Perio Reading Question

[Anon]

Good evening PracticeWorks users,

I'd like to pose a hypothetical question to the community. 

If you were able to open the Charting module for the same patient on two or more computers, can you think of a situation where more than one staff member would enter perio chart readings for a patient? 

Though I'm posting in the PracticeWorks community feedback from anyone is welcome. 

Tagging cplummer‌, sonyap‌, jeanspears, and joedindo‌ 

Thanks!

[gmrdmd]

It is not about 2 different people accessing the charting.  It is about the operatory accessing the clinical chart while the front desk access the ledger, appointments, insurance, payments etc.  That is what the other software companies can do.  I would suggest looking at the capabilities of the other practice management companies (Dentrix for example) and seeing their capabilities.

[Anon]

Dr. Rosenblatt,

Thanks for your input. Based on the direction we go with development I may need to reach out to you directly (I've still got your number). I understand and agree regarding the functions PracticeWorks should support.

That said, there are three specific things we're researching: the impact of multiple users in a clipboard, multiple users in a chart, and users in chart and clipboard. 

Much of the workflow for chart/clipboard access is straightforward; not many questions from myself or the development team. Multiple users in the chart simultaneously presents some potential conflicts we'd like to address gracefully. 

[sonyap]

Jeremy, I'm not sure if this will be of any help, but I'm throwing it out there just in case.  Our xray software program allows two workstations to view an xray at the same time.  However, if you are the second person accessing it, you receive a pop-up message advising that any changes you make will not be saved, as the first workstation has "control" over the image.  Maybe something like that would let multiple employees in, but with limitations?

[Anon]

This is very helpful. Thank you Sonya Pifer

[cplummer]

I personally would never see a reason that 2 people would need to perio chart at the same time, as the hygienist is the only one who does the perio charting.. But we still love the idea that we might be able to at some point have more than 1 person access the chart at a time! 

[sonyap]

Never.

[jeanspears]

 I personally don’t change anything with perio readings and I can’t think of a time in our office when two people would be entering readings at the same time - unless hygiene is entering and the doctor wants to review? But he will typically go into the hygiene room and review on her workstation since it’s open in there.  We would love it if two people could just open the chart at the same time. Example : new patients will see the doctor first for a comp exam and fmx. They’ll discuss findings with the patient and then the patient goes on to see our hygienist.  It’s usually during this time the doctor tells the patient that I will verify benefits and put together a treatment plan and estimate. BUT since the patient is in hygiene’s chair and she has the chart open to do perio charting - I can’t open the chart to see what's proposed or define appointments for the proposed treatment. The other tricky spot is when hygiene or doctor is finished with the patient and is finishing or modifying a note or entry in the chart. The assistant brings them to my desk to schedule but I can’t pull the proposed treatment or  appointment for it from the treatment plan because the chart is open in back. Some days I’m constantly telling people to “get out of the chart”.

[jdowner]

Hello Jean

I hope that you find this helpful as a work around for the time being until something comes along to allow a patient's chart to be accessed on more then one computer.

Even when the chart is open on a computer in the back, it would be possible for you to view the pending treatment plan.  To do so you would need to go to the patient's clipboard via  the patient list either though the phone button, or through Lists > People.  You will be able to open the clipboard this was as it only locks it from opening via the right click menu on the appointment book while the chart is open. You can then click on the Tx plan button and view the tx plan from here to look at it's estimating and create a future appointment.

However, to create that pending, or future appointment you would have to create the appointment manually instead of using the "next appointment" option on the right-click menu on 'today's' appointment.  This would mean going through the phone book and telling it to make an appointment, or highlighting the block of time and creating the appointment from there.

I hope this helps

[jeanspears]

Johnathan -

 When we went to the users meeting in Las Vegas in 2016 one of the questions that our staff had for any trainer in our meetings was how can two people get into the chart at the same time. We were offered the option of going through the clipboard and accessing the treatment plan that way ( just like you discussed in your above response). That does work and it does give us an option to get around a scheduling problem but we still can’t create or define the appointment from there.

 Also, when going into the phone icon to schedule, sometimes  it works but sometimes it does not.  When it does not work I get a message stating that the chart is in use by another op and I am locked out and cannot make the appointment. We have played around with this issue to see where the hygienist is at in charting; is she is trying to put charges in? Are they are doing their notes?  Or are they back in the treatment plan for any reason? It seems that there is certain functions that they are performing at certain times that prevent me from still scheduling appointment even through the phone icon. We have messed around with it for quite a while to try to figure out why it locks us out. But like I said, there are times that it works.