What—The Unscheduled Downtime Utility allows IS Support Staff for MGH Order Entry to write a General Care Other Order on all patients in the current inpatient census.
This order reads: "POE experienced an unscheduled downtime from _(date/time)_ to _(date/time)_. Please check the medical record for orders that may have been written on paper during that time." The order is signed by MGHOE Systems.
The order must be transcribed and RN reviewed. It remains active until it is discontinued manually or by activation of a special session.
Why—To inform clinicians that patients may have orders on paper that were written during an unscheduled Order Entry downtime.
When—The Chief Nurse, Chief Medical Officer, or Administrator-on-Call at MGH decides that orders must be written on paper during and unscheduled Order Entry downtime. Generally, this decision would only be made for an unplanned downtime that continues long enough to compromise patient care.