Change user on lock screen

Preference functionality

In the Web Framework preferences of Allscripts Enterprise EHR, there is a preference that enables or disables the 'Change' button to appear on the Lock screen. The preferences is located in Admin > Preferences and is entitled "Switch User".

This preference adds a button to the lock screen that will allow the logged-in user to be changed from the lock screen within the same session.

When the user changes and enters their username, it will navigate the new user to the same place in the last patient's chart before the previous user clicked the Lock button.

This can be very beneficial for exam room workflows so that the physician can use the same session to get directly back to where the nurse/MA left off on the patient being seen and can make this workflow more efficient.

Considerations

There is one consideration to be aware of before enabling this preference, and that is if you have different workplaces built based on different user roles, this can cause a bit of confustion.

For example, if you providers have a different workplace than your clinical staff, when the change feature is used across user with different workplaces, when logging back in as a new user from the lock screen after using the change button, the new user will be directed to the same place in the last user's workplace. This can be confusing since it may be an unfamiliar workplace for the new user, however there are no risks of the new user accessing elements of a different workplace if they do not have the associated security classifications. When the new user clicks somewhere else in the workplace, the system will refresh it and show them their correct workplace for the new user.