I have followed along with the Carestream exchange since March/April. Is it just me, or is it quite confusing and hard to follow the format, especially to follow one's own software product as messages jump back and forth between all of the Carestream products?
Am I missing the point of all the time and effort clients have put into the exchange? Are the suggestions serving a productive purpose that I have failed to see? Will a suggestion only be considered if there are enough likes and/or votes? If there are many others like me, we do not have the time keep up with suggestions for our program and register likes and votes.
> As lifestyles have changed, this particular suggestion to include the pt's cell phone number on the scheduler is a very simple, but very MUCH NEEDED, integral enhancement request. Like dozens of other basic enhancement needs--some mentioned here, some not--it seems Carestream developers would already be continually on top of such basic enhancements and there would be no need for this confusing exchange where suggestions are expectantly offered but as far as I can tell--and I am not forum savvy so I may really be missing something--most if not all of the suggestions are simply registered but without any specific feedback or status given. I have not seen any indication that management acknowledged a particular one having qualified for integration into the next update.
Can anyone corroborate my concerns or set me straight on what I am missing?
Thanks for your feedback, Pam! I'm glad you are here, actively participating. Your contribution is extremely valuable to me and to our Research and Development (R&D) team, as well to our entire Support organization. For me, as a member of the R&D team, each interaction I have with a customer on The Exchange helps me understand what their needs are, what is working for them, and what is causing them some problems. The feedback you provide gives me a direct, quotable source of inspiration for the changes we make to our software products.
This new "Ideas" section is a great place for us to directly collaborate on the highly desired changes that you wish to see in your software. We would consider any and all of the suggestions here, but something that has more votes might gain traction more quickly -- those votes carry the weight of each customer that has decided to support the change. Of course it doesn't guarantee that every suggestion will be adopted, but this is a great place for us to discuss the changes you want to see; it's a place for you to explain how valuable any change would be so that I can understand the impact it would have for all customers.
We don't expect that you will be able to keep up with every single request that appears here, but the community at large should be able to speak as a (somewhat) unified voice. Every contribution you make is valuable and we appreciate the time you spend here with us. We will interact with the ideas suggested in the community in an informative way, but generally we like to let an idea "marinate" for a little bit -- long enough to get lots of customer visibility, as well as votes, comments, and ultimately, support.
Another good reason to participate here is that (obviously) we sometimes overlook what you think are "basic" enhancements. While I spend a lot of time in offices watching how our customers work, I still don't live it like you do. I rely on you to let me know about those things that might seem mundane, but if we were to change the way it worked, it would dramatically change your day. Those things are a big deal to me. Admittedly, even when we know about something we sometimes can't immediately make the change -- the conversations we have here will keep those requests top-of-mind.
one more thing -- you can always use the "breadcrumbs" at the top left of any Question, Discussion or Idea to know exactly which Place (Software) the topic is related to.
Since the Home page will highlight top conversations from all product Spaces, I recommend navigating to the WinOMS space and then clicking the "Follow" link at the top right of the page. This will help highlight the content created in this Space over all others. You could also set a bookmark to directly lead you to the WinOMS space at
We would also like the Cell # to appear on the patient Chart when printed (right click patient workspace > Print > Patient Chart). Even "paperless", we use this form (with notes jotted on it) a lot for concise communication across offices.
Even in lieu of the work # at the top (if there is insufficient room for all 3), it would still make more sense.
I was looking more closely at this request, and the patient's cell phone number is already on the single column Appointment Scheduler Report (Reports -> Scheduler -> Scheduler Reports).
The patient cell phone is also on the Night Call Report for after-hours follow-up.
Do you know if that was fixed in 9.1? I am not able to duplicate your success in 9.0; I only show home and work #, with and without referral included on the report.
To clarify: Yes, a place for the cell number is in the patient information. However, on the Scheduler Report the phone # is shown as Home/Cell. If I'm not mistaken, the default # will always be the -Home- (1st listed) number on the patient chart. Therefore, the number on the Scheduler Report will most always be the Home # if there is one, but we don't know.
As it is, we have to remember to put the Cell # as the Home # so that we can be certain the Cell # is on the report. Having the most reachable number becomes crucial as mentioned when inclement weather is predicted, and we must have that most reachable phone #--most always the cell.
A very helpful modification would if the first phone # box was designated as the 1st Contact # and the 2nd the next in line so we can always be sure the most reliable contact # is coming up on reports.
Here is how it looks now in WinOMS v9.2. The single column report:
and the Patient Demographics data entry:
In this case, Patient Jones has both a Home and a Cell phone number; there are distinct fields in the data entry to support each type of number. Home phone will always be listed on the first line of the Scheduler report, cell phone below it.
Patient Howe only has a cell phone and does not have a home number listed. Notice how on the Scheduler report the phone number appears on the second line, indicating that it is the cell phone and not the home phone number. I think that this handles that previous confusion.
However, the reason we've missed it is because we can no longer use this Single Column report.
In the previous versions, the spacing was tight and we would print out the day's schedule --all on one page-- and post it for reference in several areas in the office.
In this latest update, please notice the expanded spacing and large open spaces between lines that show on your example. Please notice all the vertical space taken just to get to 11:00.
It now takes 2 pages to print out and is impractical to post.
Now, to have the schedule printed on one page, we have to use the other multi-column format which does -not- have any phone numbers which we very much miss.
> Is this something you would please check out for us (and possibly others) to see if there is a necessary reason the spaces have been so expanded? We can't imagine a reason and hope it's just unintended and readily fixable.
> Please see if we might have a quick change back to the original tighter, one-page spacing? Thanks much
