EMIS PKB Record Viewer with single sign on (SSO)

What is the EMIS PKB Record Viewer?

The EMIS PKB Record Viewer allows a GP to click through from EMIS and see any data held on their patients in Patients Know Best (PKB).

A PKB record can be populated with health information from a variety of sources including other healthcare providers and the patient themselves. Having access to this information can be useful when treating the patient.

Enablement of SSO is subject to each customer's contractual arrangements, please speak to your Account Manager to discuss

How do I configure EMIS to enable the PKB Record Viewer?

This is a once only initial set up process:

Set up your practice and register yourself as a professional user on the PKB platform. Contact help@patientsknowbest.com for details.
PKB will help you complete a mach form requesting that EMIS enable the PKB plug-in on your EMIS Web instance.
Once EMIS have enabled the plug-in, it needs to be activated for your organisation in EMIS Web.
Finally you need to generate credentials from your PKB account and enter these into EMIS to allow you to open PKB directly from EMIS.

In addition, it is strongly recommended that you also enable the EMIS Patient Data Extract Service so all your patient records are pre-populated in PKB with your EMIS data.

Activating EMIS SSO for your organisation

In EMIS Web, go to the User details (EMIS ball top left of screen) > Configuration > Organisation configuration.
Select 'Organisation' and select 'Edit'.

3.Select Patients Know Best in the left section, ensure portal access is enabled and 'require logon details' is set to 'no'. Click 'Ok' to save.

Instructions for initial set up of EMIS / PKB single sign-on (SSO)

Once activated, each user will need to set up EMIS/PKB SSO for their own account.

You will need your PKB username and password ready to set up the SSO. There are a few steps to go through, but it is a one-time process, after which you no longer need to use your PKB credentials from EMIS, so it is worth persevering.

The following video shows the initial set-up. Otherwise you can find the step-by-step guide below.

Generate your PKB-EMIS credentials

You will need to retrieve credentials from your PKB account that will allow us to link your EMIS account with your PKB account.

Log into PKB at my.patientsknowbest.com using your PKB username and password.
Choose the PKB team that you wish to enable single-sign on for.
Click on My account.

Click on

Generate credentials. Note, if you click this you will stop any active credentials working.

Click the Generate button.
You will see the newly generated PKB-EMIS username and password.

Configure your EMIS account with EMIS-PKB credentials

You must enter your generated PKB-EMIS credentials into your EMIS account.

Log into EMIS Web.
Click on the EMIS icon at the top left of screen.

Choose 'Configuration' and then 'Organisation configuration'
Click on 'Search' and type your name to find your profile
(Step 5 and 6 are optional steps if you want the check your role profiles, if not then skip to step 7.) Click on your name in the search results on the left to go to your profile page.
Click on 'User Role Profiles' to see your active role profile, you will need this for Step 10. If you have multiple, speak to practice manager about which is the role most used. If you don't have any, practice manager can set one up.
Next click on 'Patients Know Best' from the same list
If you have no role profiles listed click on the plus icon to create one. If you already have an active role click on the pencil icon to edit this
Copy your generated EMIS-PKB username and password from PKB and paste them into EMIS. Be mindful not to copy any extra space around the username or password.
In the 'Role Profile' box, click the tick box beside your active role profile identified in Step 6.
Click 'Save'.
Click 'Ok' and a pop up will appear asking you to log in again for credentials to take effect. Click 'Yes'. Note if you are entering for another user their credentials won't work until they log out and in again
Log out of EMIS Web for the credentials to take effect.
Log back into EMIS Web.

Link your EMIS account to PKB

You need your PKB username and password one last time to link EMIS to your PKB one.

Log into EMIS Web
Navigate within EMIS to the record of a patient you know already exists within PKB
Click on the patient's record
Click on the panel on the left to see your integrated systems (including PKB)

Click on Patients Know Best

PKB's login page appears within EMIS
Enter your PKB account username and password
The patient's record appears in PKB inside an EMIS window

How do I launch the PKB Viewer from EMIS?

Enter a patient record in EMIS Web and expand the left side panel 'View --> My Record'.

Click on the

Patients Know Best link in the 'External Views' panel of your EMIS Web client.

