How to Manage Physician's Standing Orders in ElderSuite

📝 Overview

Physician's Standing Orders keep the routine care and emergency protocols a physician has authorized in advance for a client—so nursing staff can act without contacting the physician first for every situation those orders cover.

ElderSuite serves adult day care centers nationwide.

Open the list from Nursing Center → Physician's Standing Orders. The same window also opens from Report Center → Nursing Reports → Physician's Standing Order - Form ES3056 (double-click the report name or click View Report). The Report Center description reads: Standing Orders from physicians for routine care and emergency protocols.

A client list sits on the left. For the highlighted client, the Standing Orders tab lists that client's standing orders, and the Sign & Sync Documents tab lists the signed copies filed for those orders.

This is not Physician's Order - Form 3055. Form 3055 is a separate Nursing Center record. Standing orders are free-text documents (Form ES3056) that can start from your center's default wording with Use Default. Related nursing work includes Nurse's Notes and the Health Assessment & Service Plan - Form 3050. Filing a signed paper copy uses Sign & Sync.

⚙ How It Works

1. Open Physician's Standing Orders

Open Nursing Center from the ElderSuite main menu and click Physician's Standing Orders.

For a Limited Access sign-in, the button is enabled only when the Edit Physician's Standing Orders permission is granted on the employee record. Permissions are read at sign-in, so sign out and back in after the permission is granted. Closing and reopening the Nursing Center alone is not enough.

If the window is already open, ElderSuite brings it forward instead of opening a second copy. The list itself does not save, delete, or print—those actions happen in the Physician's Standing Order window.

2. Choose the Client and View

Highlight the client in the client list on the left. Until a client is highlighted, the heading above the tabs reads No Client Selected.

The View: dropdown starts on Active Clients, so inactive clients are hidden. Switch to All Clients when you need them—otherwise Add New may appear to do nothing if the list is empty.

On the Standing Orders tab, each row shows Print Later and Order Date, sorted newest first. Both columns are read-only here; the print mark is set on the standing order record.

3. Add a New Standing Order

Highlight the correct client, then click Add New.

Physician's Standing Order opens dated today with To Be Printed checked. Only one standing order window can be open at a time—opening another closes the first first, so finish or discard unsaved work before you start the next one.

If no client is highlighted, or the client list holds no clients, Add New does nothing and no message appears.

4. Write the Standing Order Text

Confirm Select Client and keep a full Date (MM/dd/yyyy). Both are required before Save & Close will store the record.

Click Use Default to fill the text area with the center's default standing order wording and put the selected client's name at the top. The default is never copied in automatically. If the text area already has wording, ElderSuite asks whether to replace it.

Edit the formatted text with the Clipboard, Font, Paragraph, and Editing toolbars. An empty standing order can still be saved, so proofread before you save.

Click Save & Close to store the record. That is the only command that saves, and it always closes the window. Nothing is saved as you type. After the first successful save, Select Client is locked—a standing order on the wrong client must be deleted and written again.

5. Print for Signature

With the standing order open, click Print. ElderSuite prints the text as it appears in the text area and unchecks To Be Printed after a successful print. You can also check or uncheck To Be Printed by hand; the list's Print Later column reads that mark.

The printer chooser offers the choice of printer. Page range, selection, and print-to-file options are turned off. ElderSuite does not add a header, footer, page number, or signature line—the client's name appears on the page only when it is part of the document text (for example after Use Default).

6. Sign & Sync the Signed Paper

After the physician signs the printed standing order, open the record and click Sign & Sync.

ElderSuite requires a client and a full Date before scanning. If the record has unsaved changes, answer Yes when asked to save first so the paper matches the record on file. If a signed copy is already on file, ElderSuite asks whether to replace it.

The scan is held on this computer until you Save & Close. Closing without saving discards the new scan so it cannot be sent later by mistake. When the record is saved, the signed copy is sent to the ElderSuite Document Server and filed in the client's documents. The Signed & Synced badge and View Signed Copy appear when a signed copy is on file or waiting to be saved.

7. Review Signed Copies from the List

On the Sign & Sync Documents tab, highlight a signed copy and double-click it (or click Edit while that tab is showing). A PDF opens in Document Viewer; other file types open in the associated Windows program. ElderSuite downloads the file first when this computer does not already hold a usable copy.

On the Standing Orders tab, double-click a row (or select it and click Edit) to revise an existing standing order.

8. Setup the Default Standing Order

To revise the wording future standing orders can start from, open Nursing Center → Related Activities → Setup Default Standing Order. For Limited Access, that link needs the Configure Default Standing Order permission—separate from editing standing orders.

From an open standing order, Configure Default opens the same window. Saving the default merges the new wording so Use Default picks it up right away. Changing the default does not rewrite the standing order open on screen or standing orders already written for other clients.

✅ Important Limitations

Physician's Standing Orders is a read-only list. Add, edit, print, delete, and Sign & Sync happen in the Physician's Standing Order window.

Physician's Standing Order - Form ES3056 in Report Center opens this working list, not a finished printed report. Printing happens from Print inside the standing order.

This feature is not Form 3055. Use Physician's Orders for Physician's Order - Form 3055.

Only one Physician's Standing Order window can be open at a time.

If Select Client or Date is incomplete, Save & Close does nothing—no save, no message, and the window stays open. Closing in that state also skips the save prompt, and the work is lost.

The standing order text itself is not validated—an empty order can be saved.

Deleting a standing order that has a signed copy also removes that signed copy from the client's documents. ElderSuite confirms before it proceeds.

View: Active Clients hides inactive clients. Switch to All Clients before assuming a client was never listed.

⚠ Fill Client and Date Before Closing

A standing order needs a client in Select Client and a full Date before ElderSuite will store it.

If either is incomplete, Save & Close does not save and does not warn. Closing the window in that state also skips the usual save question, so typed wording and an unsaved scan can be lost.

Choose the client, enter the date, then click Save & Close when you are ready to store the record.

🔐 Privacy & Security

When you Sign & Sync a signed standing order, ElderSuite first holds the scan on this computer.

Clicking Save & Close sends the signed copy to the ElderSuite Document Server and files it with the client's documents. Until you save, the new signed copy has not been stored in ElderSuite. Closing without saving discards an unsaved scan.

Standing orders and signed copies are clinical records. Confirm you opened the correct client's standing order before scanning, and limit access through ElderSuite permissions and your center's policies.

💡 Need More Help?

For step-by-step assistance, click Ask Eddie from within ElderSuite.