Home Forums Discussions Problems missing section on the user board

Either I am missing something or the board is missing something.

I always find myself wondering where to put questions about AC. There is not really a sub-board for support type questions.

"I want AC to do this" goes in "Wish List"
"You guys bug me because you..." is in "Problems"
and "General discussion" is described as pertaining to non-AC things regarding medical practice.

So where to put support requests?--all of the "how do I?"s. Of course I get away with throwing those questions in Problems or Discussion, but afterwards, I feel kind of...."dirty?"

Don't beat yourself up, just post the questions wherever. We don't mind

Just my opinion, but:
New features requested..."Wish List"
Can't get something done or it doesn't work right..."Problems"
I found out a great way to get it done..."Tips & Tricks"
Life ain't fair and other observations..."General discussion"

Maybe we need a "Newbie section". " How do I do something section". Maybe we need some group of experienced users who identify themselves as "mentors" and us newbies could feel free to send PM with questions.
Would somebody PM me who could help me get going with electronic fax from AC to referring Docs and probably pharmacies? I don't want to high-jack a section or start a new thread that nobody else is interested in.

@ryanjo

yes, and the "tell us how our company annoys you and how we should deal with it.." does not really need a user board section. PM to J.B. may be the thing there.

The advantage to posting a question (instead of a PM) is that someone else can read it and get a similar question answered. I have discovered some great ways of doing things with AC, from the answers to questions posed by other users.

As far as faxing a note or prescription directly from AC, think of it as printing the document, but instead of choosing a printer, you choose the fax when the print window opens.

I use a Brother MFC-7840W (wireless network fax-printer-scanner) which walks you thru initial setup. Then when you click "Print" in AC and choose "Brother PC-fax" in the print window, it opens a box to enter the receiving office or pharmacy's fax #. Hit "Send" and the note or Rx is sent. Even gives you the reassuring fax machine "screeching", while it faxes.

I saw the Brother 7840 in the Sunday paper today for $249 at Office Depot. And no, I don't work for any of the companies mentioned (although I'm keeping my options open, depending on what goes on in Congress this fall).

I wasn't referring to posting questions. I was saying that complaints should be to PM. Currently, the Problems section is described as if it is for complaints, but I think PM would be good for "telling us how you're annoyed by our company and how we should deal with it."

I think dividing up the boards further will make it harder for people to find answers to their questions. If you want to PM someone so that your post doesn't show up, the person helping should be able to post the "transcript" under a new topic in the appropriate area so that it will be found by the next person with the same problem. I believe the Problems section is for any sort of problem, obstacle, or support. I believe that the General section is for everything that doesn't fit under the other sections.

i think that's fine, but would be less confusing it the description under "problems" were reworded.

I suppose you could post a transcript of a PM, but that sort of defeats the purpose of a PM. Practically all of my PMs are simply that, private messages between me and another ACer or multiple ACers that are better discussed in private.

Jon rarely answers a PM. I have said hi to him when he was on, and he didn't reply. There is an actual place on the main program under help menu specifically for suggestions, but I don't think they are read. Let's face it, we all make suggestions under the wish forum and other places and very few are incorporated into the final product. This is fine, but I don't know why they ask to begin with.

I have always looked at the wish list as a place where I can commisserate with others who are having the same issue with AC. I think it also fosters workarounds.

I must admit that I received a reply about something I sent as a RECOMMENDED IMPROVEMENT once. I have also talked to Jon and I think he does look at them, but runs out of time for everything.

But, as Adam says, post anywhere. If it's in the wrong place, it can always be moved, lol.

The worst things that ever happened to the board (besides when it was hacked and crashed) was the hover feature. Oh that was bad. Oh, and the fires. The awful flames. That's the greatest thing abot being a global mod, I can extenguish any flame that is lit.

The best thing ever was the addition of the most recent posts on the left side or wherever one has it. That's all I look at now. I used to have to go through all the forums.

When I said post a transcript, I meant to include taking the person's name off so that they were still anonymous. Details could be taken out as well, if needed, and even an abbreviated version could be used. For example, "Hey guys, I was talking to someone that had such and such problem and we came up with a solution. You simply do this and that, and voila... presto fixo!" This would be good for things that should be shared with everyone, but that the person starting the PM was afraid to have in the open, so that people could still benefit without the private information/informant being made public. Wow, it feels like a Monday, and I am already stumbling trying to explain what I mean.

I wish I weren't the most opinionated person in the world and maybe I am just cold hearted, but if the user doesn't have the courage to post their question in the forum, especially one as nice as this, then I guess they just won't get their question answered.

If someone PMs me with a question, I will certainly try to answer the question, but I am not going to take the time to copy and paste it into the forum. Besides, even though I would take his or her name off it, I still think the person wanted it kept in the PM.

