Increase Character Limit

We are attempting to use console as a place to keep track of problems and we need more characters to add in comments.

This is an issue on the AP side as well. When adding new vendors, we can not add a full name/business/etc to match a W-9 as their is not enough character spaces. It is the same way on the AKA line and the address line. We have to abbreviate names and for tax purposes we should not be doing that. In looking at the printed checks there is plenty of space to add more characters. The abbreviated names could also be the reasoning behind lost checks in the mail.

This is a problem everywhere in the system. It is a problem in registration, pharmacy, nursing, when naming scanned documents, etc.

This has been an issue in Thrive UX and Web Client. Order entry for nursing, ancillary and pharmacy

This is a huge patient safety issue, and I feel does not meet best practice criteria, especially in pharmacy. This cannot be fixed soon enough and should be escalated immediately!

Also within Flowchart Questions and Answers. I have to get really creative sometimes to fit what needs to be added within the character limits, especially the answers.

I agree with Guest below. I am currently trying to go through the pharmacy item master and standardize our item names. However, on most medications I can't fit all the necessary information. To give a specific example, I end up having to cut the end off of medication names (acetylcysteine) just so I can include the name brand (Mucomyst vs Acetadote), when truly both pieces of information are very important. I am aware I can put the brand name in as an alternate name, but when a provider searches "acetyl" and all they can see is acetylcysteine without the name brand, it would be very easy to choose the wrong one. They can't see the alternate name. If they choose the wrong one, then the Pyxis will not dispense the correct medication, leading to confusion and delays in getting Acetadote, a very important antidote, to the patient.

Vaccines are an absolute nightmare in this case and it has lead to several medication errors because I cannot fit all the information I want in the item master name. For example, Engerix-b is the hepatitis B vaccine. Its hard enough just to fit the brand and generic name and strength/volume. But then you need to differentiate age. All we could fit was "ped" and "adult" to differentiate. However, the "adult" dose of Engerix-b is only approved for 20 years of age and older, therefore 18 and 19 year olds receive the "ped" dose. Several patients have incorrectly received the 20 years + dose of the vaccine because it says "adult" and in general, 18 and 19 year olds are considered adults, but they should have received the pediatric dose. This is a huge issue with the COVID vaccines as well.

There are many medications where it would be optimal to have the concentration per ml listed along with the overall strength and volume. For example, propofol (Diprivan) 1,000mg/100ml vials. I have to choose between saying this is a 1,000mg/100ml vial or saying this is a 10mg/ml 100ml vial. For certain calculations, especially of bolus doses, it would be optimal to have the 10mg/ml concentration information, but for other situations it should also be easy to identify the total amount of drug in an entire vial without expecting the nurse to do math in a high stress situation.

This is nowhere near being an all inclusive list of the moments I have become frustrated and spent a lot of time and energy dealing with the character limit in the pharmacy item master. As I am going through the item master, probably every 10-15 drugs I run into an issue where I have to make choices I don't want to make. Hope this helps explain the issue at hand.

My idea DFE-I-493 falls right in line with this idea and is an area within the pharmacy that is an example. So the need for more characters isn't always in areas where users document...it's on setup screens as well.

Yes, this is a big issue through out the system, however the primary area we are needing more characters is in the pharmacy module. There is not enough characters to have complete drug builds without using abbreviations which is not standard of practice. There is not enough space for drug name, strength and dosage in the drug builds. All of the abbreviations make it hard for staff to find the medications in order entry, then they aren't sure if that is the right medication or drug combo because of the limited space. Pharmacy can not create drug builds for all necessary IV infusions, including antidotes. There is not enough character s to differentiate the different doses and volumes that are required based on pts weight. The character limit of the description/comment field with the drug build is so limited even a short piece of information can not be conveyed.

Also, we have issues with patients who have very long names as well as long addresses being fully captured. This again causes issues with finding the correct patient and mailing issues.

I have a lot more examples if needed.

Thanks!

Hi there, thank you for your feedback! Could you share some examples of areas in the system where you would like to see the character limit increased? Is this an issue that is mainly impacting Web Client, or does it also impact Thrive UX? Any examples or use cases where you are needing to document more than what the character limit allows will be very helpful as we evaluate future changes. Thanks again!

This is a problem every single day. I would add character limit is so restricted as to be unsafe; all necessary information cannot be added.