The Triage Booking List was developed by DATIS for Coordinated Access (COA), Toronto Central LHIN; and Ottawa Addiction Assessment Referral Service (OAARS), Champlain LHIN.  It was originally deployed in Catalyst for the Toronto Central LHIN on May 11, 2012.

Use this guide to navigate through the Triage Booking List used by COA and OAARS for booking clients.


Triage Form: Completing the Form - Steps for Referral Out by Triage Agency

Use the following steps to create a Triage Form in Catalyst:

  1. Search for the client in the Catalyst database using best practices so as not to create a duplicate client.
  2. If the client already exists, access the Client Information screen by clicking on the client’s name.
  3. If client does not exist, Add a Client.
  4. Minimum data is required in order to create a Triage form (site number, first name, last name, last name at birth, gender and date of birth).
  5. Scroll to the bottom and click on the Triage Form button. The order of the buttons is dependent on the number of agency/user privileges.
  6. Select Add Triage Form on the Triage Form List page.
  7. Start by getting consent from the client to collect the information and to share with partnering agencies. An answer of yes is required before you can proceed with saving.

    We need your permission to collect your personal and health information. We will need to share this information with our staff and between partnering agencies. Your information is private, and unless required by law, we will not give out your information to anyone else without your permission. Do you give consent to this?

    COA
    If you wish to revoke your permission at a later date please call 1-866-366-9513 and ask to speak with an Addictions Counsellor. Further information regarding the laws which permit our handling of your information can be found on our website at www.stmichaelshospital.com/privacy.php or speak with our Privacy Office by calling 416-864-6088.

    OAARS
    If you wish to revoke your permission at a later date or for further information regarding the laws which permit our handling of your information please call 613-241- 5202 and ask to speak to a Navigator.

  8. Continue to complete the form and save.
  9. Once the questions are completed, determine the services most suitable for the client; guidelines are provided within the form.
  10. Obtain the client’s consent to make the referral. Client must respond with the answer of Yes to the question. With your permission, I will share your information between the specific partnering agencies who will then contact you to arrange service(s). This process may include the referral agencies contacting each other or Coordinated Access in order to ensure your continual care. Do I have your consent for this?
  11. Up to 3 Referrals can be made from the one Triage and Referral Form. Even though the form has the option of inputting ‘Referral 1’, ‘Referral 2’, and ‘Referral 3’, the receiving agency will only see the information that pertains to their agency.
  12. Select an agency for ‘Referral 1’, this action automatically populates the selection list for the Services Required field with available services related to that selected agency.
  13. The lists of agencies that appear in the ‘Service Required’ fields are populated by DATIS from lists provided to them by the TRIAGE agency.
  14. Complete the input and save.
  15. If the receiving agency is a DATIS participating agency and uses Catalyst as their method of submitting data, the fields in the section “The following fields are to be filled in by the receiving agency only” would be completed by the receiving agency and saved. More on this in the section devoted to the Agency that receives the form.

Exception: If the agency is not a DATIS participating agency, the information would be collected by the TRIAGE agency and input on the receiving agency’s behalf. The option of TRIAGE filling in this section on the agency’s behalf will only be available if the receiving agency is a not a DATIS participating agency and do not have access to Catalyst. This will be evident on the form as the agency name in the drop down ‘Target Agency’ selection list is a darker shade/greyed out.

Triage Forms

To see the list of Triage clients still outstanding for the triage agency, select Client Info from the Main Menu in Catalyst and click on Triage Booking List.  Once the client is accepted or declined by the receiving agency, the client’s name will no longer appear in the Triage Booking List.  The information will be available from the Triage Form List that is linked to the Client Information Screen:

  1. Search for and access the Client Information screen.
  2. Scroll to the bottom and select the Triage Form Button.
  3. Once the Triage Form List appears on screen, click on the Triage Date; the Triage Date is a hyperlink to the form.
  4. The completed form along with the referral information and the outcome of that referral is available for historical purposes and for printing.

Triage Form – Steps for Agency Receiving the Form - Accept or Decline

Use the following steps to accept or decline a Triage form in Catalyst.  The receiving agency logs on to Catalyst to see if there have been any clients referred from Triage. DATIS recommends that practices be put in place to ensure that triage forms are checked regularly by receiving agencies.

