With the upcoming anticipated Hurricane Florence scheduled to make contact in North Carolina, here are a few tips to ensure your ability to effectively administer medications.
1) Ensure your laptops stay fully charged, and that your laptop batteries and power cords are in good shape and working properly.
2) If your facility loses internet connectivity, please keep in mind that QUICKMAR will allow you to continue to chart orders as long as you have MED ASSURE turned on, on each laptop and as long as the laptop has power.
3) QuickMAR will run EMERGENCY MARS each night at 11:59pm automatically and save them to your laptop. However, you will need to ensure this feature is turned on AND that you know the password to retrieve the MARs.
- To ensure Med Assure and EMERGENCY MARS is turned on, follow these steps on EACH laptop:
- Click on ADMIN on the top tool bar and then OPTIONS
- Ensure the box is checked that reads ‘ENABLE MED ASSURE
- Check the box that reads ‘DOWNLOAD EMERGENCY MARS’
- Press SAVE
- Follow these steps to ensure you know your emergency MARs password:
- Click on Admin, then Settings, and then Facility Settings
- On the GENERAL tab – you will see the box where your password is located. Please make note of this password somewhere.
4) If the facility loses internet, remember that you will not be receiving any new orders from the pharmacy, so your staff will need to enter new orders directly into the laptop in which the resident resides.
5) If you feel that your facility will lose internet AND power, please plan ahead and print your MARs/TARs so that you will have a backup in case the power stays out, longer than the battery life of the laptops.
- a. Please keep in mind that you don’t want to print the MARs too early ahead of the onset of the storm, as you want the MARs to be as correct and up-to-date as possible with order change
6) If you decide to evacuate, it will be necessary for you to print MARs, but also take your laptops with you to the destination.
If you have any questions, concerns, issues or need any help please do not hesitate to contact me. I will be happy to assist in any way I can.
Thank you and stay safe!
Barbara Elden
eMAR Director
Southern Pharmacy Services
252.521.2898 | barbara.elden@southrx.com
