copyright 2005,  Welford Medical Computing, Inc.  All rights reserved

USING IMAGE CATEGORIES (Pgs. 869-870)

When storing Images in the Image Utility, you can assign each Image a user-defined Category. This Category can then be used to sort and filter the Images when doing an Image Search or using the new Writer Image Auto-Open window. Let's try it out!

1. Press Links\Image Utility\Edit\Categories\Edit Categories.

2. Let's add some Categories. Press Add.

3. Type in Discharge Summary and press Ok.

4. Press Add. Type in Blood Smear and press Ok. (You can keep doing this for every kind of Image you like to store, such as Consultant's letters, EKGs, Nursing Home Orders, etc.) Press Cancel when you're done.

Now, let's assign a Category to an Image that we acquire:

1. Inside the Image Utility, press Edit\Link.

2. Choose HYPERSEG.BMP from your \CHART directory, a picture of a hypersegmented polymorphonuclear leukocyte.

3. Press Edit\Categories\Assign to this Image.

4. Choose the Blood Smear Category from the list and press Ok.

5. Fill in the rest of the information about the image (Title, Patient) and press Ok to store it.

Note that you can also assign Categories in the Document Manager to each document. Simply choose it from the Category box before Sending the document to someone. You can edit the list of Categories by pressing the Edit button just to the right of the Category box.

Now, let's search for blood smears on this patient:

1. Press Links\Image Utility\Search.

2. Leave the Begin Date as the earliest date and the End Date as today's date (unless you want to narrow the date range).

3. Enter the name of the Patient.

4. Under Categories, press None to uncheck all of the choices, then check Blood Smear.

5. Leave the Text blank (unless you want to search the Title fields for some specific text).

6. Press Ok.

7. The Image Search Results window now shows you each image for this patient in the Category of Blood Smear. You can double-click any of the items to load it into the Image Utility, where you can view or edit it. (If you wanted to change its Category, e.g. if you assigned a Category by mistake, simply press Edit\Categories\Assign to this Image, choose the correct Category, press Ok to close the Category list, and Ok to store the image itself (along with its new Category).

CATEGORIES AND THE WRITER IMAGE AUTO-OPEN WINDOW (Pgs. 879-880)

You can arrange to have the Writer automatically open a window showing you recent Images on your patient, filtered by Category.

1. Press System\Writer Options. Press the Auto-Open Options button.

2. Check Images. This enables the Category Filter button and the Open back weeks.

3. Set the Open back weeks to the number of weeks back in time you want the window to show images. For example, if you want to just see images from the past 3 months, set this to 13 weeks. If you want to see every image regardless of date, set it to 255 weeks.

4. Press the Category Filter button. Check the Categories you wish to see displayed in the Writer Auto-Open Images window. In general, you will NOT want to see every image Category. For example, you probably won't want to see nursing home orders, permission slips, and other administrative documents. On the other hand, if you received a letter from a consultant about this patient in recent weeks, you will likely want to see that listed in your Writer Auto-Open Window, so you can click on it to quickly review what the consultant had to say at the time of the patient's visit.

5. Press Ok to store the list of Categories you want to see, Ok to store the Writer Auto-Open Options, and Ok to store your Writer Options.

Let's open the patient's Writer and see the window:

1. Press Write\New Note\Note.

2. Enter the name of the patient you just stored the blood smear on and open the Writer.

3. See the new window labeled IMAGES that opens on the screen. (It is usually at the upper left corner of the screen by default). Use your mouse to resize the window and move it to where you want it to appear in the future. (If you have checked System\Global Options\Window Locking, uncheck this first, move the Images window where you want it, then check Window Locking).

4. The window lists the date and Title of each image matching your filter, in reverse chronological order. Note that the date of the image in this window is not the date you stored the image, but the date of the image file itself. (Thus, you can be shown an older image file if it were stored into your patient's Image Utility recently).

5. Double-click this Window to open the Image Search Results window. From here, you can double-click any Image to load it into the Image Utility, where you can view, edit, or print it.

This month we are releasing the April, 2005 Quarterly update. The update includes new medications, diagnostic terms, drug interactions, drug dosing information, spelling words, drug-disease Alerts, Web Links, algorithms, medication test reminders, cross-reacting allergies, and dozens of new patient education brochures. This update has over 6000 drug interactions with over 2300 references, over 11,000 Alerts, over 9800 Web Links, and over 1300 Brochures, including new or revised Brochures on acute mountain sickness, attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder, brown recluse spider bite, cardiomyopathy, insomnia, macular degeneration, multiple sclerosis, ovarian cancer, rosacea, thyrotoxic periodic paralysis, urinary incontinence, viral hepatitis, vitiligo, adefovir, citalopram, duloxetine, escitalopram, fluoxetine, fluvoxamine, paroxetine, sertraline, tacrolimus and many others.

To obtain the April Quarterly Update, you must be an active subscriber to the Comprehensive Support Package. If you have let your support package lapse and would like to renew and obtain the latest version, contact MEDCOM Information Systems at 800-424-0258.

We are working hard on new features to version 4.8, which will have a much more powerful Security Assign feature.