206H - Pharmacy FileMan and Query Tools

Rob Silverman, PharmD

LuAnne Barron, RPh

Goals and Objectives

• Compare and Contrast the utility of VA FileMan and the Query Tool in obtaining typical pharmacy data

• Practice report building and editing

• Understand the limitations of each method and the importance of validating your data

Sample Reports

• Outpatient pharmacy : List all the patients that are on simvastatin– Useful for MUE, drug recalls, formulary substitution, etc.

• Inpatient pharmacy: List all the patients that are on warfarin– Useful for daily clinical monitoring

• Canned Reports, for example:– Incomplete Orders– Abnormal Results

Outpatient Pharmacy – Which Tool to Use

• Query– Start with a predefined selection of patients

• Team or Clinic– Potentially runs faster– May be easier to reuse and share with others– Data is exportable

• FileMan – Select from among all patients– CPU intensive– Save as a FileMan sort and print template– Data is exportable

FileMan/Query Tool Comparison

Issue FileMan Query Tool

Start with ALL Patients? Yes No

Control Output Yes Maybe

System Performance Issues Yes Maybe

End user learn easily No Yes

Templates defined by user Yes Yes

Import to Excel spreadsheet Yes Yes

Inpatient Pharmacy – Which Tool to Use

• Patients on Specific Drugs Report (PSD)– An “old standby” report for many pharmacists– Not too slow once you get to know it– Retrieves orders that are ACTIVE as of a certain date– Difficult to save for reuse

Inpatient Pharmacy – Which Tool to Use

• Query Tool– May start out a little slower (not to mention the learning

curve), but gets faster with use– Retrieves orders that were WRITTEN as of a certain date

• May get some extra (DC’ed) orders in the report– Can be saved for daily reuse

• Modify and save a variation of an existing report– Exportable and shareable between colleagues– Different control over the data displayed

PSD/Query Tool Comparison

Issue Patients on Specific Drugs

Query Tool

Order selection algorithm

ACTIVE orders Date orders were WRITTEN

Reuse report daily No Yes

System resource usage

Average Starts Slow, gets much

faster

A little more about Query Tool

• It’s part of Care Management on the dashboard

Predefined and Custom

Queries

Step 1 – Select your group of patients

Step 2a – Select the timeframe of VISIT

Step 2b – Select the timeframe of RESULTS

Step 3 – Select what you’re looking for

Qualifiers:

Step 4 – Define your output

Step 5 – Save Custom Reports

Stored in 102.21

CPRS QUERY DEFINITION FILE

Ready to Run

Sensitive Patients

Results and Details

A little more about FileMan

Think of a filing cabinet with – drawers (files) - PRESCRIPTION– folders (records) – RX #901958– notes on the folder itself (flat fields)

• Patient Name, Drug, Quantity– papers inside the folders (multiple fields)

• Refill #1, Refill #2, Partial #1, CMOP Activity

FileMan functions

• INQUIRE – look at a record (a folder)• PRINT – look at a series of records

– Dynamic searching– A little bit of M

• SEARCH – look for a selected set of records– Static searches that can be saved– Logical

Data Validation

• Does Your Output Make Sense?Does Your Output Make Sense?

• Random SampleRandom Sample

• Time Or Single Events (Snowbirds)Time Or Single Events (Snowbirds)

• IntuitionIntuition

• Consult An ADPAC Or ExpertConsult An ADPAC Or Expert

What we’re going to do hands-on

• OUTPATIENT EXAMPLE– Patients on simvastatin (“active and suspended”) via

FileMan and Query• INPATIENT EXAMPLE

– Patients on warfarin via PSD (Patients on Selected Drugs) and Query

• Discussion of the CANNED QUERY REPORTS

Log On

•Access code: ##VEHU•Verify code: VEHU##

•If your name is not LuAnne Barron or Robert Parish, you are NOT number 00.

References

• Rob Silverman (Robert.Silverman2@med.va.gov)– 708-202-5040

• Tom Fagan (Thomas.Fagan@med.va.gov)– 804-675-5298

• FileMan documentation– http://vista.med.va.gov/fileman/index.asp

• Query documentation– http://vaww.vistau.med.va.gov/VistaU/CPRS/

rcprsevents.htm (see June 2003 section)

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Questions?