I was on a support call just the other day and the customer had to look up some information in her chart module, specifically on a procedure she had a question about. I was remotely connected to her computer and I watched her scroll up and down the Progress Notes section. She did this multiple times until finally, I had enough because she still couldn’t find the procedure. I knew that on this call I would have the opportunity to help this customer in two ways. This month’s blog will show you how to use the feature that was able to address both of this customer’s concerns.
We’re leaving the front office and moving into the operatories for this training session. We are going to talk about Progress Notes. I am seeing more and more Practice-Web users express interest in achieving a paperless office. That is great! However, having a paperless office is not just about eliminating the paper chart, it’s really about making your job easier. Using your time efficiently is everything when it comes to profitability and providing quality care to your patients. By quickly finding important information pertinent to your patient’s care, they are more likely to accept the treatment you are proposing to them. Your patient will see that your time is dedicated to educating them on why they need this treatment rather than trying to figure out how to use your computer during their appointment. Let’s get started.
This is what the chart module looks like in a paperless office. Look at all those notes in the Progress Notes section.
The first thing you notice in the image above is that you can see the different colors for the entry status’. You can see the documents the patient has signed, records of appointments, etc. When a patient inquires about some old treatment or older treatment plans the first thing I see the assistant do is to navigate to the scroll bar next to the progress notes. This is okay when you only have minimal treatment entered but as you enter more information, using the scroll bar to find specific information will become tedious. Instead of scrolling use the Show Tab.
The Show Tab allows you to filter through your Progress Notes section without scrolling. As you can see in the image above the Show Tab contains checkboxes for all the information your Progress Notes section will store. When you check or uncheck the boxes whatever is checked is what you will see in your chart. Anything unchecked is temporarily hidden to eliminate visual clutter. Although the ability to uncheck boxes is a big improvement on scrolling, Practice-Web has taken it a step further and allows you to create and store customizable Chart Views. You can see in the example image above we have F1- Progress Notes, we also have F2- Tx Plan and an option for completed treatment. With just one single mouse click or by clicking the F2 key on my keyboard, the items attached to that custom view will automatically filter out and become visible. Take a look!
Instead of scrolling up or down the Progress Notes section to find what you are looking for you can create your customized appointment view and access that information with minimal effort. This blog has provided you with just a few examples. The capability of the Show Tab is endless. Are you sending your patient to a specialist and want to send them on their way with a copy of their chart? You can create a custom view that includes referred procedures without your fees, preventing patients from “shopping around”. You can even create a custom view for procedures by date range. You can view appointments only so if the patient asks when their next appointment is scheduled the assistant won’t have to navigate out of the Chart module to find this information. All of this can be accomplished with just two mouse clicks.
We have created a video tutorial that shows you how to customize your Chart Views and use them step by step. You can click here to access it. You will find the tutorial in the Beyond Basics gallery. No more excuses 🙂 Practice-Web is really just this easy to use. If you would like more information on how to use this feature call support at 800-845-9379 opt 2.
Until next time 😉