Home Forums Discussions General Discussion "New" vital signs thingy?

I just noticed a new thingy in a patient's chart to Edit vital signs. Anyone notice this before?

Is this something to use to change a vital sign that was incorrectly input and saved?

You're talking about that slider contraption, right?

That is what you call a somewhat useful feature, that could be a tremendously-useful feature with just a little more work.

You can access it through the Edit menu, and also by double-clicking on the words "Physical Exam" on the tab above the Vitals/Physical Exam field.

That contraption was apparently designed to input vitals for infants (you'll notice that the "weight" slider only goes up so far).

You can move the slider, and adjust a patient's weight in increments of ounces. When you finish entering your values, you click "done", and the vital signs are transported into the vitals field of your record. The ounces are converted into a decimal value. The slider is a bit awkward to use, but overall this is a somewhat useful feature.

Here's how to make it into a TREMENDOUSLY useful feature:

Get rid of the sliders, and replace them with a numerical keypad that inputs into whichever field at the left is highlighted.

Also allow direct (keyboard) input into the vitals fields at the left.

Split the "weight" field into two fields, "pounds" and "ounces". Make the "ounces" field turn gray, if "kilograms" is selected.

Enlarge the print, and the fields, a bit to make it easier for people to see and select the proper field. Think of a "fat button" calculator.

Leave the pound/ounce-to-decimal conversion feature intact.

Why did this suddenly become so useful?

Now it is a weight input device for all ages, not just pediatrics.

Now you have eliminated one of the most ergonomically difficult tasks in Amazing Charts, especially for initial users, which is trying to enter vitals into tiny squares which don't necessarily align with their corresponding tiny headings. With this system, when you want to input vitals, you just double-click on the words "Physical Exam", enter in your vitals on a big user-friendly display and click "Done".

Now it has also become an *ideal* input device for tablet users, in landscape or portrait mode. Vital signs entry with tablets is especially treacherous! With this system, you know your vitals are correct, even if your display gets "squeezed" when you change display modes (plus if you're not sure they're right, you just double-click on Physical Exam again, and they pop up in the big friendly display again for your review/correction).

Wow! I never noticed that before. What a complete waste of code. It smacks of borrowing some other code just for the sake of being able to do it. I must be missing something. Is it for someone who cannot type to do data entry and must use a mouse? I cannot possibly see where using sliders would be any faster or more accurate than either typing the numbers in the large box or the actual vital signs.

I have railed against and suggested things for the vital signs part of the program, and it will never change. Because of the U.S. ridiculous refusal to change to the metric system, there is actually a need for THREE weight columns: Pounds and ounces, Pounds with a decimal and Kgs. Our scale measures in Kgs and pounds with decimals. Which is good, because you can't enter pounds and ounces into AC. Most programs have to convert pounds and ounces into an absolute number such as 8.2 lbs or whatever. So, what should happen is there should be all three and entering into any of them should automatically populate the other three. And, no changing the units by clicking on them for WEIGHTS. What should go into printout when you print vitals should be TWO columns, not one column with a mixture of kgs and pounds. That is useless and confusing for parents and providers.

Onto the length/height depending on lying or standing. PLEASE get rid of the "m." Get ride of the meter. Even a 7 foot tall person is only barely over 2 meters. We go through the process of making sure it is on inches before we enter heights, but one shouldn't have to figure out what 48 inches should be in meters.

Of course, since our babies leave the hospital with a weight 3.6 kgs, length of 21.5 inches and HC of 34 cms, how will we ever get this correct. And, when you tell any parent that there baby is 7.9 lbs when they left the hospital at 7 lbs 1s oz, they will automatically assume their baby lost weight.

A huge issue is there is no way to change the defaut values for yellow and red flagging. There is a reason for Harriett-Lane.

Finally, the note for making notes about vital signs or whatever, which should be very useful cannot be used at least by us, because once it is saved it then overruns the head circumfernece section on the printout.

These would be easy changes I would think.

Ok, I see the use now that you've explained it. We don't see kids, so I wouldn't have figured it out on my own. And the suggested changes seem right on. "Hey, Jon?"

Hi Wayne.

I'm with you. Unfortunately, these are the kinds that usually don't get changed.

Well, now, let's not get discouraged.

The question is: when you have a wonderful idea, and you want to bring it to Jon's attention, what is the official, approved means of doing so?

I give up, Brian.
What is the official approved means of doing so?

There is none, sorry Been burned too many times. You can:

- Post here
- Give tips from within AC
- Email

Doesn't matter. The small but valuable tips, i.e. adding an allergy during a visit rather than having to save the chart, etc. just never see the light of day.