How Room Alerts Work

On a computer, Rooms › Live shows a Needs attention list beside your rooms. It lists the rooms where something needs a look now: a case that hasn't started, a case running past its booked end, or a change to today's schedule. This article explains where to find the list, what each alert means, who sees which alerts, what you can do with one, and why an alert may not show. Problems with a Theator unit aren't room alerts: they show as Monitoring incidents on the Equipment view.

Who Is This For?

Admins and venue admins who run the OR day and want to know which rooms need attention
Everyone who can see the rooms and wants to know about today's schedule changes

Where to Find It

Open Rooms in the left sidebar and stay on the Live tab.
Look to the right of the rooms. The heading of the list shows how many alerts are open, for example Needs attention (4).

The list shows the alerts for the rooms on your screen, so it follows the filters at the top of the page. It appears only on a computer, in a browser window wider than 1024 pixels. Phones don't show it.

Window 1280 pixels or wider, in list view or the Equipment view: the list sits beside the rooms. Select Hide to fold it into a button, for example Needs attention 4. Select the button to bring the list back.
Grid view, or a window between 1025 and 1279 pixels wide: select Needs attention 4 to open the list as a panel on the right side of the screen.
You have a case of your own today: the list starts folded into the button, so it doesn't take space from your own day. Select the button to open it.

Hide lasts until you leave the page. The next time you open Rooms › Live, the list starts the usual way.

Sort Rooms by Needs Attention

On a computer, the first sort chip above the rooms is Needs attention, with the number of rooms that have an open alert. Select it to put those rooms first, in the same order as the list, with snoozed rooms after them. It doesn't hide any room, and when you have snoozed some of them, its tooltip says how many, for example 4 rooms, 1 snoozed. You can select more than one sort chip, and rooms come first in the order you selected the chips: if you selected Your rooms or Recording before Needs attention, the rooms that chip matches stay ahead, including those with no open alert.

Each room with an open alert also gets an orange outline and the words Needs attention on its tile, or Snoozed once you snooze it.

What Each Alert Means

Each alert has two lines. The first names the room and what happened. The second lists the times behind it. All times are in your hospital's local time. checked 07:46 is when Theator last checked the room.

Delays

What you see	What it means
OR 4 · First case not started, then Booked 07:30 · no in-room time yet · checked 07:46	The room's first case, booked between 06:00 and 10:00, has no patient-in-room time yet some minutes after its booked start.
OR 4 · 09:30 case not started, then Prior case out of room 09:05 · no in-room time yet · checked 09:52	The case before it has left the room, and this case still has no patient-in-room time some minutes after its booked start and your hospital's usual turnover time.
OR 4 · Running over +42 min, then Booked to 11:00 · in room since 08:02 · next 12:30	The case is still in the room past its booked end. The alert opens 15 minutes past the booked end, and again as a new alert at 30 and at 60 minutes. In rooms where Theator follows the case by its recording, the second line says recording since instead of in room since.

Schedule Changes

What you see	What it means
Case moved · OR 2 → OR 5, then Booked 10:40 · moved 09:12	A case moved to another room.
OR 4 · Case added, then Booked 14:00 · added 11:05	A case was added to today's schedule.
OR 4 · 10:30 case cancelled, then Received 09:58 · next booked 12:00	A case was cancelled. When no case is left, the second line ends with no more cases today.
OR 4 · Start moved to 11:30, then Was 10:30 · moved 09:40	The booked start of a case moved.

A case added shows only when it was added on the day of the case. A move, a start change or a cancellation shows only when it was made at or after 18:00 the evening before, and a start change only when the start moved by 10 minutes or more. Each one stays in the list for up to an hour, and never past the case's booked start.

Alerts name rooms and times, never a patient, a surgeon or a procedure.

Who Sees Which Alerts

Delays show only to admins and venue admins. A venue admin with a site sees them for that site's rooms. Clinical Engineers don't see them.
Schedule changes show to everyone who can see the room. A schedule change about a private case shows only to the people on that case.

