Zak:
The date of the message does not reflect the date it was saved.
Example: My assistant sends me a message on a patient on March 16. I call the patient on March 19. I click 'Reply' (as that is the only way to add to a message {or forward}). I type in what we spoke about. Click 'Save to chart'.
Problem: The message is saved as March 16. No mention of March 19 in the note.
Your point is a good one: when hitting "save to chart" there is no record of when that took place. I avoid the problem by hitting "forward" (rather than "reply") and sending the message to myself, then saving. The new verbiage is there and the date is correct.
Why is there still a 'Save' (which is mostly greyed out) in addition to 'Save To Chart'? In my 10 years of using AC, I have never used that feature.
This is not to save a chart or a note to a chart. I use it to document more administrative-type messages. For example, if a secretary asks for time off, I save the message. Or if we send a message to staff ("please don't forget to put the 'away message' on the phone at lunch") then I will save it to document that it was sent.
I agree with Bert's points that the message area could use some "clean-up" by the developers.
