A couple of thoughts about this process.
I understand (and agree) that an easier way of doing this would be useful, but the whole concept of "copying the record" is not as simple in the era of an electronic record. To state the obvious, a patient's record is maintained by a program (or a series of programs). There is no universal standard for looking at a record, so unless all patients and docs have a version of AC available to them, they won't be able to see the record like you do. The most you can hope for is to put it into some form that is generally readable. So you start with a chart that is part-AC and likely includes various other formats. Then you switch them to (probably) a text, Word, and pdf format (or a combination of these). It may be a bit much to expect your EMR to convert that chart "in one click" to something easily viewable.
In addition, we generally want to help out the doctor or patient who is receiving the files, so some editing is in order. It is easier to copy it all, in no particular order (analogous to putting a paper chart on the copier and printing it all). Usually, you will want to be somewhat selective and order the documents in a way that is more useful. Again, I don't think it is realistic to expect AC to do that with a single click.
When I want to make the process as quick as possible, I do it in three parts:
1. Print demographics (I usually print to Updox; you can use a pdf "print" program as described above and "print" to a cd).
2. Print progress notes (go to "previous encounters" and print as in #1).
3. Navigate to the patient's "imported items" folder. This is on the server; the folder has the same number as the patient's ID in AC. Copy that folder to the disc or other media you will be sending.
This seems to work for us.
Last edited by JBS; 02/17/2011 8:10 PM.
