Fixed Netcare Printing Issue

Enhancement updates provide short alerts to new, fixed or improved Connect Care functions...

• Update to fix Netcare printing issue when launched from Connect Care 

Since the 2024 Hyperdrive upgrade, users have had to log in separately to Netcare to print PDF files. Beginning April 14, 2025, users can resume printing from Netcare from the in-context browser (i.e., Netcare opened from within Hyperspace).

When Netcare is launched from within Connect Care, the external Netcare window will launch in a default browser window. This will cause a minor visual change (click the camera icon below for a screenshot); there are no functional or behavioural changes for users.

Problems with Physicians' Program List in Netcare

Problem: Wave 2 physicians accustomed to Netcare's "Program" lists (configurable to show inpatient, outpatient or other groups where a service group has assigned patients) may find that a Program list is inappropriately empty or incomplete after the associated site transitions to Wave 2.

A related issue affecting lists of patients associated with a Provider is addressed in a separate posting.

Context: With Wave 2 launch, some facilities take on new site names and new names for clinical service groups. If Netcare continues to seek Program patient panels with the older names, lists will be empty or incomplete.

Solution: In most cases, Netcare Program lists can be restored by correctly selecting the "Site" using new Connect Care naming conventions. Note in the image below that there is both a site called "University of Alberta Hospital" (pre-Connect Care naming convention) and a site called "EDM WMC University of Alberta Hospital" (post-launch Connect Care naming convention). 

UPDATE (20201101): duplication of programs in Netcare lists has been fixed. It is still important to re-to confirm selection of the intended program in personal settings.

Be sure to select Connect Care sites using the new Connect Care site name. This will correctly populate searches for Program affiliated patients. The same care must be taken when editing "User Settings" to configure a default inpatient or outpatient program for lists.

Problems with Physicians' Patient List in Netcare

Problem: Wave 2 physicians accustomed to Netcare's "My patients" list (configurable to show admitted, outpatient and other care relationships) find that the list is empty or incomplete even though they have active patient responsibilities at a Wave 2 site.

Context: Unlike Wave 1 sites, some facilities launching with Wave 2 have different admission, discharge, transfer (ADT registration information) systems that inter-operate with Netcare differently.

Solution: In most cases, Netcare provider lists can be restored by re-configuring "User Settings" in Netcare. Go to the "Patient Lists" section and re-select the "My Provider" value. Note that the "Provider Popup Search" tool may find more than one match for the intended provider name.

Select the row that includes "[Connect Care]". This should restore Netcare's "My Patients" list to include patients served in Wave 2 facilities.

Emergency Visit Reports from non-Connect Care sites Available in Connect Care

Problem: Emergency room visits where Connect Care is the record of care are reported in a standardized way and shared with the Alberta Netcare Portal; but summaries of visits at non-Connect Care sites do not appear within Connect Care.

Solution: On February 10, 2020, a data feed for emergency documents was activated in Connect Care. When a patient visits an Edmonton emergency department that has not implemented Connect Care, their documents are scanned and incorporated into Connect Care. This allows providers using Connect Care to view their patients’ emergency documents within the chart, rather than having to launch Netcare. Note that reports prior to February 10 are not converted.

Inability to Launch Multiple Instances of Netcare within Connect Care

Problem: That the Netcare electronic health record can be launched in-context (opened to the same patient) within the Connect Care clinical information system is a great convenience. Netcare contains historical data going back further than Connect Care.

That Connect Care can manage multiple patient charts open at the same time is also convenient.

That Netcare can only be open in one Connect Care chart at a time is an annoyance. If Netcare has been opened within one Connect Care chart, then it must be closed before it can be opened in a second chart open within Connect Care at the same time that another chart is still open.

Considerations: Netcare launches within an internet browser control in Connect Care's hyperspace. Some slick informatics allows single-sign-on and automated patient lookup. However, Netcare is specifically designed to prevent more than one instance at a time. This is a safety measure. It prevents contamination of one Netcare chart display with information from a different chart.

Solution: The inability to open Netcare within more than one chart at a time is a 'feature' of the Netcare software. We do not anticipate this changing anytime soon. Prescribers wanting to open Netcare within Connect Care are advised to either open only one Connect Care chart at a time or to close Netcare before switching to a second opened Connect Care chart wherein Netcare is to be re-launched.