Question: How do I place lab orders for my patient to get after they are discharged from an inpatient unit?
Context: When a patient is discharged, if any lab tests were ordered during that admission but were not performed, those orders get autocancelled within 2 hours of discharge. If existing inpatient lab orders are not converted to after-visit orders or new post-discharge lab orders are not entered, patients arriving at a patient service centre (PSC) for collection may be turned away because they will not have open/pending lab orders available in the system.
Answer: When a patient is discharged from an inpatient unit, any incomplete lab orders are automatically cancelled within 2 hours. To ensure any required lab orders can be collected after discharge, the inpatient lab orders must be reordered or new lab orders entered, through the "External Orders" activity. See the tip sheet for more details on this workflow.