No, you explained yourself very well.

This is to everyone. I know there is always a better way, but I think the system we have is pretty damn good.

NYAAAAH!!!! :p

Well, I will admit I don't know what "NYAAAH" means. Seriously.

And, ironically, I just received a PM about some software and their network which is not working. I am going to help them with with that. I don't think the user is afraid to post. To be honest, he asked about software and then the network as an aside. If we can't handle it, then I would recommend the board or he can post their as well.

If there is some shocking new event that shows up, I may share that, but it is a private message because it's private.

Anything I type which is followed by the " " is meant to be laughed at (or ignored), but not taken seriously.

One would never ignore you Peter.

But, I can't ignore what I don't know what it is. I still don't know.

NYAAH = ???

That's the sound I make when sticking my tongue at you.

(OK, now I've sunk this board to a new low )

I usually refrain from posting with no content but... HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Ok, but seriously, here's some content:

I am very used to hitting ctrl-S to backup while I am working with various (esp. MS Office) documents. So, it is quite unnerving that every time I do that, it saves the current note to my mailbox and closes out the note I'm trying to work on. It's really hard for me to break this habit but I end up delayed by having to reopen my note repeatedly and end up with six copies of the note in various stages of completion in the message box. Any tips ?? Berty?

It depends. If you want to temporarily solve the problem so that it doesn't occur in AC, then yes. If you want it to not occur in AC while it still does in occur in Microsoft Documents then I can't help.

If you are in for the former, I have a great workaround, but I am 0 for 3 in people's taking my advice. Again, it would be one or the other for a bit if you get my drift.

I would be interested in the workaround even should I choose not to go with it. Maybe I can help you improve your batting average .

Is there any way to back up the note without sending it to the message box (unsigned?)

Question #2: I am typing my reply into quick reply and there is a tremendous delay in which I cannot see anything I type until I quit typing for five to fifteen seconds and only then does it display what I typed. Makes it confusing. Does not happen in any software, just on this board. Very strange.

BTW, it's not that I don't want ctrlS to back up the file--I just don't want this in my message box and automatically closing out my note.

Well, it will put it into your inbox, but it shouldn't close out your note. It should be exactly the same when you open it up.

1. I will show tonight, but you probably won't like it unless you HATE the CTRL - S thing.

2. No

3. I don't have that problem, but there is no reason to click on Quick Reply. Just type in the box below. Maybe you will have a better experience.

that box below is entitled "Quick Reply", which is what I was referring to.

The typing thing: I am starting to think this is a problem with IE8 or a computer thing, because it is not occurring right now, and previously IE was taking an extended time to switch tabs when the typing delay was occurring. I know, I never had used IE, preferring FF, but my tech guy said <blah, blah, blah> .....

and yes, that's the main issue: when I press ctrl S, it says "has been forwarded to your inbox" and when I click on "OK" the note closes. so if I were still typing the note, I have to pull it out again each time.

Yeah, Firefox is better for most things. Some things have to use I.E. 7 or 8. I just have them both with FF the default. The neet thing is that Firefox highlights the misspelled words on here with an underlined red.

As far as the Quick Reply, I was just stating that it doesn't give you any advantage over just scrolling down to the next posting window. So, if that were the problem, I was just stating that you can skip it.

Yeah, I wouldn't want my notes randomly going to my inbox. That's just for when you want to kind of put it in hold.

OK, here it is. I think this is the fourth time I have typed this, but I can't recall where I put it. If the hassle of CTRL - S sending your charts to the inbox is frustrating enough, then you will have to be willing to pay $19.95 after a 30-day trial period. Of course, there are probably other programs like it. Probably hundreds. This was is just easy and works.

http://www.aquariussoft.com/buy/pc-keyboard-hotkey.asp

Basically, it is just a software program which allows you to make quick shortcuts to functions on your computer. So, pressing F1 may open Word or something. Only in your case, you want it to do the opposite. You want it to make CTRL - S do nothing.

So, you have to do something so you do something that doesn't do much or is not distracting such as choose Run Panel Applets and then Passwords. Or you could choose clock. In the first example, given that I have no Passwords applet in my control panel, hitting CTRL - S (the combination I assigned to run: Control Panel Applet - Passwords, does nothing. So, if I hit it by mistake no big deal. But, you could have it open notepad with a message that says, "You did it again!" or whatever. If you want to see the time, or know what time you screwed up and hit the combo again you can run that.

Of course, it's not like $19.95 was completely wasted. You can also use it for the actual reasons it is sold.

And, it does override the shortcut from AC.

That's not a bad idea. I may try that some time.

