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You are here: Assignment Manager for General Users > Patient Assign Overview > Assigning Caregivers to Patients

Assigning Caregivers to Patients

If your configuration uses CareAware iBus to maintain personnel and patient data, Assignment Manager automatically checks that its caregiver and patient data matches the data on CareAware iBus. You can see the result of these checks with the Sync Status button. If all data are synchronized, the button is green and disabled: . If there are synchronization issues, the button is yellow and enabled: . Clicking the button opens the Assignment Sync Status window so that you can review the issues. See Understanding Assignment Manager Messages for more information.

Be aware that the Sync Status button applies to all data sent to CareAware iBus, not just the data displayed on the page you are currently viewing.

Assignment Manager automatically ends a patient’s current assignment once receiving a transfer out or discharge event from the Registration Import notification or from the iBus.

Complete the following steps to assign caregivers to patients:

  1. From the Assignment Manager menu, select Patient Assign. This opens the Patient Assign page in Summary by Patient view.
  2. By default, the page opens to the current date, the current shift, and the last profile you selected. If this information is acceptable, continue with step 3. To change this information:
    1. Enter a new date in the Date box or use the date menu. You can select any past date or a date up to 24 hours into the future.
    2. Select a profile from the Profiles menu.
    3. Select a shift category partition from the Shift Partition menu.
    4. Click Go. The page refreshes to display the selected information.
  3. In the Assign section of the toolbar, click Patients. The page refreshes to display the assignment view.
  4. If you want, you can click Continuity. This automatically assigns caregivers, by role, to the patients they had on previous shifts, if those caregivers are available. If more than one caregiver was assigned to the same patient in the same role within the defined number of hours, Assignment Manager selects the caregiver who cared for the patient most recently. In addition, if your facility is configured for iBus, Continuity also assigns caregivers based on their primary and secondary alert positions. Once you have all patients assigned for continuity, you can remove assignments for exceptions if you want. See Editing Patient Assignments for more information. See Configuring Patient Assign Settings for more information about setting Continuity assignment parameters.
  5. Select one or more caregiver rows by clicking on them. Drag the caregiver row or rows to the patient you want to assign them to and drop on the appropriate row. This assigns the caregivers to the patient. The caregivers display beneath the patient in the Patient table. Assignment Manager also updates the following information based on the new assignment: Assignment Manager also updates the patient's status.
    1. The patient's Care Hrs (Care Hours)
    2. The patient's Asgn Status (Assignment Status)
    3. The caregiver's Asgn Hrs (Assigned Hours), # Pts (Number of Patients), and (if your organization uses the optional Outcomes-Driven Acuity application) the patients' average acuity.
    4. The caregiver's Unasgn Hrs (Unassigned Hours) or % Asgn (Percent Assigned), depending on your selected Patient Assign settings. How many caregiver rows appear under each patient name depends on your configuration. Facilities configured for CareAware iBus display two rows by default, one with a Primary alert icon and one with a Secondary alert icon . Facilities configured for CareAware iBus and using the Suppress Secondary Caregiver Row feature display only one row with the Primary alert icon. Facilities not using CareAware iBus display a single row with no icons.
  6. If you want, you can change the caregiver's role for this patient by selecting a new role from the menu in the caregiver-patient assignment row. For example, you might change a caregiver's role from Direct 100% RN Hr to Preceptor 50% RN Hr, if the caregiver is acting as a preceptor for that patient. If the caregiver is assuming more than one role for the patient, select the caregiver row from the Caregiver table and drag the row to the patient a second time. Select the second role for the caregiver. The roles list is set in your Patient Assign Settings.
  7. If you want, you can change the caregiver's assignment start time or end time or both by entering the new time in the time boxes of the caregiver-patient assignment row.
  8. If your configuration includes the optional CareAware iBus, you can also assign a secondary caregiver for alert purposes. Drag the caregiver row from the Caregiver table and drop it on the patient's Secondary Caregiver row, as marked by the Secondary icon .
  9. Click Save.

More Information about Assigning Caregivers to Patients

You can set how Patient Assign alert messages display caregiver and patient names. You can set which patient identifiers Patient Assign displays and how, such as whether the identifiers appear on the page, when you hover over a patient's name, or both. In addition, you can set whether a Gender column displays for caregivers, patients, or both. See Configuring Facility Settings: The Patient and Caregiver Identifiers Tab for more information.

You can sort the tables by clicking the table headings. Clicking once sorts in ascending order; clicking twice sorts in descending order.

How the table sorts names depends on your Patient and Caregiver Identifier configuration.

Positioning your pointer over a name or caregiver abbreviation displays the full name in a tooltip. You can also position your pointer over a patient's Care Hours value to see the skills and care time the patient needs. You can position your pointer over the Status icons () to see the patient's assignment status.

You can save time when assigning caregivers to patients by using multi-select.

  1. Click the row of each caregiver you want to assign.
  2. Select one or more patients by clicking their rows.
  3. Drag your selected caregivers to the patients.

If your configuration uses state-mandated ratios, be aware that Assignment Manager will not allow you to exceed the Nurse: Patient ratio. That is, if your ratio is four patients per caregiver, Assignment Manager will not allow you to assign five patients to a caregiver. Managers can set the state-mandated ratio on the Demand Manager Location Settings page.

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