Department of Veterans Affairs
A set of rules governing the use of a product in the VHA system. Examples include: “Witness required for Administration,” “Useable for Outpatient Only,” “Must be Refrigerated,” etc. These fields are defined in the requirements process and cannot be modified or added after the system has been deployed. The VA Data Fields are fields that must be set by a VA entity (i.e., cannot be obtained from a COTS product or other data source). When values are defined for the fields at National, they may be marked as “non-editable” preventing Local VHA facilities from changing the setting. Any field left editable can be changed by a local facility.
The name assigned to an item (e.g., medication, supply) in Pharmacy VistA files.
The name assigned to a medication item in Pharmacy VistA files. The name includes the Strength, Unit, and Dosage Form of the medication.
A unique identification number assigned to all persons associated with the VA, including Veterans, Patients, and employees. According to http://DNS .DNS /iss/acronyms/index (To access the link, VA VPN access is needed).
VA Central Office
VA Enterprise Architecture
A software element that exposes property mutators and accessors. A Data Transfer Object from Sun’s Design Pattern Catalog is a synonymous term.
Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center
A medication treatment whereby the administration doses vary for the duration of treatment. For example, a drug may be taken/administered in the following order: 4mg a.m., 2mg noon, 4mg HS (at bedtime) for 7 days.
The schedule of a drug whereby it may vary during the therapy. For example, a drug may be given twice a day on Monday and Tuesday and three times a day on the remaining days of week for 7 days.
An advanced operating system, originally designed by Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC), that operates on the VAX and Alpha architectures. The correct way to refer to the operating system is OpenVMS for VAX or OpenVMS for Alpha. VMS is one of the most secure operating systems on the market.
Veterans Benefits Administration
Version Description Document
VistA Data Extraction Framework
Virtual Due List
VistA Data Systems and Integration
VHA eHealth University
The organization that provides supplies to the pharmacy. Note that this may include prime, non-prime, and loaning organizations (any outside supplier; e.g., external supplier).
An order that details the items the pharmacy wishes to procure from a prime or non-prime supplier (Vendor). It is often called a procurement order, supply order, or sales order.
To assure that an order placed for a Patient is accurate as recorded and ready for dispensing.
A variant of some artifact; later versions of an artifact typically expand on earlier versions. Major revisions will mean the version number is incremented by one or more. Minor revisions will be signified by the addition of a decimal number in tenths or hundredths.
The automated information systems used in VAMCs. The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has had automated information systems in its medical facilities since 1985, beginning with the Decentralized Hospital Computer Program information system, including administrative and extensive clinical administration capabilities.
A set of healthcare facilities within a geographical area. Each VHA healthcare facility is located in one of many VISNs (Veterans Integrated Service Networks) spanning the U.S. and its territories.
VHA Enterprise Terminology Service
Veterans Health Administration
A model that provides standard definitions, semantics, and constraints so that data can be represented consistently across all components of the HealtheVet Architecture.
VHA Office of Information
These are non-business, unique numbers that are automatically assigned to concepts, properties, and relationships in a terminology to facilitate their access and manipulation by computers.
VHA Health Information Model
VistA Interface Engine
A list of medications that need to be administered to a Patient within a specified time parameter. These include active Continuous, PRN, On-Call, and One-Time medication orders.
A scheme where a portion of a network is connected via Internet, but information sent across the Internet is encrypted. The result is a “virtual network,” which is also part of a larger network entity. This enables users to privately share private information over a public infrastructure.
The stakeholder’s view of the product to be developed specified in terms of the stakeholders key needs and features. It provides the contractual basis for the more detailed technical requirements.
A Patient event that begins when the Patient arrives at a clinic for medical evaluation or treatment and concludes when the Patient departs.
Veterans Integrated Service Network
Veterans Health Information Systems and Technology Architecture
The service group that manages VistA system changes to ensure compliance with standards and regulating bodies; ensures resource impacts are assessed to allow sufficient time for equipment or software procurements as needed; manages and maintains the VistA data architecture working in close association with OED Program Directors and manages technical/application integration oversight, support, and tools to ensure products inter-operate effectively and make maximal use of existing software tools. VDSI performs five required reviews of VistA products to support these goals, which are typically performed at specific points in the software development lifecycle.
A Delivery Service routing component that receives messages from the Delivery Service inbound queue and provides message handling based on Delivery Service functionality.
A message from PEPS to VistA that contains an update (e.g., update may include a New Item in PEPS, a change to an existing item in PEPS).
A standardized, portable, and secure mechanism for establishing connections between Java (J2SE and J2EE) and VistA/M servers. It is a transport layer that provides HealtheVet-VistA application developers APIs for establishing synchronous, real-time communication between Java applications and VistA/M systems.
This term is referring to visual systems or the establishment of a visual workplace in which the ultimate outcome is visual information sharing. The bingo board is just a simple example. It provides immediate visual information to the observer. There are numerous visual tools that could be put in place in the pharmacy that would supplement the use of the new PRE system as well as improve Pharmacy work processes. For example, the bin described in “visual order” could include a visual display of the expiration date of items in the bin.
In the context of inventory management, refers to the use of a physical visual signal or indication that an item needs to be replenished. This might be an empty bin in which its physical condition (empty) generates an automatic refilling action. That single visual signal could trigger real time replenishment from a supply cart. No computer transaction is required at that time. Appropriate use of this process tool would multiply a pharmacy’s capability when combined with the PRE system. The size of the bin determines the Par Level, the fact that is empty defines the Usage, and the Reorder Point, the filling action defines Replenishment. A single computer transaction recording the filling event would generate the tracking and ordering requirements that normally require multiple and time wasting separate transactions including scanning use, generating a pick list, withdrawing from supply, scanning replenishment, and generating a procurement order. See glossary term Visual Flow Management.
A Business Process Integration platform orchestrating interactions between existing and future applications, data, people, and partners to provide real-time visibility and control over strategic business processes.
VAX Mumps Standard
Value Object
Versioned Object Bases
Veterans Personal Finance System
VA-wide Person Identifier
Virtual Private Network
VHA Unique Identifier