  1. From the Main Menu, select the Incoming Triage Form List.
  2. A list of clients awaiting action appear on screen.
  3. Click on the client’s name to see the completed Triage form. For information on how to retain information on the form, refer to the section on A Note about Printing and Retaining Information.
  4. The agency must now accept, confirm and record the outcome of the referral. This can be done in two ways, from the Incoming Triage Form List page or from the Triage page.

NOTE: Triage referrals are not the same as E-Referrals and perform different functions. 

Accepting the Referral from “List of Incoming Triage Forms”

The receiving agency must now:

  1. Acknowledge the referral; fill in Accept, Accept date and Accept time.
  2. Save the information.
  3. Confirm with the client's acceptance of the referral, enter date of confirmation and time of confirmation. Save the information.
  4. Record the outcome (i.e. whether the client was admitted, declined, or could not be contacted).
  5. Save the information.

Accepting a Referral from the Triage Form

From the Triage page, scroll to the bottom and open the section for Referrals:

  1. Expand the Referral Information Section by clicking on the plus sign.
  2. One of two sets of questions will be triggered on response to the first question, Agency Acceptance, Yes/No:
    1. If response is Yes - proceed to complete the form. 
    2. If response is No - complete the questions that pop up in the window and save. Attempting to save with information in the date/time fields will produce an error message.

Response Required
Agency Accepted
= Yes The Acceptance Date and the time must be completed before the information can be saved. Saving this information will not result in the form being removed
Confirmation with Client Date of confirmation with client and the time of confirmation are required before you can proceed to recording the outcome of referral. This information is required unless the outcome is “Unable to Contact’. Saving this information will not result in the form being removed

Outcome

There are 5 available options for the outcome, select one:

  • Admitted
  • Declined – Client
  • Unable to Contact
  • Declined – Agency
  • No Show

Outcome Date Once an outcome is entered, the outcome date and time are required to be able to save. The Chart/File # is also required if the outcome is ‘Admitted’.


CAUTION 1: The Chart/File # is required if the Outcome Status is Admitted. If there is no Chart/File #, you will be directed back to the Chart/File # field to enter in the chart number and then save to complete the outcome. It is critical that you enter the correct Chart/File # of the client for the system to be able to track the referral. If the client has not been admitted and has no Chart/File #, do not enter the outcome until this information is available.  A Chart/File # is NOT required if the outcome is that of Declined or Unable to Contact.


CAUTION 2: Once the outcome information is saved, the client will be removed from the List of Incoming Triage Forms and this information is no longer readily accessible in Catalyst. See section below titled, A Note about Printing and Retaining Information, for information on how to retain for future reference.

A Note about Printing and Retaining Information

Once the Outcome is completed on the Incoming Triage List, the client will disappear from the list. In order to retain this information for future reference, the form must be printed.  Click on the Printer Icon in the top right-hand corner of the Triage form. A printer version of the form appears on screen. From there use your browser printer icon, or click File/ Print.

Printing options can be changed to print to a pdf document, at which time you would save the document to your system. The Triage form can then be added as an attachment to a Case Note in the Client’s chart/file.

Business Rules

1. Accept Date, Confirm with Client Date and Outcome Date and Times cannot be earlier than the Triage created date.
2. If you accept the referral (select Accept=Yes) you have to enter the Acceptance Date, otherwise it’s not required.
3. You cannot enter Confirmation (with client) Date without first entering Accept=Yes and the Acceptance Date.
4. You cannot enter an Outcome and Outcome Date, without entering a Confirmation with client Date unless the outcome is ‘Unable to Contact’.
5. You cannot enter an Outcome without entering the Chart/File # of the client referred to you, if the outcome is ‘Admitted’. If the client exists already in your Catalyst database, find the Chart/File # (case #) and enter it in this field. If the client is new to the agency and you want to admit the client, leave the Triage form, create the client in Catalyst, get the Chart/File # generated, and then go back to the Triage form and enter the Outcome and the Chart/File # of the newly created client.
6. If you reject the referral (accept=No) the client referral will disappear from your Triage list.
7. If you accept the referral and enter the Outcome and all required information, the client referral record will disappear from your Triage list.
8. You can enter to the following fields, Chart/File #, Acceptance, Acceptance Date, Acceptance Time, Confirm Date, Confirm Time, Outcome, Outcome Date and Outcome Time from the List of Incoming Triage form screen, or from the Triage form itself. To enter the information to the Triage Form itself, start by clicking on one of the referrals from this list. Once the screen opens, move to the Referral Information section and enter your information. This section is the only section that can be edited by a receiving agency, all other information on the form is view only.