Using Anesthesia Touch when Touch Connect is Updating or Offline

Touch Connect enables secure interfacing between facility systems (e.g., EMRs and pharmacy medication systems) and Plexus TG Anesthesia Touch systems. It is normally installed on a server at the facility and then communicates to the Plexus TG cloud securely.

Touch Connect may need to be offline when the underlying server requires maintenance. Maintenance may include a server update or an infrastructure or network change. In the event the period offline is short, there may be no significant impact on clinical usage. If offline longer, clinical users of Anesthesia Touch may notice that interfaces are not communicating and may need to adjust their usage until Touch Connect is back online. 

The following functions in Anesthesia Touch will be impacted when Touch Connect is offline:

• The Patient List will not update with new scheduling information. The scheduling information will not change while Touch Connect is offline
• New lab results will not be available in Anesthesia Touch, either in PreOp or IntraOp
• Interface information that Anesthesia Touch pulls on-demand from other systems, such as some PreOp CCDs, will not be available while Touch Connect is offline
• Med Recon, which depends on interface messages from the facility medication system, will not update while Touch Connect is offline
• Outbound information to the hospital EMR or other systems–such as competed records, documents, and summaries–will not be sent while Touch Connect is offline
• Printing to hospital systems will not be available while Touch Connect is offline (printing directly from devices will not be affected) 

The following functions in Anesthesia Touch do not depend on Touch Connect and will work normally:

• Normal charting, starting, stopping, and continuing cases will not be affected
• Vitals transcription, whether via a Transmitter (e.g., Neximatic) or DeviceLink, do not communicate through Touch Connect and will not be affected
• All functions in Anesthesia Touch WebAdmin, whether to view cases, print, or perform administrative functions (e.g., user updates) will not be affected
• Outbound interfaces from the Plexus TG Cloud to other services, such as an Anesthesia Billing Office, will not be affected

The following alternatives to impacted functions can be used when Touch Connect is offline:

• Add On cases can be added with the "New Patient" function in the Patient List. Enter the MRN and Account Number manually to begin documentation
• Printing can be initiated after Touch Connect is back online or cases can be viewed or printed from WebAdmin (or printed directly from clients, if possible)
• Cases can be completed ("Finish and Send" or "Print and End") as normal, and will queue to send to hospital systems after Touch Connect is back online
• Med Recon can be completed after Touch Connect is online (or Clinicians can arrange to use "Document Exception" during the offline period)

When Touch Connect resumes, completed transactions (signed documents, outbound messages, inbound data) will queue for processing. Functions that were offline will become available as normal.