Home Forums Discussions Problems Referrals and Consultants not visible in PT Demo's

After adding and saving a new Referral to the "Referrals and Consultants" tab, our staff noticed that if you then close out of the patient's chart, and then use the "Pull Patient Demographics" button (the one that also performs the "Open Practice Rolodex" and "Add New Patient" functions under the pt search area) the resulting screen (which looks more like the Add New Patient screen) does not show the referrals and consultants that were just saved, under the "Referrals and Consultants" tab.

If we open the patient's chart by double clicking, then clicking on the Demo's tab, the referrals show up. In addition, if we right click on the name, and select "Pull Demographics," the information is reflected in the chart.

Maybe this is an issue with our database/maybe it is a glitch. Could someone please try and view your referrals under the "Referrals and Consultants" tab using the method described above and let me know if you get the same results?

DMS,

Even though it's confusing, I still think it is by design. The Demographics where you always see the consultant or referral is actually part of the patient chart. All of the tabs at the top are for that patient. Anything entered and saved for that patient can be seen in those fields.

The other demographics field you are referring to should be thought more of a screen to add new patient demographics and/or edit or change current patient's data. It is not necessarily read/write. In fact, I would look at it more like write. It is exactly the same window (as you stated except it relates to a patient. But it is not meant to be used completely as the demographic section (although close). Try this:

Pull the patient up in the Add new patient type demographics. You will see his/her name at the top, and their ID number in blue at the far right top. Enter a referral name. Save the chart. Bring it back up, and it is gone. You have write privileges (I say that loosely). Now go to the patient's name and either double click or right click and choose demographics. In the demographics window click on the referral/consultant tab, and you will see your entry.

Go back to the other way pulling to the patient's demographics via the Rolodex dropdown. Now look in con/ref tab. It's gone. And, you are in demographics. But, you really aren't. You are in the Add/New patients window with your patient selected.

NOW TO SEE the referral, Click in the last name -- first name field at the top left as if you are going to enter or search for a patient. SEARCH for your patient. (I know, he is already there). So, if he were Bill Gates, type in G a t until Gates, Bill is there. Highlight his name. Now you are in read/write mode and are considered in his chart. Go to your referral tab, and you will see your referral.

Now you may wonder why you can see any other data there. And, I don't know....I am speaking for AC. But, given we should look at that field as a place to edit data (which you can in the other regular demographics field)consider the data there. Every other field of data including the tabs adjacent to consult/referral pertain to demographics. Something you would enter for a new patient or something your receptionist would change. But, you wouldn't enter a consultant then. And, you wouldn't need to see it from there either.

I am not saying this is not a bug, because I don't know. I am not even saying it makes a lot of sense. But, I can see the logic, sort of. But, given that you can enter either place and considering it can be confusing for anyone to have to pull it up and then pull up the name, I would just use the demographics screen in the patient's chart.

To make it clearer, it would be easier to just type CTRL + N at the MAIN screen and type in Bill Gates and then click on the consultant/referral tab. Your referral will be right there.

Bert,

Thanks for the response.

As of now, we are avoiding using the Rolodex button to "Pull Patient Demographics" all together.

While this is not a major issue, to me, it is a serious error when the data that is encountered in any given field changes based on the way that you get to it.

We noticed the problem simply because at some point in our workflow, the "Pull Patient Demographics" button is used. The button is used because it is arguably one of the fastest ways to access the patient's demographics using the mouse. So unfortunately, avoiding it isn't ideal.

I think of it this way: when I select "Administrator Options" from the 'view' menu, I expect to be able to both view and edit them, with no guess work. When I select "Pull Patient Demographics," I expect the same.

Not to make a mountain out of a molehill, but if a patient comes into the office and we access 'demographics' in the wrong way, it would be very easy to believe the patient does not have a valid referral in the system, when in fact they do.

If clicking "Pull Patient Demographics" does anything but that, I should know. Perhaps the button needs to be renamed?

Another interesting note:

Our receptionists prefer the mouse, I prefer using keyboard shortcuts. F6, F7, F8 and F9 correspond respectively to the "Summary Sheet," "Most Recent Encounter," "Past Encounters," and "Imported Items" TABS. Pressing F5 however, opens to the patient's demographics via the "Add New Patient/Demographics" screen. In addition, the F5 keyboard shortcut is listed in order, with the other shortcuts to chart tabs in the "Patient" drop down menu, from the main screen.