Home Forums Discussions Feedback and Recommendations Blind carbon copy (sort of)

This is probably not doable, and I don't even know if anyone else would think this is beneficial.

But, there are times when I send messages to staff via AC's email system, where I need to send information which is not only important to save to the chart but appropriate, for example:

Bert: Please call Ms. Smith to tell her the CBC was normal.

Reply from MA: Informed Ms. Smith that CBC was normal on 6/27/08.

But, sometimes, it's helpful for me to add comments that one wouldn't want in the chart. Hard to give an example. We used to put asterisks around the comment and delete it, but they would at times make it into the chart by mistake so we don't do that anymore.

Anyway, would be cool if there were like a BCC for a comment that could be read by the recipient but not saved to the chart.

Could we make one the message and the other an attachment? And then could it be possible to choose which of either one gets saved.

I totally understand what you are getting at. You are never sure if you should be writing as though it will make it to the chart one day or if you can "talk among yourselves" to say what needs or begs to be said about the situation. We too need a way to talk without making it offical.

"Moron just doesn't understand their own insurance policy." "She is intentionally not getting it so she can avoid the situation."

You're right. Good idea Bert....

Exactly. And, thanks for making it much clearer. Sure, in a lot of situations, I/We should just not make the comment about the "moron" or something less offensive, but many times it is just hard to resist. And, then there are the "tweeners."

Your secretary messages you that you still haven't called Mrs. Johnson, and she is getting upset. Sure, you could just call her again and thank your secretary for the timely message.

But, you find it necessary for your own well being to reply, "I will call her, but I have called her eight times over the past two days, and her phone is disconnected or it has been busy!
That's actually useful information for your receptionist if she gets a call back from Mrs. Johnson, but not something you really want in the chart.

I don't know. I don't know if it's something others want or if it's feasible. I would envinsion something like:

Patient: (J. Smith) Subject: Wants call back
-------------------------------------------------
Non-saved message: Blah, blah, blah
-------------------------------------------------
OK, thanks, I will call him this evening.

But besides the venting, there really is stuff that we all need to relay back and forth from time to time about a case or patient that is not for their medical record but is important to assisting or moving whatever along none the less.

The trying to call 8 times should be documented. The patient is hard to reach, not you screwing up. That is defending your attempts to do a decent job. Shame we all have to over document such things to begin with...

But the insurance carrier is being a jerk about her pre-exsisting condition, or we know stuff thru family that because it is another patients PHI so it can't go in the chart directly is still important none the less....

Hey what do other FP's do about PHI you do know from another family member's chart or case, that them plays into your choices of treatment for the patient in front of you. To enter extra family Hx that was not told to you directly be that patient is a kind of violation of the second patient's privacy... yet this is the beauty of FP we hope that we do know 2-4 generations worth of history so we can make better treatment choices for our patients... It's a real catch-22 and Nancy and I have knocked this one around for a few years now and still are not sure how and where to draw the line on these kind of things...

Anyone, know for sure or have advice on this great but sticky subject???

It is a great subject to talk about, and it would be interesting to have others weigh in on our crazy but helpful idea of having a blind message.

Like a yellow sticky note, non-printing, attached to each message?

Yes, exactly. Non-printing and non-saving. And, you would only attach it if you needed to. In fact, that's a great analogy/idea, because Jon does that in the reminders window.

Brian you always come up with the best way to do things.

But we do print the messages sometimes. Nancy just inter office emailed me a list of supplies she needed to a certain small procedure she is doing. I printed it and then faxed it to our supply person over night so he would ship it in the morning hopefully. So printable yes, but the ablility to not save part or all of it yes as well....

Well that's my perspective anyway. We certainly do print our messages now and again for various reasons.

Just have a yellow sticky note that defaults to NOT printing and NOT saving. You can then check SAVE and/or PRINT if you want to.

There. Done.

In our old PM program, we had a noting capability that was "patient note" we could save it to a patients account, but it wasn't an official part of the chart. I know AC has that sticky note function, but all I can find it does is stick an annoying yellow post it on top of your screen, which requires that you give it a file name to save it as. Maybe that feature could be expanded just a wee bit. I don't see how you could save a message to a patients chart without saving it IN the chart, other than having it sit in your email box, or in a dummy email box which kind of defeats the purpose of it right? Sorry if I'm a bit dense on it today, thank goodness the day is almost over and the weekend is coming!

What you need is a "blue Pen". (Back in the old days we didn't use blue ink because the early photocopy machines could not copy blue.) I had a lot of forms and the original had "Original, do not use" in large blue letters. You could make a nice photocopy, (it was after all the original) but you wouldn't use the original to write on, 'cause it said not to.
If we had a sort of "verbal font" different color and style, that could NEVER be a part of the permanent record you would be set. Then we could all work on a set of templates, "Jerk", "Moron", "dim-wit" etc.
(In the very very old days, the nurses hospital notes were easy to distinguish because the day shift charted black ink, nights Red, and Midnight to 8:00 AM charted in blue. Then the lawyers started photocopying charts and we all had to write with black ink)

Very cool Martin and yes I do remember that old Xerox machines couldn't copy blue. Thanks for the history class, it is always nice to know the history of such things.

That is too funny.