We want to know what you do to effectively use reference tags. Please post below. Let’s talk a bit about what reference tags are and why you might want to use them.Let’s say you have documents that are in different policy areas but you need a way to group them all together. Each document can only be assigned under one policy area but you can group them all together by creating a reference tag (common name identifier)and applying it to each of the documents. That way they all have that reference tag in common and can be grouped together when searching. You could post a link to that specific reference tag search on your intranet or in the PolicyStat homepage welcome content so that group of tagged documents can be easily seen altogether such as with a group of employee orientation documents. To go a step further, Reference Tags can be valuable when assigning acknowledgments so when you have a new employee hired you can easily select all the orientation documents or the employee handbook documents and require the employees to sign off that they have read them. References or Reference Tags are just a default term for what could also be called service lines, regulatory, or any phrases to describe the grouping of documents or policies.They can also be terms, numbers or any other representation to categorize and group similar documents for searching and reference through the PolicyStat search tool. Reference Tag is one of the terms that can be customized on your site. The terminology may differ slightly, but the concepts are the same. You can create reference tags for virtually any type of document grouping or category. Some additional examples of other reference tags are for document types such as Forms, Job Descriptions, Policies, SOP, Protocols, Procedures, Employee Handbook, Employee Orientation, etc.Using a common name allows you to group all documents together. Adding Reference Tags How do I add or create Reference Tags? How to search by existing assigned reference tags 1. Click thePoliciestab at the top of the page and clickPolicies by Reference Tags. 2. Select the desiredReference Tagcheck box(es). 3. ClickSearch. A list of policies will populate for the selected Reference Tag(s). Portions of the above information taken from How do I find policies with a certain Reference Tag?
Do you use reference tags to group documents together?
Adding to this conversation a question was posed: Is it realistic to suggest that every policy have a Reference Tag assigned? If your system only contains policies and nothing else, the Reference Tags may be more focused on compliance since you only have one type of document. If you are leveraging your system to get more out of it and have other types of documents stored then itreally would all depend on the ways you need to group your documents outside of the established policy areas. For instance, if you only have policies input then that is not needed to be a reference tag (could be called category) but in addition to policies if you have forms, work instructions, job aids, procedures, job descriptions, SOPs, protocols, employee HR handbook you would have most documents tied to one of those reference areas. It really comes down to identifying the value in being able to see and search specifically for documents by their type. That is really what reference tags allow, they enable the PolicyStat system to group documents by the type that they are. Some documents are going to be tied to multiple types, some will be with just one type. An Employee Orientation packet Reference Tag group for instance, could include various types of documents in addition to those that are human resource related. So it mightinclude HR related, policies, procedures, job aids, etc.
Commented by: Jon Corpany
If you are leveraging your system to get more out of it then having more reference tags could really help, especially as you educate staff how to leverage them. To make leveraging easier and to lessen staff training, you may want set up filtered searches and post links to them on your intranet and other locations possibly so access becomes streamlined and really easy for staff. What I mean is you could post a link labeled Employee Orientation. If you use a guest link (I will explain what that is in a moment) a user can access the documents even before your IT folks set up a user account for them. You can obtain the link in two ways. You can capture the browser URL address for a specific search and post that or you can obtain an anonymous guest link by clicking the Share link on the right side about the search result set and the filtered search link will be copied. The benefit to using the guest token vs. the regular URL is that in the event the Single Sign-On authentication ever fails users can still get into the system and view the active documents. They would just be doing it in a guest account rather than their own user account. Here is another example of using a REFERENCE TAG FILTER: The Reference Tag filter searches reference tags created specifically by your group and assigned to policies. Reference Tags can be helpful to locate policies based on group-specific terms like applicable state or federal regulations and local initiatives, or any other terms that may not be contained within the policy?s text, but have been attached to a policy for reference and easy access. For example, a Reference Tag can help locate all policies related to NPSG 02.03.01. This statute name may not appear in the text of the policy*, but it may be helpful to view all policies related to that statute. I have also seen some organizations create reference tags for The Joint Commission standards to help gather documents. There is another way to tie documents to the many different standards and regulations you have to comply with so let me tell you a little about it. The Standards & Regulations Add-On is not included in your base PolicyStat site. If you would like more information or to sign up to get this feature, email info@policystat.com . Standards & Regulations Manager, available as an optional add-on module, is a proprietary component that enables healthcare organizations to crosswalk their policies and procedures to accreditation agencies such as The Joint Commission, CAP, HFAP, DNV, CMS CoPs, and others. Key Features Crosswalk Policies and Procedures to Standards & Regulations Continually Updated by our healthcare team Standards & Regulations from US and Canada Automated Email Alerts and Notifications Online Standards & Regulations library Content Maintenance for Local Laws
Commented by: Jon Corpany