Home Forums Discussions General Discussion New to AC, coupla questions

Just bought this last week after trying it for a while. I am really happy with the way to notes look (no huge lists of silly normals etc that take up sheets of paper and mean nothing). Also the meds feature is nice; like someone else noted in a separate post, the ability to print a patient list in english instead of a mix of latin would be excellent. Also I am happy my notes are now legible enough I am not embarrassed to refer patients to other doctors!

About 5 days ago I faxed in my agreement/contract thing for electronic prescribing; should I have heard something by now? Is it via email?

Now the hard question.

I am running this on a laptop in my office with a central computer holding the database. It is via a wireless network. However, it sometimes runs VERY slowly and even loses the network connection itself, requiring a reboot of this windows 7 machine. I have 4/5 bars on signal strength.

When I detach the computer from the database to run on its own "synch and detach" feature, it does great. What I have been doing is this, re synching when we take off for lunch. Of course, each re-synch means both databases (laptop and main puter) are backup up. I haven't peeked into the AC folder on the main computer to see if it's making a mess. Any reason I can't synch 2x per day or more? Running on its own files is a whole lot faster

OR is there any ideas how to make the wireless run faster? I can provide details as needed.

Thanks

Mike Schueler
(FP, semi solo)

I would definitely run wired instead of wireless. With wireless you will likely have much higher latency to the server, which is bad news with SQL. You can also get interference from wireless phones on the 2.4GHz range and things like microwaves, other wifi hotspots in the area, and even overhead aircraft. Sync has issues, as has been explained in other threads. Bert's suggestion is always to try what you are thinking in a virtual machine first, and many times and different ways, to see what will work for you. Syncing in certain ways can cause loss of data such as patient records.

Here is a post from another forum which I thought would be applicable
Link to that post - http://www.hardforum.com/archive/index.php/t-893589.html

Scan through the forum and you will see a number of complaints about wireless. I suspect equally as many people are successfully using it, but it is more prone to problems.

The same is true for synching. There have been a lot of issues in the past, many of them seem to be better, but it is better to avoid that if possible.

Hard wiring is 1 time expense, but I would strongly recommend it.

I have been using several wireless tablets with AC with speeds almost approaching the desktop computers. Therefore, you should troubleshoot the wireless computers before giving up:
1. Look at what other WiFi networks surround you (Go to Control Panel>Network Connections, click on the "Wireless Network Connection" icon and choose "View wireless networks"). If there are several, you may be competing for the same WiFi channel with a nearby network, reducing bandwidth. I use a tool called CommView for WiFi to display the nearby networks, including what channel they are using (30 day free demo here) . Use the setup utility for your wireless router to change to an unoccupied channel.
2. Reposition your wireless access point or router closer to the area where the wireless computers are used. Speed deteriorates with increasing distance from the antenna of the router. Placing the router as high up as possible also helps -- on a cabinet instead of a desk.
3. Upgrading from a "G" router to a "N" router will increase the strength of the wireless signal.
4. Wireless home phones (not cellphones) compete for bandwidth with WiFi.

Good luck.

Thanks for the replies. Of course, I welcome ryanjo's advice more as it supports the model I want it to.

We already have a wired ethernet setup here for about 7 desktops in our offices; the exam rooms are not wired. I don't want to for various reasons (eg cost, redesign of rooms, buying a computer for EACH exam room etc etc), plus I like the interaction of a notebook on my lap while looking directly at the patient versus sitting at a desk with them behind me.

Anyway, looking into n-band wireless today (our network was too complex for me to do and it took our IT dude a while to figure it out too). There are lots of wireless networks -- 3-4 at any time here. My android phone has fun picking out the unsecured ones.

Synch so far has yielded no errors I know of for me, but you have to watch carefully which database is "live" or you will wipe out a whole day's work.

Still waiting on the yokels at our local quest cust svc to figure out what they're suppposed to do and also electronic prescribing....but otherwise I am enjoying this.

I got a new wireless access point it's N, and works a lot better.

Doesn't seem to drop the network (only 1/2 day use so far) and nearly as fast as wired.