We have been hard at work! We are thrilled to share the new features, improvements and bug fixes that we have released so far this month. This article walks through each major update, which roles are impacted, and how-tos for new workflows.
New Features
Auto-closure and auto-locking of encounters
Role(s): All with access
Encounters can be automatically marked as closed or locked after a specified amount of time has passed after a specified action on the encounter occurs. For example, encounters can be automatically marked as closed 24 hours after the encounter is opened and/or marked as locked 72 hours after the encounter was last updated. These automated actions prevent encounters from being left open indefinitely, which prevents the editing of encounters in perpetuity and the obscuring of metrics on ongoing support (when designated by the number of open encounters at a given time).
At this time, it is possible to apply the above to:
1. All encounters created across all roles in your instance of the August Schools platform, OR
2. All encounters created just by nurses in your instance of the August Schools platform, AND/OR
3. All encounters created just by counselors in your instance of the August Schools platform
We will let you know as we accommodate these auto-closure and auto-lock rules for additional roles, at which time you will be able to specify these additional rules. Your Customer Success Manager will reach out to confirm these preferences.
Re-opening closed and locked encounters
Role(s): Manager, SysAdmin
Users with either the Manager or Sysadmin roles can now change the status of an encounter from closed or locked to open.
To re-open an encounter:
1. Navigate to Encounters → History
2. Search for the locked or closed encounter
3. Select the row for the encounter from the table to open the encounter
4. Select the ‘Re-Open’ button next to the ‘Export PDF’ button to the top right of the encounter
CSV exports for student data for Clinic aides
Role(s): Clinic Aide
Clinic aides can now download several, curated .csv exports of specific student data from the Students → Roster page.
To download a .csv export:
1. Navigate to Students → Roster
2. Hover over the ‘Download’ button towards the top right
3. Expand the list of available exports by hovering first over ‘Clinic aide’ then ‘Students’
4. Select the desired .csv export from the list
Filter bubbles on Immunizations Import page
Role(s): Nurse, Clinic Aide
The Import immunization records page now has filter bubbles above the table of imported records that allow the user to narrow the records to those that have the desired import status.
The filter bubble options are:
All: shows all records
Queued: shows records that the platform has queued for reading by the Robo-Nurse and thus have not yet been imported
Processing: shows records whose document is still being read by the Robo-Nurse
Need inspection: shows records that were read by the Robo-Nurse but required manual review and fixes, as needed, before being moved to student record; please note that this status persists on the record to denote the record required manual input.
Finished: shows records whose documents were read by the Robo-Nurse completely. This can include records that were found to need inspection
In Progress: shows records whose documents were read but still need to be imported to the student record
Failed: shows all records for which the import failed to read the information (e.g., shot dates, immunization types)
Professional credentials for users
Role(s): Manager, SysAdmin
Users with the SysAdmin role can now input the professional credentials of platform users on the Users page. The user can input the credential (e.g., Medical Doctor), the credential identification number (e.g., NPI), and the credential end date. The credential abbreviation (e.g., MD) will populate the ‘Licenses’ column on the Users table, and the information will live on the user’s record in the backend for future use.
This improvement is an important step towards facilitating additional workflows such as billing for school-based services, which often requires recognizing and providing the credential of the school-based provider. More work is forthcoming to surface these credential prefixes or suffixes throughout the platform.
To input credentials on an existing user:
1. Navigate to the User page
2. Locate the row for the appropriate user
3. Click on the row for the appropriate user
4. Select the ‘Edit’ button
5. Select the appropriate credential in the ‘Credentials’ field
6. Enter the credential identification number in the field whose name ends with ‘identification number’
7. Enter the credential expiration date in the field whose name ends with ‘expiration date’
Surfacing encounters for which a faculty member is the subject
Role(s): All with access
When a faculty member is selected as the subject of an encounter, the encounter is now visible on a new ‘Encounters’ tab on the faculty record on the Faculty → Staff page.
To access the encounters for a given faculty member:
1. Navigate to Faculty → Staff page
2. Click on the row in the table for the appropriate faculty member
3. Select the ‘Encounters’ tab on the Faculty card
4. Click on the row in the table for the desired encounter
Role visibility for Student Groups
Role(s): All with access
Users can now specify to which of their roles a student group they create should be visible. Groups that were created prior to this change are now only visible to the roles of the user who created the group at the time of creation.
To set the visibility of a student group:
1. Navigate to Students → Roster
2. Select the ‘Create student group’ button
3. Select the appropriate role(s) in the ‘Visible to roles’ multi-select dropdown menu
Product Improvements
Improved plan PDF generation experience
Role(s): Nurse, Counselor, Learning Specialist
Users with access to the Plans feature can click a ‘Generate plans’ button to produce a PDF of the plan forms they completed. When the user selects this button, the platform will generate at least two PDFs: one PDF for each individual form that the use filled out for the plan, and one that collates all these forms into one.
This generation is particularly important for users who may need to complete more than form for a given plan concern. For example, for an accommodation concern, there may be a form to complete as part of an evaluation and another to complete to describe the nature of the accommodation(s); and both together may constitute the official accommodation plan for the student.
To generate PDFs for a plan:
1. Navigate to the Plans page
2. Click on the appropriate row for the student
3. Select the appropriate plan concern next to the ‘+’ button
4. Select the ‘Generate files’ button
5. The platform will take a moment to generate the files
Platform no longer automatically overriding Immunization status when meeting ‘No records’ criteria
Role(s): Nurse, Clinic Aide
We have disabled the automatic overriding of Immunization status to ‘No records’ when the student’s record has none of the state-required immunizations on file. Therefore, manual overrides to the student’s immunization status will persist despite the student not having any of the required immunizations.
Past conditions and allergies no longer displaying prominently on Student Card
Role(s): Nurse, Clinic Aide
When a student’s allergy or condition record status changes to ‘past’ (e.g., the end date of the record has past), there will no longer be a condition or allergy tag at the top of the student card for the record.
Age and grade displayed next to student name on Immunization Record
Role(s): Nurse, Clinic Aide
When the user opens a student’s immunization record on Immunizations → Student, the pop-up window displays the student’s age and grade next to their name. This helps the user confirm whether they are viewing and/or editing the appropriate record.
New Counselor file tag option
Role(s): Counselor
When the counselor goes to add a tag to a file uploaded to the student record, the counselor will see the following new option(s) available:
- Consent for disclosure
New Nurse Treatment option added to dropdown menu
Role(s): Nurse, Clinic Aide
When the nurse uses the Treatment field in an encounter, the nurse will see the following new option(s) available:
- Observation → Check blood ketones
Bug Fixes
Resolve Student support team tag issue
Role(s): Student Support Team
We resolved an issue where Student Tags added by users with the Student support team were not persisting. They now persist on the Student Card.
‘No records’ option re-added to Immunizations status filter on Student Roster
Role(s): Nurse, Clinic Aide
We have restored the ability to filter the student roster by the absence of immunization records on the student’s record, as denoted by selecting the ‘No records’ option when using the filter on the ‘Immunization status’ column.
To filter the roster by student immunization status:
1. Navigate to the Students → Roster page
2. Select the filter button on the ‘Immunization records’ column
3. Select the ‘No records’ option
Questions or Concerns?
Please do not hesitate to reach out to the August Schools Support Team at via live chat with the "Help" icon or via email at [email protected]. The product roadmap can be found here at this link, and you can submit feature requests here at this link.