What You Can Do With an Alert

Action	What it does	Who can use it
Acknowledge	Tells everyone who sees the alert that someone is on it. Each alert takes one acknowledgement. If someone else acknowledged it first, you see who, for example Dana R. acknowledged this at 07:49.	Admins and venue admins. On Equipment alerts, also Clinical Engineers.
Undo acknowledge	Takes back your own acknowledgement, for 5 minutes after you made it.	Whoever acknowledged
Add reason	After an acknowledgement, records why a room is running late. Pick one: Patient not ready, Surgeon availability, Anesthesia, Room or turnover, Equipment, Add-on or emergency or Other. There is no free text.	Admins and venue admins, on Delays alerts only. Reasons may not be on at your hospital yet.
Not accurate?	Tells Theator the alert is wrong. Pick one: The case had already started, The time is wrong, Wrong room, The case was cancelled, The device was working or Something else. You see Thanks. We'll check this room's data.	Everyone who sees the alert, once per alert
⋯ › Snooze OR 4 until tomorrow	Moves the room's alerts to the bottom of the list, under Snoozed (1), until the end of the day. The room's tile reads Snoozed. Select ⋯ › Unsnooze OR 4 to bring them back. Snoozing changes only your own list.	Everyone who sees the alert
⋯ › Open this room's day	Opens Rooms › Schedule for that room today.	Everyone who sees the alert

An acknowledgement shows under the alert. Admins and venue admins see who made it and their role, for example Acknowledged · Dana R. (Venue admin) · 07:49, and the reason, for example Reason: Patient not ready · Dana R. · 07:51. A Clinical Engineer is shown as IT admin here. Everyone else sees only the time, for example Acknowledged · 07:49.

Acknowledging doesn't change the schedule or the room. An alert leaves the list by itself once what it was waiting for happens, for example when the patient enters the room or the hospital sends the next time.

You can also use the keyboard. The up and down arrow keys move between alerts within the open alerts, or within the alerts under Snoozed. A acknowledges the selected alert.

How Alerts Are Checked

Theator checks each room against the hospital's schedule and messages about once a minute. An alert shows as soon as its rule holds and leaves the list once it no longer does. The footer of the list says Alerts here cover delays and schedule changes from the hospital's schedule. Hover over How alerts work next to it for a short version of this section.

Hospital times can arrive minutes after the event, so Theator waits before alerting. That's why First case not started appears some minutes after the booked start, not at it.

Why You May See No Alerts

No alert is not an error. Common reasons:

Nothing needs attention. The list says Nothing needs attention in your rooms right now.
Your hospital doesn't send a forward schedule. The list says, for example, Alerts need a forward schedule, which Demo Medical Center doesn't send, so none show here.
Your hospital doesn't send a schedule. The list says Alerts need a schedule, which this hospital doesn't send, so none show here.
Hospital updates are paused. The list says, for example, Hospital updates paused since 09:12. Delay alerts are on hold until updates resume.
Booked start times here aren't patient-in-room times. At some hospitals patients usually enter the room well after the booked start, or Theator can't tell yet how the two compare. Not started alerts don't show there.
The room has too few patient-in-room times. Not started alerts show only where the hospital sent a patient-in-room time for at least 9 in 10 cases over the last 30 days: the room's own cases, or, for a room with fewer than 10 cases in that time, the cases of all the hospital's rooms with a Theator unit or beacon. Running over alerts use the patient-in-room and out-of-room times only where the hospital sent both for at least 9 in 10 of the room's own cases over the last 30 days. A room with fewer than 10 cases in that time never uses these times. Otherwise, at a hospital that sends a forward schedule, they follow the case by its recording, in rooms with a Theator unit. A hospital that doesn't send a forward schedule, doesn't send a schedule at all, or has had too few cases over the last 30 days gets no Running over alerts.
Delays are for admins and venue admins. Other roles see schedule alerts only.
You snoozed the room. Its alerts are at the bottom of the list, under Snoozed.
You're on a phone, or your browser window is 1024 pixels wide or less.

If the list says Couldn't load alerts., select Retry.

Common Questions

Does acknowledging an alert notify anyone? No. It shows under the alert for everyone who sees it, so colleagues know someone is on it.

Does snoozing a room hide it from my colleagues? No. Snoozing changes only your own list, and only until the end of the day.

Who sees the reason I add? Only admins and venue admins.

An alert is wrong. What should I do? Select Not accurate? and pick what was wrong. Theator checks the room's data.

What's Next?

Intro to Rooms Monitoring — The room and unit status tools for administrators
Viewing the Daily Room Schedule — See the day's booked cases in every room
Understanding Customer Ops Alerts — The equipment incidents Theator raises for your rooms
Intro to Room Page — Follow one room through the day