administration Y Y Y Y Y
Prescribing - Full Y Y
Prescribing - Once Off/Short Course Y Y Y
Provider Administration Y Y
Reference Tables Y Y
Referral Management
Report Administration Y
S100 Management (WACHS only) Y
Service Recording Y Y Y Y Y
SMS Administration
SMS Messaging Y Y Y Y Y
Transport Services

Viewing Rights

Viewing Rights define which Clinical Item Types a group of users may access. These rights are enforced by the database itself so are effective even when using SQL tools such as QueryBuilder.

One enabled viewing right can be set as a default for progress notes access. If no default is set, the progress notes' default viewing right is General or Common if one exists, otherwise the first viewing right given to this group.

Viewing rights for the typical user groups are shown in the following table.
Table 2. Viewing Rights
Viewing Right Doctors Health Workers Receptionists Registered Nurses System Administrators
Care Plan Y Y Y
Common Y Y Y Y
Highly Sensitive Information Y Y
Home and Community Care Y Y Y Y
Investigations View Y Y Y
Maternal & Sexual Health Y Y Y
Psychological Y Y Y
Social Problems Y Y Y Y

Program Rights

A group of users can be given rights to access services performed as part of a program. Rights allow full access to both reading and recording. The list of available programs is maintained in the Encounter_Program window.

Program rights for the typical user groups are shown in the following table.
Table 3. Program Rights
Program Right Doctors Health Workers Receptionists Registered Nurses SystemAdministrators
Child Health Y Y Y Y
Link Up Program Y Y
Sexual Health Y Y Y
Social and Emotional Wellbeing Y Y

Formulary Rights

If a group has been granted the Prescribing right they can be restricted in the drugs they are able to prescribe. By default, <All Products> is set, which means that all drugs are available to be prescribed. However, you can set a formulary as the default for the selected user group. This determines which formulary is selected by default when a user is prescribing or browsing MIMS drug data and limits the drugs displayed in the Drug Browser, and that can be prescribed, to those listed in the formulary.

Note: If a user with a Prescriber Number, such as a Nurse Practitioner, has a Scope of Practice and Formulary rights which include all formularies, they can see and create medications orders. The Formulary rights do not limit what they can prescribe, only the medication orders they can create.
Formulary rights for the typical user groups are shown in the following table.
Table 4. Formulary Rights
Formulary Right Doctors Health Workers Receptionists Registered Nurses System Administrators
<All Products> Y Y
Midwife Y Y Y
Nurse Practitioner Y Y Y
Optometrist Y Y

Scope of Practice

Set one or more formularies to include in a user group's Scope of Practice. The Scope of Practice sets the medications that members of a user group can prescribe without requiring a verbal order.

All formularies that have Use as Scope of Practice set are listed on the Scope of Practice tab.

Before you can link user groups to formularies, first complete the following configuration:
  1. Define the medications included in a formulary and set Use as Scope of Practice. See Formularies for more information.
  2. For individual providers, set Use Scope of Practice. See Editing Providers