In a new window, the patient summary page of the PKB record for the patient that you are viewing in EMIS Web will open in IE 11
The window will automatically close when you navigate away from the patient in EMIS. This is to ensure the PKB view always matches with the EMIS view.
If PKB does not hold a record for that patient an error message will be shown.

What functionality is available from the EMIS PKB Viewer?

The EMIS PKB Viewer allows the GP to see all the data in the patient's PKB record. It supports all the functionality available from the web login with a few exceptions. It allows the GP to view the different sections of the PKB record including diagnoses, medications, allergies, care plans, test results etc.

Differences from web login:

Switching between patients is disabled. You can only view the patient that is open in EMIS.
Switching teams is disabled (if you are a member of multiple teams). You should be set up to log in from the relevant team i.e. the GP practice team.
Downloads are not permitted. This is an EMIS restriction.
Browser navigation is disabled (back button etc.). This is an EMIS restriction.
Logout is disabled. You are automatically logged in when you access a patient.

Commonly asked questions

I have been logged out, how do I open the patient view again?

You will be logged out from the PKB view after a period of inactivity. Simply click the Patients Know Best link again to re-open the PKB patient view.

I have navigated away from the patient record, how do I get back?

Simply click the Patients Know Best link again.

The PKB record provides a library section for useful URLs to be provided to the patient. These may navigate to sites outside PKB in your web browser.

The PKB help pages will also navigate outside PKB and open in your web browser.

Why is no PKB patient record displaying for my patient?

We only display a patient record if:

A record exists for that patient in PKB.
We are able to locate the patient record in PKB - we match the patient NHS number, or EMIS Patient Number (in development) between EMIS and PKB.
You have permission to view that patient record, i.e. the patient has agreed to share the record with you (see Sharing for details).

An appropriate error message will be displayed if these criteria are not met.

If a record does not exist for that patient in PKB it may be created by logging into to your PKB account, or it will be created automatically if you are using the EMIS ES service.

If the patient is missing an NHS number in EMIS Web this may be added manually in EMIS Web. If the patient is missing an NHS number in PKB this can be added by logging into your PKB account.

What should I do if my SSO credentials are invalid?

If you see an error message that your credentials are invalid, please check that they have been entered correctly in EMIS. These must be the generated EMIS-PKB credentials, not your regular username and password for PKB or EMIS. If they are saved correctly and don't work you may generate new EMIS-PKB credentials by logging into your PKB account.

Once you generate new credentials your old credentials will be invalid.

I am a professional in multiple PKB teams, how do I generate credentials?

Log in to PKB as a professional, and choose the specific team you would like to access using single sign on from EMIS web. Once signed in to this team continue to generate credentials as described in instructions for initial set up of SSO.

To change the PKB team you access using single sign on mode in EMIS web, log in as a professional to that team in PKB and generate new credentials. Use these credentials to update your profile in EMIS web.

If you have multiple professional profiles in EMIS web, you can configure each of these with credentials for their corresponding PKB team if you like. The full organisation patient list will be accessible in SSO mode, but you will be in team data only view for patients not on your specified team.

What will I see when I open a patient's PKB record using SSO?

When you open a patient's PKB record using SSO you will land on the patient summary page. From here you can navigate through the patient's record in the same way as using an external web browser. EMIS required that certain functionality be disabled so that you remain in the PKB record corresponding to the patient that you have open in EMIS Web.

The following screenshots show the summary page for different scenarios:

Patient is on your team

Patient has been discharged, is in your org/org network but not on your team, or is on your team but you have zero privacy label access to their record; the summary page opens in team data view. You an ask for access, or in emergencies break-the-glass to see this patient's record.

Patient is not in your PKB organisation. You can add the patient to your team or break the glass via SSO.

How does PKB authenticate the connection from EMIS?

PKB works within the authentication framework provided by EMIS. This requires that a username and password be configured on the EMIS side which are hashed and sent to PKB as part of the connection request. PKB allows the GP to generate a new set of EMIS specific credentials per team for this purpose, separate from their PKB web login details.

These credentials can be generated again e.g. in case forgotten before EMIS activation or if requiring re-activation and then previously held credentials are invalidated.