Instructions
Getting Started
The Via Learning Management System (VLMS) is fast, taking approximately 20 seconds per entry; efficient, for it continuously evaluates your status during a rotation; and is a critical part of your portfolio and maintaining the school’s accreditation.
Log in to VLMS using your school email address and the password you were assigned for this project; change your password after your first login.
Adjust your Rotation and Site or change your password as needed via the ‘Account’ option under the triple-bar icon in the upper left of pages. You can also tap the pencil on the main screen or the Rotation / Site indicator on the Patient Encounters screen.
Clarifying Requirements
VLMS was created by VCOM to improve student clinical training and assessment, and meet new medical school accreditation requirements.
Student Requirements:
- All OMS third-year students are required to log their clinical experiences (patient encounters and procedures) in all rotations excluding the research rotation. There are no minimum or maximum encounters to log. All clinical experiences MUST be logged on the day in which they occurred.
- All OMS fourth-year students are required to log their emergency medicine clinical experiences on the day in which they occurred.
- Preceptors must affirm that they have reviewed student’s VLMS entries and logs while determining their evaluation.
- VCOM administration will only assign a grade after reviewing student entries and digitally signed logs in VLMS and having received Preceptor Evaluations.
- If you are absent from your rotation due to sickness, conferences, or otherwise, students are required to complete and submit an Excused Absence Clinical Rotations Approval form for any time “away” from clinical rotations. Provide the approved and signed Excused Absence form to your site coordinator.
- Final submission of VLMS logs are due by 5:00 PM ET on the day of the end of rotation exam.
All fourth-year students are required to log all their patient encounters. Also, students may complete their OMM Experience Logs which are now in the VLMS Dashboard.
When, Where, and How You Should Be Logging
- Entry into VLMS is the responsibility of each student. Log ALL patients you encounter, regardless of how many patients you see.
- Logging with VLMS should be done on breaks or after your shift, for your full attention should be on your patient and your preceptor during rounds.
- You may utilize EMR systems to identify codes, for all entries are about your ability to document using the VLMS system.
- You are encouraged to discuss diagnoses, procedures, and coding with your Preceptor to assist you in making VLMS entries.
Fulfilling Rotation and OMM Log Objectives and Preceptor Evaluations
The objectives listed in Rotation and OMM Logs defined by the school can be fulfilled by an appropriate clinical diagnosis or procedural experience (via an entry, logged ICD code). As clinical experiences are logged, they will be automatically checked off. An objective can also be fulfilled by a Reading or Lecture as entered by the student.
For first- and second-year students, and International Outreach students, the appropriate faculty will review your entries.
Logging Clinical Experiences
For EVERY patient encounter, please create a new encounter entry. This begins with specifying a New Patient, and providing patient sex and age, the encounter environment by selecting either “Hospital” (inpatient), “Ambulatory” (outpatient), or “Didactic” (theoretical) and any free text notes. Save this.
Then add a Primary Diagnosis for this patient encounter, an optional note, save it, and then you can enter additional diagnoses, procedures, and drugs (via ICD code descriptions) that are associated with that primary diagnosis for a given patient encounter. Please only enter the diagnoses, procedures and history pertinent to this patient encounter, not all from previous encounters or history.
There are several entry methods: Keyword Search, Hierarchical Categories, Smart Suggest, and Recent Codes. Most students use the Keyword Search to enter a diagnosis; alternatively Smart Suggest Codes provides a list of the most frequent diagnoses encountered in each rotation. Since procedures and drugs are associated with a given Primary Diagnosis (and additional diagnoses that can be added), Smart Suggest then includes the most frequent procedures or drugs associated with a given diagnosis. During a rotation, you may see patients that are similar; speed your entries using ‘Recent Entries.’
For each diagnosis or procedure entry, you must input at least three digits of specificity; when searching, more digits may automatically be provided. You can enter more specificity than three digits if you desire.
After each diagnosis or procedure entry, they are automatically checked to see if they qualify to fulfill an object in the Rotation and OMM Logs for your rotation, and if so, you will be notified. You can also go to the Logs page of the dashboard to review your progress.
Optionally enter notes for patients, diagnoses, procedures or drugs; never enter any Patient Identifiable Information (PII). Rotation can help your recall of a case to discuss with your preceptor, and help those studying your entries to identify possible new diseases, traits, public health issues, etc…
Once you have submitted all the diagnoses, procedures, and drugs for a given patient encounter, you can enter a new patient, or go back to the list of patient encounters, where you can review and also edit any of your previous patient encounters.
Using the Dashboard
Review, interact, and edit your Rotation and OMM Logs, diagnosis, procedure, and drug entries from the My Entries page in the Dashboard.
In the Dashboard you can review the summary sheet for each rotation, which is part of the Rotation Log for each rotation. That sheet summarizes the number of patients you encountered, quantifies the variety of diagnoses and procedures you experienced. The Rotation and OMM Logs, and summary must be shown and discussed with your Preceptor prior to them completing their evaluation.
The Rotation and OMM Logs, My Entries, and other functions in the dashboard are particularly useful for you to review your progress, and to stimulate learning dialogs between you and your preceptor.
Use the ‘Support’ option on the right menu to review instructions, view the getting started video, ask questions, report bugs, usability issues, and suggestions.
You can access pages that provide statistics for the entire school and your peers.