PointClickCare won’t load on the second floor. The med pass starts in twenty minutes. Someone needs to decide, quickly, whether this is a five-minute blip or the start of a long night on paper. That decision is usually made by a charge nurse with no IT background, and it goes much better when the facility worked out the answer ahead of time.
This checklist is for administrators and directors of nursing who want that answer written down before the next outage. It covers how to tell where the problem is, when to switch to downtime procedures, and what IT should have set up in advance so the switch is easy.
First, find out whether it’s PointClickCare or your building
PointClickCare is a cloud application. The software runs in PointClickCare’s data centers, not in your facility. So “PointClickCare is down” can mean two very different things, and the fix depends on which one it is.
- Check another website on the same computer. If nothing loads, the problem is your internet connection, Wi-Fi or that workstation, not PointClickCare.
- Check another device and another unit. One computer failing points to that machine. A whole wing failing points to a Wi-Fi access point or network switch. The whole building failing points to the internet line or firewall.
- Try from a phone on cellular data. If PointClickCare loads on cellular but not inside the building, the problem is local. If it fails everywhere, it may be on PointClickCare’s side.
- Check PointClickCare’s status and support channels. If the vendor is reporting an incident, there is nothing your IT team can fix, and the question becomes how long you can wait.
Writing these four checks on a card at each nurses’ station turns a vague complaint into a useful report: “Second floor only, other sites load, phones on cellular are fine.” That one sentence saves your IT provider most of the troubleshooting.
Decide in advance when to go to paper
The most common mistake is waiting too long. Staff keep refreshing the screen, the med pass slips, and by the time someone calls the outage there is a backlog of care that was given but not documented.
Set a rule your charge nurses can follow without calling anyone. For example: if the EHR is unavailable for a set number of minutes, or the outage overlaps a scheduled med pass, start downtime procedures. The exact number is a clinical decision for your DON and administrator, but it should be a number, not a judgment call made at 2 a.m.
PointClickCare’s own guidance for its eMAR Backup tool makes the same point: each facility should define in its emergency plan when the backup reports are used.
What IT should have in place before the outage
Downtime procedures only work if the pieces behind them were set up and tested. This is the part your IT provider owns.
- eMAR backup on a dedicated computer. PointClickCare offers an eMAR Backup tool that downloads MAR and TAR reports to a designated computer every hour and keeps recent copies on its hard drive. PointClickCare’s guide calls for that computer and a printer to be on backup power. If the backup computer shares a power strip with the coffee maker, it will not be there when the power goes out.
- A check that the backup is current. The backup only helps if the newest file is recent. Someone should confirm on a schedule that new files are arriving, not discover during an outage that the download stopped weeks ago.
- A second internet connection. When the outage is your internet line, a backup connection from a different provider, or a cellular failover device, can keep the floor online. The firewall needs to be configured to switch over automatically.
- Wi-Fi coverage you can trust. Med carts move. Dead spots in a hallway or at the end of a wing cause “PointClickCare is down” calls that are really Wi-Fi problems.
- Printed contact sheets. The IT help desk number, the PointClickCare support number and your facility account details should be on paper at each nurses’ station, because they are usually stored in the system that is down.
After the outage: close the loop
When the EHR comes back, staff must enter what they documented on paper. PointClickCare’s guide notes that actions recorded during the outage have to be transcribed into the system afterward. Plan who does that and by when, especially after a long outage that spans a shift change.
Then hold a short review. How long was the outage? Where was the problem? How long did it take to go to paper? Did the backup reports print? CMS requires long-term care facilities to analyze and document actual emergencies as part of emergency preparedness testing, so a real outage is also a chance to document an exercise your plan already requires.
The short version
- Teach staff four quick checks to tell a building problem from a PointClickCare problem.
- Set a clear, time-based rule for when to start downtime procedures.
- Keep the eMAR backup computer and printer on backup power, and check that files are current.
- Add a backup internet connection and fix Wi-Fi dead spots.
- Review every outage and document it for your emergency preparedness plan.
RDE Technologies supports skilled nursing facilities with managed IT, backups, network and wireless setup, and HIPAA-ready security. Start with our free HIPAA security risk assessment, a one-hour remote session with a written report within 5 days, or read how we provide IT support for skilled nursing facilities.
Sources: PointClickCare, eMAR Backup User Guide; 42 CFR 483.73, emergency preparedness requirements for long-term care facilities.