I am coming into AC from SOAPware which I used for some years.
1. How to deal with the the fact that you cannote have an encounter created, unless you sign off on the chart. Signing off usually means the chart is completed. In SOAPware, I could create an encounter for a particular date and I can add, edit it anytime I like until I sign it. That incomplete encounter would remain open for editing or addition until I sign it. In fact I could have several incomplete encounters on a chart.
You can save an incomplete encounter, which puts it back into your inbox. There are several ways to do this. Control S will save it, I generally use the forward and just forward it to me. If I hit forward then W it jumps to my name.
2. When there are some 100 odd charts in the inbox, I have the impossible job of finding it. Being told that it is in the inbox is of no help because it does not help you find it.
At the top of the inbox in the center is a drop down box that lets you choose all vrs various elements of the inbox (charts, labs, ect. ) This will make it more manageable.
3. When I pull a chart from the Patient List, it forces me to open "a new page" despite informing at the same time that it is in my Inbox. These warning boxes with Lock and Key logos, do not allow my to back away from the impending mistake or the wrong move I may be about to make.
I am not quite sure what you mean. If you click and say open chart, you are not opening the forwarded version. There are times when this is good. If you double click it will open the forwarded version and give you the opportunity to remove or keep it in your inbox. This is good, for example, if you did not mean to open that chart.
4. Why not allow the incomplete encounters of charts to "float around in pool" so to speak so that anyone in the office can edit it or add information before the provider finally sings them?
No real answer here, that's not the way it was set up. What it means is that others will not make changes you have to review in the interim. If you make changes and forward it is YOUR chart. If someone were to change the vitals, for example, unless they were highlighted or you reviewed the entire chart you may not be aware when you completed your charting.
There are a lot of different ways to chart, both paper and electronically. I played with SOAPware very many moons ago and not since, so I cannot really address how they are different, except to say that these were different choices that were made in chart handling and it works smoothly in the workflow once you get used to it. A lot of what we do is a routine. Once you adapt, that is NORMAL to you. Your previous experience (on the dark side
) had you used to a different workflow. Can't really say which is better, only I am used to this one and it works well.
