What you need to know
To prepare for the upcoming Alberta time zone change, the Connect Care clinical information system will have a scheduled downtime on Thursday, October 8, 2026 between 00:30 and 04:30. On this occasion, all Connect Care production systems are affected and will be unavailable during the downtime, including Hyperspace, Mobility (Haiku/Canto), MUSE and ECG Web, MyChart, and the Link Provider Portal.
- After a pause of up to 5 minutes starting at 00:30, PRD SRO (the read-only copy of the production environment) will be available during this downtime; PRD SRO is accessible from any computer regularly used for documenting in Connect Care. Netcare also remains available.
- If you need to view and print patient information during the downtime, please use North BCA Web (try first) or South BCA Web; if both North and South BCA Web access are not available, please call the Provincial Solution Centre at 1-877-311-4300.
- The environment that controls information flow between clinical systems, the Regional Integration Engine (RIE), will also be taking a scheduled downtime on October 8 between 00:30 and 02:30. Resulting/messages from systems integrated with Connect Care such as WellSky (Transfusion Medicine) and AegisPOC (Point-of-Care Testing) will be queued and automatically update at the end of the downtime.
- Note there are also limitations on managing personalization settings before (and during) this period due to the transparent lockdown, previously posted about here.
What you need to do
BEFORE DOWNTIME
- Complete orders and documentation in the chart before downtime begins.
- Stop using PRD for orders 15 minutes prior to downtime, as they may not be processed.
DURING DOWNTIME
- Check with Unit Clerk/Charge Nurse to confirm processes for ordering, documentation, and patient movement.
- Use paper documents provided in clinics and inpatient units, with forms appropriate for orders and/or charting.
- Postpone, if possible, routine orders or documentation until after downtime. This will limit amount of data entry and reconciliation required post-downtime.
- Orders: Use paper order sheets for essential orders during downtime.
- Documentation: Use paper forms for essential documentation for procedures or intervention results and reports.
AFTER DOWNTIME
- Prescribers are responsible for the following activities for any patient admission, transfer, or discharge:
- Updating the problem list
- Completing medication reconciliation
- Entering admission, discharge, or visit diagnosis
- Prescribers receiving In Basket messages about missing chart elements should follow the link to the missing chart element and, for non-ED prescribers, enter “.DOWNTIME” (SmartPhrase) to complete the chart element, indicating that content is available elsewhere in the chart. For ED prescribers, use the SmartPhrase ".DTNOTE".
Where you can find more information
For essential information on downtime procedures, see the 1-page tip sheet. For additional information, see the Connect Care Manual: