Home Forums Discussions General Discussion data gets wiped out

I am a new user of AC . Whenever I type in a new encounter, I forward it to myself and then open , complete it and sign off and the whole info is saved. But quite a few times, when I opened the encounter ( when I still have not completed and sgined off it) and then accidental open another tab, all the data gets wiped out ( except meds ), is this normal and i have to be careful to everytime forward it or sign off or is this a glitch, is there no auto saving of data like now days whenever i write in yahoo email it auto saves everything even though I dont hit save button

First, yes it becomes s habit to always forward to yourself. If you forget and close prematurely, try looking in your "deleted items" folder rather than your inbox. Very possibly it is there. It will live there until ANY user quits out of AC.

This is a problem that I wish they would fix.

There is a mechanism in AC to ask you if you are sure if you want to delete a chart.
It is only activated by making the chart 'DIRTY' which means that you must type something in one of the fields. If you open a previously filled out chart and don't make any changes, get distracted and close the chart it is gone UNLESS you remember at that time you did it. If you do remember that you did this, then you MUST click on that patient's name and go get the text file. If you click on another patient's name that is gone as well. I have been using AC for 4..5 years and this still is driving me nuts as I lose a chart or so a week. I have my staff check the patient log and AC to make sure the notes are all done.

rdoc,

Thanks for your input. Please don't take this the wrong way, but I have never lost a chart in over seven years. I am not sure what you mean by "dirty." When the chart is in your inbox and you open it, you have a choice to "delete it FROM your inbox," which means when you save it, it will no longer be there cluttering up your inbox. (I know you know this). For medical students and new users, choosing not to delete is a good idea for awhile until you know you aren't screwing up. Even if you do open the chart, choose delete, and then close it, you do not need to get the text file. It will be in your Deleted box. Our staff is instructed to NEVER close AC until the end of the day unless they need to log off, which does happen.

I'm sorry if I am misunderstanding.

@feibax, welcome to AC. I know it is difficult at first, but the best way to not lose or delete charts is to try to finish them when you are writing your note. If you find you can't do this, then don't choose the Delete option. I have never seen a note saved CTRL - S or forwarded to my inbox that was ever deleted after that until I chose to save it or delete it.

Bert,what I think Rdoc means by "dirty" is that changes have been made to the record. I shared this problem and annoyance. Although I have not lost a record, there have been lots of times I just couldn't find it for the longest time. AC ought to be a bit more idiot proof in my opinion.

I have never had this issue, but I share your pain!

Bert,

The term "Dirty" is Jon's description of a chart to which an entry has been made to any field.

I find it hard to believe that you have not lost a chart in seven years but that's great. Maybe I am missing something basic...

I have just spent 20 minutes placing a chart in my inbox, opening it without changing anything (a non-dirty chart) and then closing. Half the time it is in the deleted folder the other half it isn't.

I will do further research. Any one else dropping notes?

rdoc,

No, I have never lost a chart. Then again, I have sent a chart to my inbox probably 50 times. I just never do that.

Can you be more specific. Talk about every step. Open chart, save or forward to inbox. Now when you open from inbox, which choice are you making, "Delete from inbox or leave in inbox?" I have to guess the former, but it would help to know. What version are you using?

New user to AC. I agree, needs improvement , need ability to close note and finish later, loosing notes and rewriting is a headache. Worked with EMR's for 15yrs,most EMR have this feature. this would be a minimal feature request.

You can save a note (control S or manual file save). It will go to your inbox.

Deleted noted are in the deleted section of the message box, scroll down to the bottom. If you accidently delete something you can retrieve it.

I agree with Bert, (or is it uhmarika?) I have not lost a chart in the last 9 years. I have had to retrieve a few though.

I finish charts in the room 95% of the time. I will sometimes delay on a chart where I want to do more extensive verbage. These are always completed in a few days so billing can be done.

Many times I get a message on "clean" charts asking if I want to close them. I always get the message if I have made changes.

Thanks Wendell.

I guess I am missing something. How is clicking on CTRL - S and sending the chart to your inbox -- which essentially closes that note at the exact point you were at -- with the ability to re-open that chart at anytime (today or in a month) not the same as being able to close a note and finish later?

If you close a note without signing it then it is gone....gone...wiped out. If you send that note to a mailbox it is in a holding pattern of sorts waiting to be completed and signed. I send all my unsigned notes to my coder's mailbox and get their opinion on the billing code and for them to do the ICD coding. They forward it to my mailbox for completion and/or signature and final coding decision. I always sign my notes on the day of the visit unless it is something like a pre-op consultation and I'm waiting for labs or other test results that I need to review and discuss.

If you send the note to a mailbox and then close it without signing by mistake, then the note can be retrieved from the deleted items in the message/mailbox area....unless that computer has been turned off.

When you open the chart from the mailbox, ie an unfinished note sent there, if you use the drop down menu to open the note you will get the last signed note....not the current note you are working on. If you highlight the message and open the chart by clicking on the "pull chart" tab in the lower right corner, you will get your current incomplete unsigned note.

If you delete the message the unsigned note is gone but it can be retrieved in deleted messages until the program is shut down on that computer. We always make sure we know where charts are and that notes are accounted for at the end of everyday and they can always be retrieved from my coders mailbox since I send them all there prior to signing.

OK, this thread is driving me crazy. Partly because I either don't agree but partly because I think I must be not following everyone. It would be easier if everyone were more specific about what they are saying. For instance, are we talking Patient List or Inbox? What is a fully filled out chart? One that was pulled from the Patient list and then filled out? For example....here is what I am thinking the author above is saying.

A chart is pulled from the Patient List. If anything is added (I don't know where this term "dirty" came from -- not knocking it, I just never heard it before) and you try to close it, yes, like any good software program ever made, it will give you a warning box asking you if that were your intention. If you open a chart from your Patient List and do NOT write anything in it and close it, who cares? This is where I am confused. If that is the case, you have lost nothing. You are simply back to square one. Pulling from the inbox is the same except it asks you if you want it to be removed from your inbox or not.. Either way, it still asks you if you want to close/delete a chart if anything were added. I am confused about the text file. I am probably behind on this. I have always had it come in handy when the program crashed in the middle of a note.

But, the bottom line is one can always save a note in the middle of it by forwarding it to their inbox. Not sure what the difference is between that and simply saving it. If someone starts a note, write a lot in it, closes it and it asks if you really want to close it and delete it, then they deserve to have it deleted. I don't mean that in a mean way. I just am missing the whole point of this thead.

And, as an FYI, deleted items get cleaned out no matter what AC is closed and restarted. It doesn't have to be on the same PC. The deleted items are on the server.