AngelTrack automatically synchronizes with your state so as to present any custom fields and any custom picklist values published by the trauma registry.
Background
Every state collects EMS data in the NEMSIS format. Part of that format is an extension system, by which a state, a county, and/or an agency can add custom fields, as well as custom picklist values to existing fields.
Your state may publish a few new fields, and/or new picklist values for existing fields... or it may stick to the basic set dictated by the standard.
All such extensions to the dataset are published by states and counties in a format called StateDataSet. It is an XML document that describes the extended fields and values, in a way that software can understand and present to the user.
The StateDataSet documents published by states all live in a national repository named NEMSIS TAC. The StateDataSet documents published by counties are either offered for download from the county EMS office's website, or by contacting the county EMS administrator via email.
Each extension within the StateDataSet has a usage level:
- Mandatory
- Required
- Recommended
- Optional
Here are some relevant knowledgebase articles:
Automatic Import of State Custom Items
AngelTrack automatically imports your state's custom extensions, so that they appear in the PCR for use by crews.
The automatic import occurs once a week on Sundays, so whenever your state publishes a new StateDataSet, it will appear in AngelTrack within 7 days.
You can control which usage levels are automatically imported: mandatory, required, recommended, and/or optional. By default AngelTrack automatically imports items marked 'mandatory' and 'required'; items marked 'recommended' or 'optional' are not by default auto-imported because some states publish enormous numbers of them (hundreds and hundreds!) and they may not apply at all to a BLS-level provider. You can control which usage levels AngelTrack automatically imports by visiting your Preferences page (under Settings) and finding the NEMSIS section.
If you configure AngelTrack to not import the 'recommended' and/or 'optional' items, you can still manually import your state's StateDataSet at any time, and then deactivate specific items that do not apply to your caseload. This would be a good way to handle the situation in a state that publishes 300+ optional fields which badly clutter up the PCR and do not apply to most providers.
Automatic Deactivation / Automatic Reactivation
During any automatic import of a StateDataSet, AngelTrack will reactivate any items still published by the state which are found to be marked inactive in your server.
Likewise for any custom picklist values.
Furthermore, AngelTrack will deactivate any items that were installed by a previous StateDataSet but which are no longer present in the current StateDataSet. Any associated data remains unchanged; the deactivated fields simply stop appearing in any new PCRs.
Manual Import of StateDataSet
You always have the option to manually import your state's StateDataSet whenever you like, and include whichever usage levels you like, by visiting the Custom EMS PCR Fields item (under Settings) and clicking the importer.
You can even do a dry run, to see what fields are included by various usage levels.
We recommend doing a dry run before importing fields in the 'optional' usage level, because there may be vast numbers and they may not apply to your caseload.
You also have the option to deactivate and reactivate custom fields freely. You might leave AngelTrack configured to auto-import your state's 'mandatory' and 'required' fields, but handle any 'recommended' and 'optional' fields in a manual import and then deactivate some of them on a case-by-case basis. For example, if you do not offer ventilator procedures, then you would deactivate the many ventilator-related custom fields that some states publish.
No Automatic Import of County Custom Items
There is no standard repository for county-level StateDataSet documents, so AngelTrack has no automatic importer for counties. You are responsible for keeping up with your county's custom fields and custom pick-list values by re-importing its StateDataSet document into AngelTrack whenever the county publishes a new one.
The importer is located on the Custom EMS PCR Fields List page, under Settings.
Moving Fields Around
With some limits, you can move your state's custom fields to different places within the PCR, if you don't like the locations automatically chosen by AngelTrack during the import.
However, any fields which live on these pages:
- PCR-Vitals
- PCR-Assessment
- PCR-ECG
- PCR-Procedure
- PCR-IV
- PCR-Meds
- PCR-Airway
...are pinned to those particular records, and so may not upload correctly to your state if you move them so that they attach to different locations within a chart.