Learn how AngelTrack calculates patient offload time, and discover what reports are available for it.
Definition
For an EMS transport, AngelTrack defines patient offload time as the interval between the following events:
- Time arrived at destination, as noted by the time punch (editable in the Followup page); and
- Whichever of these two events occurs first:
- "Transfer of care" signature time, if it was collected after arrival at destination; otherwise,
- Time returned to service, as noted by the time punch (editable in the Followup page).
The "Transfer of care" signature is calculated as the first (earliest) signature collected on any of the following electronic forms:
- Receiving Facility Transfer of Care
- Receiving Facility Refusal to Sign
- Patient Discharge
- Patient Discharge Against Medical Advice
Corrections to Signature Times
If the captured signature time on any electronic signature form is wrong for whatever reason, the attending can use the PCR-Signatures page to correct it before sending the report to QA. However, all such edits to signature times are noted in the dispatch's journal.
Sanity Checks
Dropoffs are sometimes hectic and so the "Transfer of care" signature doesn't always get collected at the time we would like. Therefore, if AngelTrack sees a "Transfer of care" signature time which does not land within the inteverval between patient contact (eTimes.07) and returning to service (eTimes.13), AngelTrack will report a transfer of care time (eTimes.12) equal to the time returned to service (eTimes.13).
If a call occurs during the Daylight Savings Time "fall back" period, when the clock changes from 02:00 back to 01:00, any timestamp landing in the time period of 01:00 to 02:00 is ambiguous, because that time period occurs twice. In this situation AngelTrack will automatically put all "eTimes" fields in proper order, as well as the time-performed fields of all procedure records.
APOT Reports
You can use the following built-in reports to monitor your average patient offload time:
- Dispatches Runtimes and Lates
- Dropoff Delays Report
- Dropoff Delays Comparison Report
Note: The two "Dropoff Delays" reports show the total time spent at destination, including cleanup and decontamination delays occurring after patient transfer.
You can also roll your own reports using the following datasets in the Data Hub:
- Dispatches-Overview
- Dispatches-Runtimes
When using the Dispatches-Runtimes dataset, note the differences in these three columns:
- Minutes at Destination: The total time between arriving at destination and returning to service, thus including cleanup and decontamination delays occurring after patient transfer.
- Minutes Total: The grand total time between crew activation and returning to service, also known as TOT.
- Minutes to Patient Offload: The total time between arriving at destination and collecting the "Transfer of care" signature (described above), if any such signature was collected while at the destination; otherwise, the total time between arriving at destination and returning to service.
If you have a Report Builder license, then take a look at these canned reports, you can use them as starting points for a custom APOT report:
- Transports - Dialysis Dropoff Times by Facility - Past 90
- Transports - ER Dropoff Times - Past 90