Home Forums Discussions Problems Things about AC5029 that annoy me.

I am almost ashamed to post this since most of you have only posted nice things about AC. I have been an AC user since 2004. I have been using 5.0.29 now for a few weeks. Although I would continue to give it a high rating, this version - to me- behaves too quirkily. My complaints with the software involve a multitude of tiny annoyances that I hope will not be ignored because they are 'tiny.' If anyone can show me workarounds for these (or maybe I am just using the software wrong), I'd be happy to listen. Here are the things about AC 5029 that annoy me. . . .

1. After using templates that contain the % qualifier (as in %he, %his, etc) the cursor moves to the START of the paragraph. I would then have to re-position the cursor to the END of the paragraph. I do this several dozen times a day. But when using templates that do not contain the % qualifier, the cursor behaves normally. That is, it stays at the end of the paragraph. This has been a problem in older versions. Someone posted this issue a couple of years ago and has not been corrected yet. I think that cursor behavior within a box should be uniform. Level of Annoyance : 8 out 10.

2. When printing a Lab Order Requisition, AC5029 always prompts me with the printer dialog box asking what printer I should use instead of directly printing it to the default printer. However, when printing a medication prescription, it does the " right" thing, ie print it to the default printer right away. The logic behind asking me to choose a printer each time I print a lab report escapes me - please explain. Level of Annoyance 9 out of 10.

3. Rescheduled / Cancelled patients still show a message of "John Doe did not chose to reschedule ....." This grammatical error has been there for >5 years. For Pete's sake please correct it already. Level of annoyance : 3 out of 10.

4. <ctrl> copy and <ctrl> paste work in some boxes but not in others. I would want to see it work in the Free Text Orders box but it doesn't. Instead it forces a few more extra clicks by opening "Select a Template" and makes you paste it instead on the Edit Template box. Level of annoyance : 5 out of 10.

5. What happened to ALL CAPS with the medication list? For years, I have told my medical assistant that she can type the meds any way she wants - all capitalized or all lower case or any combination thereof. In older versions, simply double clicking the meds box converts them all to upper case when printing. I could no longer find this feature - if someone knows how to do this, please help. My notes now look as ugly as I do. Level of annoyance : 7 out of 10.

6. When writing orders while seeing a patient, I print then use "Save without Sending" to include the documentation directly in the notes I am writing. When responding to intra-office mail, I directly use the "Orders" button to the right of the message box WITHOUT opening the chart. On many occasions force of habit has made me mistakenly press "Save without sending" since the button remains active (ie not grayed out). The orders aren't sent but they aren't saved either. They are lost forever in limbo (I hope I am wrong on this one - but I can't locate the orders). Level of annoyance : 4 out of 10.

7. The Personal Template and the Practice -wide template no longer work in harmony. This used to be an awesome feature in older versions. But now, clicking a box in one column deletes a previous choice in the other column. For me this is the single most s%$h#@i&t&(%$t*!y change in AC. Level of annoyance 10 out of 10.

8. In older versions where the ICD code and Diagnosis were in a textbox, I used to include only the ICD codes of the diagnosis and "hide" sensitive info by deleting them, like HIV or Obesity. I can't do this anymore. When printing lab orders, I have to uncheck the sensitive diagnosis and write the ICD at the bottom of the page. Level of Annoyance: 4 out of 10 .

9. My medical assistant commented, "I seem to be clicking the mouse more than I used to." To test this, I ran 4.0.73 in an old desktop I am no longer using and compared the number of clicks using the ever reliable records of Mr. Dummy Chart . We tested her suspicion, from chief complaint to printing orders, printing meds up to printing the note. Using identical entries, I clicked 14 more times with 5029 than with 4073 to accomplish the same thing. Level of annoyance 6 out of 10.

I recognize that a tremendous amount of effort was put into adding the bells and whistles which many of us need. And I do recognize that I will need to change the way I work to adapt to the software changes. But if I knew I was going to be less efficient with 5029, I would have stuck with 4073.

rene