Overview

Aline eMAR is designed to allow users to continue to perform the vast majority of functions in the event of a power and/or internet outage. The sections below will provide instructions for before, during, and after an emergency based on your community’s specific situation.

ALINE CUSTOMER SUPPORT WILL BE AVAILABLE 24/7 FOR THE DURATION OF THE EMERGENCY JUST AS THEY ARE 365 DAYS A YEAR.

Phone: 888-339-7050         Email: helpdesk@alineops.com

Before the Storm/Emergency

• Ensure you have a plan in place for relocating your medication dispensing units (carts) and their contents.
• Locate the power supply for your medication dispensing laptop
• Contact Aline Customer Support to obtain offline authorization codes for each of your local install devices prior to the storm/emergency as phone and internet services are typically impacted. These devices will show a Wifi Symbol in the lower corner of the application. Customer Support will provide an offline authorization code that will allow your staff to continue to document administrations in Aline eMAR for four days from the time the code is provided.
• Aline Customer Support will proactively adjust the offline lockout threshold for each community located in a state that is in the path of a hurricane to alleviate the need for an offline code for the first week of the emergency. The threshold will automatically be set back to its original community setting one week after the hurricane makes landfall. Should the community be offline for longer than a week they can then use the offline authorization codes obtained above or contact Aline Customer Support via phone or email for new codes.
• It is also a good idea to print a copy of the paper MAR to have on hand. See Appendix D: How to Run Reports.
• Many of our clients notify their interfacing pharmacy that they are initiating emergency procedures or evacuating. This tells the pharmacy to expect an influx of change logs from users making changes directly in the system when internet connectivity is restored and informs the pharmacy that deliveries may need to be made to alternate locations.

During the Storm/Emergency

During the storm or emergency while sheltering in place:

• Users should continue to chart medications administrations in Aline eMAR as well as complete the electronic Controlled Substance Count if applicable to your community.
• If you use the Controlled Substance Count feature and there is an internet or power outage, it is VERY IMPORTANT to ensure users are charting administrations from the same device that they will be counting the medications from. Charting from multiple locations will cause count discrepancies.
• If you lose power, you can continue to use Aline eMAR as long as the battery on the medication dispensing laptop has a sufficient charge.
• If your pharmacy remains opened, and your community maintains internet connectivity and power during the event, you will continue to receive updates to orders in Aline eMAR for the duration of the event. In the event that power and/or internet connectivity are lost, users will need to manually update orders in the system. See Appendix B for details on entering orders
• If your pharmacy is closed or you have lost power/internet connectivity, all updates in the system will need to be made by your users. See Appendix A for instructions on adding/updated residents and Appendix B for instructions on adding orders.
• Appendix C and D contain instructions for adding new users and accessing reports

During the storm or emergency when evacuating:

• Aline eMAR is accessible from ANY internet connected device (desktop, laptop, tablet) and users should continue to utilize the system as long as internet connectivity and power are maintained at the shelter during the evacuation. Aline Customer Support can provide you with your community’s specific website for accessing Aline eMAR 24/7/365 from any location.

After the Storm/Emergency

After the storm or emergency when sheltering in place:

• Users should continue to chart medication administrations in Aline eMAR as well as complete the electronic Controlled Substance Count if applicable to your community.
• If you use the Controlled Substance Count feature and there is an internet or power outage, it is VERY IMPORTANT to ensure users are charting administrations from the same device that they will be counting the medications from. Charting from multiple locations will cause count discrepancies.
• Once power and internet connectivity are restored all data that is stored locally on the devices will begin to sync and all devices will reflect the current data. Depending on the duration of the outage, this may take several hours.
• If your pharmacy remains opened, and your community maintains internet connectivity and power during the event, you will continue to receive updates to orders in Aline eMAR for the duration of the event. In the event that power and/or internet connectivity are lost, users will need to manually update orders in the system. See Appendix B for details on entering orders
• If your pharmacy is closed or you have lost power/internet connectivity, all updates in the system will need to be made by your users. See Appendix A for instructions on adding/updated residents and Appendix B for instructions on adding orders.
• Appendix C and D contain instructions for adding new users and accessing reports

After the storm or emergency when evacuating:

• Aline eMAR is accessible from ANY internet connected device (desktop, laptop, tablet) and users should continue to utilize the system as long as internet connectivity and power are maintained at the shelter during the evacuation. Aline Customer Support can provide you with your community’s specific website for accessing Aline eMAR 24/7/365 from any location.
• Upon return to your community, users should reinstall any devices that were removed from medcarts (laptops, scanners, etc.) and return to normal operations.

Appendix A: How to add or update a resident

1. Sign into eMAR by Aline
2. Select “Maintenance”
3. Select “Resident Maintenance”
4. Enter the following information
   1. First Name
   2. Last Name
   3. Location
   4. Date of Birth
   5. Gender
5. Click “Save”

Resident Maintenance is where resident information such as admitted state and active/LOA/Hospital state can be updated as well.

Note: that is always best practice to add/update residents from the computer used for documenting their medication administrations. During an emergency it is essential as the changes may not sync to other devices due to power and internet outages.

Appendix B: How to add an order into eMAR by Aline

1. Sign into eMAR by Aline
2. Select “Maintenance”
3. Select “Order Maintenance”
4. Select “Add Order” in the top left corner
5. Enter the following information on the Order Detail screen
   1. Order Type
   2. Description
   3. Physician
6. Click “Review” in the bottom right
7. Enter the following information on the Order Sig Edit screen
   1. Instructions
   2. Quantity Per Dose
   3. Administration Type
8. Click on “Schedule” if the order is Routine and enter the following information
   1. Begin Time
   2. End Time
   3. Give Time
   4. Actions
9. Click Update on the Schedule Edit screen
10. Click Update on the Order Sig Edit screen
11. Click Save on the Order Detail screen

Note: that is always best practice to add/update orders from the computer used for documenting their medication administrations. During an emergency it is essential as the changes may not sync to other devices due to power and internet outages.

Appendix C: How to add or update a resident

1. Sign into eMAR by Aline
2. Select “Maintenance”
3. Select “User Maintenance”
4. Select “Add New”
5. Enter the following information
   1. First Name
   2. Last Name
   3. Username
   4. Password
      1. This will be a temporary password that will be changed by the user at first sign on
   5. Re-type Password
   6. User Type
   7. Role
6. Click “Save”

Note: It is recommended that users stay on one computer for the duration of the emergency as their new login credentials may not sync to other devices during an internet/power outage.

Appendix D: How to add or update a resident

1. Sign into eMAR by Aline
2. Select “Reports” In the top left
3. Click “Add” in the bottom right
4. Select the report you wish to view
5. Enter the necessary information
   1. Leaving the resident field blank will generate the report for all residents in the community. This is useful during emergencies for reports like the MAR and POS.
6. Click “Generate PDF”

Note: During internet/power outages, reports will only be current and accurate for changes made from the device where the report is being run.

Appendix E: How to add or update a resident

Access the eMAR by Aline User Guide by performing the following steps:

• Sign in to eMAR by Aline
• Select the Username in the top right corner
• Select “Help”
• Select “eMAR by Aline User Guide and Updates”

Alternatively, the following link will take you directly to the User Guide https://glennis.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/GLEN/overview?homepageId=15585607917

Download the Guide

Click here to download the eMAR Emergency Preparedness document. Once downloaded, this document can be used offline.