Clinical incidents

A medication workstation loses access to a clinical service. The desk analyst records the affected service, asset, priority and assignee. On capture, the incident is acknowledged and a first response event is recorded; starting investigation adds an attributed update. A clinical service impact record names the affected care service, patient care impact and clinical owner. The responder attaches the downtime procedure when used, then records restoration and resolution.

The response event captures who acknowledged the incident and when. Investigation creates an attributed update; a later update belongs to its own author and incident. The service manager can compare the opened, acknowledged and resolved times without assuming that acknowledgment means restoration.

• Triage. The Clinical Service Desk Analyst selects the service, asset, priority and assigned responder.
• Response. The Incident Responder follows the acknowledgment event and adds investigation findings to the incident history.
• Care impact. Link a separate impact record when care is delayed or unavailable, with the clinical owner and procedure attachment.

The incident moves through Open, Acknowledged, Investigating, Resolved and Closed. Keep those states distinct when handing work between shifts. An investigation update explains what was checked; it does not by itself close the interruption.

Agree who assigns urgent cases, who covers acknowledgment after hours and which clinical owner confirms care impact. Map the service and asset references so responders can distinguish a workstation fault from an application-wide interruption. Decide when to attach the downtime procedure and how to record a return to service.

Test the access boundary with an incident assigned to another responder. The service manager should see the queue, but the assigned responder should carry the investigation. Check that the first response event and subsequent update retain their own times and people.

Rehearse an interruption on a named service. Capture the incident, inspect the acknowledgment event and begin investigation. Confirm the update identifies its author and is linked to the same incident. If care was delayed, have the clinical owner review the separate impact record and attached procedure.

Compare the case after a shift change. The incoming responder should be able to identify the next action from the current status, service and dated updates. Resolve only after the restoration evidence is recorded, then let the service manager review the history before closure.

The service manager can compare the incident’s priority with its status during the next queue review. If the case is still Investigating, the latest attributed update should say what was checked and what remains open. The clinical owner sees the care consequence through the linked impact record, while the responder continues to own technical restoration.

• Open Clinical Incidents — Review the filtered records and choose the next action.
• My Clinical Incidents — Open related records before the handoff.

Follow the related process.