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Breaking the SoftBank interface


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My hospital recently went live with EPIC’s BPAM module, because of which we had to increase the amount of data being sent across the interface (more OBX segments cross into EPIC for the patient/product matching aspect).

 

The Transfusion Service uses Softbank and we've discovered one the main Soft interfaces into EPIC can only process so many lines of data at one time. How did we discover this?  We broke the interface! One massively transfused patient sent across so much data that it crashed.

 

Soft is currently working on a fix for this, but the main workaround they gave is to limit the number of products you can crossmatch/dispense on each order (recommended max =16) and create a new order when that amount is exceeded.

For most patients this isn’t a problem, however I am at a loss for what to do with the massive bleeders. In order to be electronically crossmatched the red cell product needs to be on the same order number as the Type and Screen. So when a liver transplant takes a turn for the worse and you transfuse 80 crossmatched red cell units emergently, what do you do? It seems ethically wrong to flip to the uncrossmatched status just because the software doesn't like more than 16 units on one order. Another suggestion was to create "fake" type and screen specimens for each set of 16 units, which also doesn't sit well with me.

 

Does anyone else have Soft and come across this problem?

 

Thanks!!

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We use Softbank and will start using Epic this May. When we have a massive bleeder and need to make multiple

order numbers, we have the option of linking the new order number(s) to the type and screen. That way Softbank

knows there is a valid workup and we can continue with electronic xmatches.

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6 hours ago, soozmlt said:

We use Softbank and will start using Epic this May. When we have a massive bleeder and need to make multiple

order numbers, we have the option of linking the new order number(s) to the type and screen. That way Softbank

knows there is a valid workup and we can continue with electronic xmatches.

You can link order numbers??? That would be amazing!

I'm going to reach out and ask SCC about this, but would it be possible to get a little bit more information about how the process works?

Thank you!!

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All of our orders are done through Order Entry in Softlab. In Softlab, create a new order number containing the products you need to select.

Then, when you go to select the units, Soft will give a pop-up box that says patient has a T&S would you like to link this new order to that order.

Just click yes and you should be good to go.

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  • 5 years later...

We use SoftBank and Epic BPAM as well and have encountered this issue a few times.  We primarily handle MTP patients usage on 'dummy' patients to get uncrossmatched units to the patients more quickly.  Because we have so many activations - we assign an expiration date to the dummy patient's MTP order number.  Orders are renewed on Mondays for the dummy account to help with preventing the interface crash that happens when too many units are assigned to a single order.

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We have Epic with BPAM, Beaker and SoftBank. I haven't run into this issue or ever heard of it! 

Similar to @applejw, we have dummy patients that our traumas start out with, and those get reconciled after the urgent event. We do also do MTPs using the patient's MRN and real info. We are not creating orders in Epic for these extra products though, we order them in Softbank, in Order>Modify and just lines of product orders to the existing order. The original order must come from Epic, and everything we add in Order>Modify is considered an unsolicited order. Our policy allows this of course, but anything we order unsolicited does not have the matching Epic Transfuse order, meaning that BPAM will NOT work with those units. That said, our OR's OpTime module in Epic does not utilize BPAM, so they don't have issues with scanning these unsolicited products. Anywhere else in the hospital would not be able to scan the products using BPAM, because there is no Transfuse order and no matching product order in Epic. All of the unsolicited products are visible in Epic, they just bypass the BPAM process. We have a paper form that is used for charting in these instances where it's not being done in the OR, and the staff prefer this because Epic's transfuse module is NOT set up for massives, the paper is quicker! 

We also only crossmatch the first 10 units in a massive anyway, essentially making everything beyond that type compatible emergency release. 

@Eagle Eye - we had Safetrace before we switched to Softbank last January, and yes, when you got to 100 units it would crap out and you'd have to order a new product order. (insert eye roll here!)

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