I believe in all of you who have sung praise of AC. It is just that the conversion process, I feel, will take time and effort. Thanks for all the encouragement. I will certainly be employing all the techniques suggested.
Chock, you are going to really hate me. But, as Grenville said, AC could not have made this any easier.
When you sign off on a chart, that chart is saved to the database. It is not sent to your patient list. This is actually saying the same thing, because since it is back in the database unchanged forever, you will be able to find it in the patient list. I just don't want you to think of it as its being sent back to the patient list as if it is separate from the database.
Again, this is not hard. If you are by yourself, pull the chart from the program's database by searching for the patient in the patient list. Pull the patient's chart, do a note and save it. DONE! If your nurse does this, she will pull it from the database by searching for it, she will do HPI and vitals or whatever you decide. She could just leave it as if you pulled it, but she is more likely to "park" it in your inbox. That way she can put as many there as she wants.
You now walk into John Smith's exam room. There is John Smith's chart in your inbox. Why? Because your nurse triaged him, did his vitals, and found out he has a fever and cough. You pull the chart from the inbox and do your note and sign it off.
Anytime you want to save a note without signing it, just send it to your inbox and "park" it there for later that day or week. When you have time, pull it and do the rest of the progress note and sign it off OR send it back to the inbox. 50 times if you like.
Why would you want to highlight the chart, then delete it unless it were the wrong chart.
1. If you delete it and retrieve it from the deleted items, EVERYTHING in it will be there.
2. The only exception will be (and it warns you), if you had opened the chart, added information, saved it back to the inbox. If you delete that one, you will lose what you wrote AFTER you pulled it from the inbox.
Let me tell you why you are making it hard. Do you see what I wrote in #s 1 and 2 above. I know this info, BUT I have NEVER done that.
I only pull charts that my nurse has done from my inbox and chart on it and sign it. That is so easy.
On a weekend I have to find the chart myself, pull it, chart and sign it.
Make a dummy chart, and this weekend, pull it and chart on it over and over and sign it. After you have done that 50 times, try forwarding it to the inbox. As SOON as you do, open it again, chart on it and sign it.
You are so making this too hard. You are worrying about charts that aren't finished and saving and losing data and where they are.
