Chock,

I am not sure we can help because at least speaking for me, I am not certain of your dilemma. Let me see if I have it correct.

You have been practicing a bit and clicking on no all this time and, therefore, a lot of charts have piled up in your inbox?

How to sort these out? If this is the case, and the charts are serving no purpose there, then I would suggest taking care of it sooner than later by sitting down and fixing it.

Unless you are seeing the same patients over and over, then it shouldn't be all that hard to fix. It would seem that you saw patient A, signed it off, and you still have the triaged patient A in your inbox. If this is the case, then when you pull that same chart from your Patient List, it will have a recent note compared to the one in your inbox, which will be missing that note. It will also say on the bottom that the patient was last seen 10 days ago. The patient chart in the inbox will be later than that. Of course, it could represent the same patient that you saw two days ago and chose yes and decided to forward him or her back to your inbox. But, by comparing the two, you should have a good idea which is which. The charts in your inbox will either say CHART on the left or just "patient" on the left. If it says CHART, it will be rather simple to find out if it is the latest chart.

If it says CHART (depending on your workflow) at some point in time your MA or maybe you pulled the chart, entered some subjective data and forwarded it to your inbox. You then opened it soon thereafter I would guess, said no, and then worked on the chart and saved it. You would then still have another version of patient B, let's say, in your inbox. Before you even start, it is likely that any chart with CHART next to it, is a chart, which can be deleted. Just compare it to the chart you pull.

If there are two or three charts of that name with CHART next to them, usually the one on the bottom is the most up-to-date chart. Once you feel comfortable that the chart in the inbox is old news, then simply delete it using the delete button at the top right of your message area.

Now messages and other reasons for a chart to be in your inbox (labs or whatever -- to be honest I don't use the inbox for that so I may be off on this) are a different story. One of your staff could have sent you a message. In that case deal with the message, but for now, open it also and check its standing. For instance, you may have pulled patient C, said no, and signed it off. The chart in your inbox is no longer needed, but then your nurse sends you a message on Patient C. Now, you have a good copy of patient C saved to the database, a copy albeit without the last note in your inbox with CHART on the left, and the good up-to-date copy of patient C in your inbox. BUT, this will be a message recognizable by the "patient" at the left side. So, this version would be a copy you would want to keep but will go away once you save the message or reply to it.

Once you understand this convoluted explanation, you should be able to clean out your inbox in no time.\

That is if I understood your question. If it is the question, and you are still unsure, I can remote into your computer and get you started.

Bert
Pediatrics
Brewer, Maine