WELFORD CHART NOTES
NEWSLETTER
Volume 25, No. 5 November, 2004
copyright 2004, Welford Medical Computing, Inc. All rights reserved
SEND MESSAGES TO GROUPS OF USERS (User's Manual, pgs.847-848)
You can now send Messages to groups of users, rather than just to a single user or to all users. You can also decide whether you want each member of the group to respond to the Message, or whether having any single member of the group responding to the Message should stop the other members of the group from dealing with the Message.For example, suppose you have a new policy at your office for nurses regarding flu vaccine. You want each nurse in your office to read this policy, but not the other employees.
1. Press Write\Messages\New.
2. Press the Group button to the right of the To: box.
3. Check the names of your two nurses, Nancy Barton and Flo Nightingale, and uncheck the other names.
4. Make sure Treat as a group is unchecked.
5. Press Ok to store this.
6. Note that the To box now reads "Barton, Nancy;Nightingale, Flo".
7. Set Priority to Routine.
8. For Re:, type in "flu vaccine policy"
9. Leave Patient set to NONE since this applies to no patient in particular.
10. For Message, type in "please read the new flu vaccine policy".
11. Press Send. Then Cancel twice to leave Messages.
This message has now been sent to Nancy Barton and Flo Nightingale.
1. Press System\User and log on as Nancy Barton.
2. Press Write\Messages (or double-click the "Messages" label at the upper left.)
3. Note the flu vaccine policy message from Beverly McFadden.
4. Press Answer and then Noted.
5. Press Cancel twice to leave Messages.
Now, log on as Flo and you will see that even though Nancy has responded to this Message, the Message is still in Flo's Messages, because you chose not to treat all of the checked users as a group:
1. Press System\User and log on as Flo Nightingale.
2. Press Write\Messages (or double-click the "Messages" label at the upper left.)
3. Note the flu vaccine policy message from Beverly McFadden.
4. Press Answer and then Noted.
5. Press Cancel twice to leave Messages.
Conversely, suppose you want patient Kelly Erickson notified that her X-ray result is abnormal and you want her to come in for a visit. You have two employees working today who handle this sort of phone call, Suzy Secretary and Gal Friday, and you don't care which one handles it, just whoever is able to get to it first. You can send a Message to each of these two employees, but treat them as a Group, such that once one of the two employees responds to your Message and handles the situation, the other employee need not do so, and so the second employee has the Message automatically removed from her list of pending Messages when the first employee responds to it.
1. Press Write\Messages\New.
2. Press the Group button to the right of the To: box.
3. Check the names of your two secretaries, Suzy Secretary and Gal Friday, and uncheck the other names.
4. Make sure Treat as a group is checked.
5. Press Ok to store this.
6. Note that the To box now reads "Secretary, Suzy; Friday, Gal".
7. Set Priority to Routine.
8. For Re:, type in "needs a visit"
9. Set the Patient to Kelly Erickson.
10. For Message, type in "tell her she needs a visit to discuss her chest X-ray".
11. Press Send. Then Cancel twice to leave Messages.
This message has now been sent to Suzy Secretary and Gal Friday.
Now, log on as Suzy and respond that you have noted this Message:
1. Press System\User and log on as Suzy Secretary
3. Note the message about Kelly Erickson. Call Kelly and set up her appointment.
4. Press Answer and then Noted.
5. Press Cancel twice to leave Messages.
Now, log on as Gal Friday and you will see that because Suzy has already responded to this Message, the Message is no longer in your list of Messages.
FINDING ALL OF YOUR PATIENTS ON VIOXX (User's Manual, pgs. 379-388, 645)
You can use the Generic Report Generator to locate all of your active patients who are taking Vioxx, in order to notify them of the recall and switch them to other alternatives:1. Press Reports\Generic Report Generator.
2. For Title, enter a title like "VIOXX REPORT".
3. For Description, enter "find all active patients on Vioxx".
4. Leave the What to Search by page at its defaults, except for Condition, type in "Active". This will keep you from notifying deceased, moved, and other inactive patients.
5. Click on the Terms to Search For page (or press <Pg Dn> to move to it).
6. Under Terms, 1, enter VIOXX as the first Term.
7. Beneath that, uncheck By Visit\Exact.
8. Beneath that, check By List\Current. (This notifies only those patients currently on Vioxx, and skips the ones who have already discontinued taking it).
9. Click on the What to Include in Report page.
10. Check the items you want in your report, such as Name, Home Phone, Work Phone, etc.
11. Press Run to run the report.
12. Decide where you want the report sent, e.g. Screen only or Print only and press Ok.
The program will find all of the active patients taking Vioxx in a few seconds. You can then send them postcards call them to notify them. (You can also use the Rule Reminder feature and write a Rule: "if On Vioxx and Active", then Scan the practice for all matches and send the data to postcards).
NEWS ON UPCOMING VERSIONS
We are continuing to add new features to version 4.7. For example, you can record Comments for an entire day in the Appointment Scheduler, like "keep it light today".SEND US YOUR TIPS
If you have tips, shortcuts, guestions, 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