When is the note saved? I get nervous when typing a note about closing the window because I don't want to lose the info. Does the note only save when you do "sign note"??? or is it backedup prior to signing off?

that is the magical question.

The note, unlike Word or other programs with autosave is not necessarily saved along the way:

Basically, here is the breakdown:

If you pull a chart from the Patient List, it is like it is in RAM. Anything you add to it, is only in the window. It is not saved either temporarily to your inbox or the hard drive. If you close that chart, you will lose everything. Now, generally, anytime you will lose anything added, you will get the window that says, click yes and you will lose everything when you close the note, or click no. Clicking no, simply stops the closing action.

Exception: If you open and note and start writing something, and then go to file and Close Chart on the dropdown menu, (why anyone would do that or even know it is there is beyond me -- maybe they need OT and can't click on the red x), the note will close without warning of losing data, but you WILL lose any and all lost data. Now, the fun thing about this and everyone should try it, is your note will not close after clicking on File -> Close Chart only one time, you have to click on it twice. Maybe that is its way of giving you time to think of what you are about to do.

One thing to remember as this has been alluded to before, if you open a chart from the Patient List (Left = RAM) and you add even one letter, if you go to close it, it will give you dialog window warning you that you will lose data if you close it -- do you still want to close it? If you add nothing or add and then delete it, it will not because nothing will be lost because there is nothing there to lose.

Of course, it doesn't matter where you open the chart, if you send a message or write an order which is printed or saved or write a script and then close the chart without saving or forwarding it, you will lose everything written in the PN, but the script, message or order will be saved as they are saved immediately.

Now sending things to the inbox:

If an MA sends a chart to the inbox after he or she writes in subjective data, all of that information is saved. If the physician sends it to the inbox, any and all information will be saved to the "chart" while it is still in your inbox. In other words, you can open it form there and if you choose not to delete it from your inbox, then if you close the chart, you can back to that information. But, if you pull the chart from the inbox and choose to delete from your inbox, which many do, if you delete that chart, you will lose all information as if the chart was just pulled from the Patient List. Think of the inbox as when Word autosaves or you type more in Word but then close it. Everything new is saved if Word closes, but if you delete Word completely, it is gone.

But, once the chart is on the right side in your inbox, if you delete it, it will go to your delete items folder. And any signed off charts will go to the deleted items folder. REMEMBER, once you close AC, the program, completely, all deleted items in the deleted items folder will be gone. And, keep in mind, even if you think you have charts there, if your colleague closes his or her AC, then all are deleted as it happens at the server level.

Also, to correct one thing I said last night, the other thing that is saved locally is if AC crashes in the middle of a note, when you reopen it, it generally givens the option of reconstructing it.

Just as it is always a good idea to save long Outlook messages to Draft or save Word documents to the desktop or wherever after typing long, long messages, if you are doing a super long note, you may want to forward it to your inbox and then reopen it but not deleting it from the inbox in case your close it.

As always, 1) I know this sounds complicated and 2) it is because it slightly is but, more so, because I make it that way.

Also, most people don't go through all of these perpetation and combinations of using AC. As an example, 90% of the time, my nurse brings up the chart, does the triage and forwards it to my inbox. I pull the chart form there, click yes to delete it from my inbox, finish the note and sign it. There is rarely a glitch. But, until you sign the note, it is never completely saved to the server's hard drive.

HTH.

I should make a chart in Word and post it, lol.

To quickly answer your question, the note is never truly saved until you actually sign it. If it is forwarded to your inbox, it is safe there until you possibly open it and delete it, but even if AC crashes, the note will be in your inbox.

One other note: When users first start using AC, they tend to print out their notes until they feel comfortable with it. Makes sense. The next step is to choose No to deleting your note from the inbox when you pull it. Sure once you sign off the note, you have a redundant note minus what you added, but then if you somehow screw up the note or lose it, you still have the original to fall back on.

As far as the program, download it for a trial. Takes five minutes to find it and download it. And, the only reason it takes 15 minutes to set up CTRL - S as a different shortcut is you will want to look through it and decide what other thing you want CTRL - S do rather than send your note to the inbox.

Well, I guess all the descriptions under the forum names, weren't that important after all. I changed them all on the 12th, and never heard a thing. LOL.

I noticed them Bert! We all just take you for granted because you are always there to help.

Leslie

Just like Mighty Mouse. Here I come to save the day. Sure, it was not as good a cartoon as Sponge Bob Square Pants, but hey...

I loved Mighty Mouse! I recently bought a DVD set from my local Hastings with 350 episodes of classic cartoons like Mighty Mouse, Casper, Popeye, and others.

I think Casper, Mighty Mouse, Popeye and others need to form an alliance and kick Sponge Bob's [censored] right out of the sea.