WELFORD CHART NOTES
NEWSLETTER
Volume 18, No. 6 June, 2001
copyright 2001, Welford Medical Computing, Inc. All rights reserved
NEW YORK CITY IMMUNIZATION REPORT (User's Manual, pgs. 632-635)
Users in New York City are required to report immunizations given to children between the ages of 0 and 8 to the New York City Department of Health for the Citywide Immunization Registry. Version 3.9 allows you to create this report automatically. Let's see how to do it:
1. Press Reports\NYC Immunization Report.
2. Fill in the Institution Code which has been assigned to your clinic or office from the New York City Department of Health. This code has 7 characters and is required.
3. Fill in the Facility Code which has been assigned to your clinic or office from the New York City Department of Health. This code is also required. Without this code, the file will be rejected.
4. Type in the Facility Name of your clinic as it was registered with the Citywide Immunization Registry. This is also required.
5. Type in the Contact Info box the name and phone number of the person that the Citywide Immunization Registry should contact at your office if there is a problem. This field is optional, but it is a good idea to fill it in.
6. For now, we are just going to create a test file, so check Test Mode. When you are going to create an actual file, uncheck Test Mode. Checking Test Mode sets a special flag in the file that tells the Citywide Immunization Registry that the data in the file are only for test purposes and aren't real. It allows them to test you file to make sure it complies with their requirements.
7. First, let's make a Legacy Report. A Legacy Report is a file of all of the immunizations to children between the ages of 0 and 8 when they received the vaccine, between the Start Date and End Date. This report tells the Citywide Immunization Registry about past immunizations at your office. Notice that the program looks at the age of the child when the child received the vaccine, not the age presently.
8. For Start Date, fill in a date on or before the first date you started using Welford Chart Notes. You can even set it to an earlier start date if you recorded immunizations for children that were given on dates in the past. In that case, choose the earliest plausible date that you might have recorded that would be relevant.
9. For the End Date, enter today's date.
10. Press Run. This creates the Legacy Report. Note that the file will be named U<Institution Code>.nnn, where <Institution Code> is your office's Institution Code that you filled in on step 2, and "nnn" is a consecutive number (beginning with "001") assigned automatically by Welford Chart Notes each time you create a new New York City Immunization Report file.
11. Move this file to another location, such as a floppy disk or CD, and send it to the Citywide Immunization Registry. Keep your own backup copy of it also.
12. Now, let's start sending new immunization information. All you have to do is check Auto Store and press Ok. From now on, each time you record an immunization in the Medication Editor of a child between the ages of 0 and 8, that information automatically gets stored in your New York City Immunization Report file. If you are ready to use this feature for real, uncheck Test Mode.
13. Periodically (such as once a week), remove the U<institution code>.nnn file from your \CHART directory, copy it to a floppy disk, and send it to the Citywide Immunization Registry.
Note that the program keeps appending to the U<institution code>.nnn file as long as it exists in your \CHART directory. If you erase it or move it somewhere else, the program automatically increments ".nnn" and creates a new file. Once you send the file to the Citywide Immunization Registry, you want to erase it from the \CHART directory, or you will end up sending the same information to them each time (the old information you already sent plus any new information at the end of the file).
LAB BOOK GRAPH HEIGHT AND WEIGHT STANDARD FORMAT
(User's Manual, pgs. 630-631)
When viewing the graph of the height or weight of a child, you can choose to see the graph in "standard" format by checking the Standard box. The program remembers that you have checked it and continues to show you all such graphs in standard format until you uncheck it."Standard" format means that the graph includes all of the percentiles and looks similar to the preprinted height and weight graph forms that are used universally. The non-standard format follows the convention of the Lab Book Graph function: the program "blows up" the graph to show just the dates you requested and adjusts the height or weight axis to show only the range of heights or weights that fall within that range of dates. Furthermore, it shows only those percentiles that fall within that range of heights or weights, which may not necessarily include all of the percentiles. Some users prefer this method, which makes it easier to see on which height or weight the percentile falls, whereas other users who are used to the "standard" paper graph prefer to see the data reproduced in that format, even if it is harder to tell on which percentile the data item falls. You can easily switch between the views by simply checking and unchecking Standard to see which view you prefer.
Original View Standard View
NEWS ON UPCOMING VERSIONS
We are putting the finishing touches on version 4.0. This version has more than 50 new features and enhancements. The Simple Screen Setup makes it easy for novice users to learn how to use the most important features of the program. The Parser Quick Summary displays the outcome of parsing in a separate window in real time.SEND US YOUR TIPS
If you have tips, shortcuts, questions, or suggestions for future newsletter topics, please send them to us at:Welford Medical Computing, Inc.
3779 Hermitage Trail
Rockford, IL 61114
or
MEDCOM Information Systems, Inc.
2117 Stonington Avenue
Hoffman Estates, IL 60195
http://medcom@emirj.com