Hi everyone. W have been using a little utility I found on the Internet. I tried quite a few and looked for something more automated, but this was the best I could do so far. It’s really a very basic program. It simply copies and pastes, but it allows you to set up multiple fields and multiple database files.
The initial basic set up:
1. Go to
http://www.dextronet.com/fastpaste.php2. Download Fastpaste version 2.61. Install to your PC.
3. Open the program. Choose to run in trial and ignore the warning about TWIPS size. If you do go with their TWIPS size, then the name of the patient in Amazing Charts will populate the program.
4. When the program is opened, you should two columns with mostly the words “Empty” in them. To the left will be icons of two pages, a wrench and a hand holding a sign or whatever.
5. Choose a vaccine. I will choose DTaP just as an example. In the first field, I typed in DTaP, in the second field I typed N/A (I don’t put in the sequence). In the third field I entered LAT. We default certain vaccines to certain body sites, i.e. DTaP and HiB both go left leg while Prevnar and IPV (Polio) the two Ps go in the right leg. When you load the vaccine, you can always change the body site manually. Sometimes, you have to use the Configure Window (the wrench) to enter values. In fields 4 through 8, I enter: volume, route, Lot#, Manufacturer and Expiration date.
6. Now that you have a vaccine set up, you save it to the Projects Folder. Click File, Save Project As, type a file name (I used DTaP), then save it. Close the Projects Folder.
7. That is basically it. So, say your vaccine to enter is DTaP. You click on the folder with the green arrow on it, double-click DTaP, and the eight fields will load. As we all know since we have talked about it forever, the DTaP is going to automatically be 0.5mL, IM, same Lot#, same company and same expiration date. When you do get a new batch, you simply load in DTaP, change the Lot#s and expiration dates and choose Save Project As, then save it and choose to overwrite the other file. Now, you are set for two more months of vaccine.
8. Enter all of your other vaccines in the same way. The beauty of this is you can name the vaccines to trigger your data. For instance, we have Flu0.25.fp and Flu0.5.fp which of course represent the two types of flu vaccines one uses. We are using MMR-V so it always goes in the thigh, while the MMR is deltoid, but before MMR-V, we would have had MMR1y.fp and MMR5y.fp or MMR1.fp, etc.
9. We have chosen to go with one DTaP and then either keep the default site or change it if necessary. One could, if they wished, have a DTaPlt.fp, DTaPrt.fp, DTaPld.fp, and so on. That would, of course, give you quite a few files in your projects folder.
Entry:
1. There are, of course, multiple ways to insert the data. The program automatically inserts data into the last program opened, hence AC. Again, with the DTaP, you would enter the cursor at the vaccine name field. Now, you can tab through the fields while mouse clicking the little pages, but for reasons beyond me and support, you sometimes need a 100 lb mouse.
2. What works best for us is using the Global hotkeys with numbers. I recommend going to Help (Click F1), then choose the Hotkeys page (2nd from top on left). So, while you can do anything you wish, I have found after much experimentation that using CTRL – 1, then CTRL – 2 works best. So, once I have a vaccine loaded and the cursor in the first window of the vaccine writer, I don’t even look again. I simply type: CTRL – 1 then Tab, CTRL – 2, then Tab, CTRL – 3, then Tab and so on through CTRL – 8, then Tab. All of your values will be in the writer. Save it. Done.
The fast projects and defaults:
1. There is room for eight fast projects. We set them up but found them to be not very useful for this. It’s easier to find and choose files from the Projects Folder than from the project keys. But, if you wanted to, you could choose Options, FastProjects Configuration and then click on a file after it takes you to the Projects Folder. This will give you a green icon #1. If you hover over it, you can read it. You can do this for eight vaccines. The D icon is for the default. After loading a vaccine, if you click CTRL – D, it will make that vaccine the default when you open the program. So, it’s the default vaccine from that perspective, and you can click on the D. But, I wrote the company and them it would be more useful if the projects could be words instead, but they are rather small.
2. One novel idea if you wished would be to make four files for each of the locations, i.e. LAT, RAT, etc. These could then be made into Fast Projects (the little green icons) on 1 through 4. When you made the files, they would have saved the locations from the third field. So, when you choose 1 or 2 or whatever, they would be pasted into the third field. The only drawback is you would either have to remember to not use CTRL – 3 or paste it in afterward.
Networking:
1. When you purchase a license it is for one program. It seems to work on more. I will leave it at that. If you wish to network it, move the Projects Folder from the computer it is on to the server and share it. You will need to save one vaccine set up to the new location for the program to “remember” where it is.
2. If there is a problem with networking, you can open the settings.ini file and change the default path there. Also, when you set up the Fast Projects, the information which controls them will be in the settings.ini file. You may need to copy that into every computer’s FastPaste folder in Program Files.
Summary:
This seems like a lot of information. It is only because I tend to go into way too much detail. I would suggest downloading the program, if interested, and play around with it. If you want to network it or if you have questions, PM or email me. We have found this program speeds up the process considerably and you will always have only one Lot# and Expiration date. So, it is always accurate as well.
Please let me know your thoughts on it.
This will have to do until V.I.P.E.R is released.
