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Offline-First Architecture & Downtime Operations

Healthcare facilities frequently encounter intermittent Wi-Fi, severed network cables, or local server downtime. To guarantee uninterrupted 24/7 clinical operations, MOANA EHR is engineered with an offline-first local persistence and queue synchronization architecture.

1. How Offline Operation Works​

graph LR
    A[1. Online State: Charting saves to central server] --> B[2. Network Loss: System switches to local offline cache]
    B --> C[3. Work Uninterrupted: Records queue securely on workstation]
    C --> D[4. Reconnection: Queued changes sync automatically]

1. Offline Capability Boundaries​

Hospital environments frequently experience variable network connectivity. Moana absorbs this reality through offline queuing and local data caches:

What Moana CAN Do OfflineWhat CANNOT Be Done Offline
✓ Queue new entries locally: vital signs, nursing notes, consultation notes, eMAR medication administration records✗ Place a new laboratory order — fails outright; use a physical paper lab request form
✓ Access recently cached patient records from the current active session✗ Acknowledge critical diagnostic results via external paths — requires live connection
✓ Run drug-allergy and drug-interaction checks (using locally cached clinical rules)✗ Log in for the first time on a device — initial user authentication requires connectivity
✓ Run NEWS2 deterioration threshold checks (using local scoring rules)✗ Access patient records not previously loaded or cached in the current session
✓ View the ICU Admissions list (confirmed to cache for offline clinical viewing)✗ Transmit electronic billing claims to external health insurers

2. On Reconnection — Mandatory Operational Steps​

When network connectivity is restored, staff must execute these mandatory steps:

  1. Verify Sync Status Indicator: Confirm that the top indicator shows SYNCED (Green) before assuming any queued data has successfully uploaded.
  2. Review Conflict Resolution Queue: If the same patient record was modified at two different workstations during the outage, a conflict appears in the queue for supervisor review. Select: Server-wins, Client-wins, or Manual merge.
  3. Re-enter Time-Critical Data: Verify any time-sensitive entries (e.g., exact medication administration timestamps, critical result acknowledgments) that required manual intervention.
  4. Confirm Before Re-entering: Always check existing records before re-typing to avoid creating duplicate clinical entries.

3. Real-Time Network Status Banners​

Visual Banner StateBanner ColorMeaning & Clinical Guidance
Online & SynchronizedNone (Hidden)Normal connected state. All modifications are committed to the central database.
Offline Mode🔴 Red BannerYou are offline — showing cached data. Charting continues locally without data loss.
Syncing in Progress🟠 Amber Banner⟳ Syncing X pending changes.... Workstation is transmitting queued records to the server.
Pending Unsynced Queue🟡 Yellow BannerX unsynced changes waiting to reach the server [Retry now]. Click Retry now to trigger instant flush.

4. Paper Downtime Procedures & Recovery​

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IMPORTANT:

Patient Care Always Takes Priority Patient safety always takes precedence over software operation. If a technical issue causes a clinical delay, activate paper downtime procedures immediately. Never delay urgent medication administration or trauma resuscitation due to connectivity.

Outage ScenarioRecommended Clinical Action
Brief connectivity loss (< 30 minutes)Continue documenting in Moana; data queues locally; confirm SYNCED upon reconnection.
Extended outage or uncertain connectionActivate paper downtime procedure immediately — do not wait for technical resolution.
System unavailable at start of shiftUse paper clinical forms from the start of the shift; brief all oncoming staff at shift handover.
System recovery after downtimeTranscribe paper records into Moana in CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER. Do not summarize or skip entries.