Practice software and Pen and paper

[admin]

apart from retrieving existing info or comparing previous treatments,(which should be available on written case histories and can be viewed on the computer before the patient enters the room) the use of a computer in the treatment room can be a distraction from the job at hand....discuss

we at Crystalsolutions recommend that, if you keep a computer in your practice, Reception use the software for booking, basic patient contact details and Accounts or that this is done by the Practitioner
later.

we strongly recommend updating/augmenting Patient records after the treatments - we tend to do this at the end of the day, and our software has been designed to allow swift input. and depending on the
number of patients seen, should only take 5 - 10 minutes.

The real reason for this is that contact with the patient is easily lost with a computer in the actual treatment room. Patients are forever telling us about their local GPs transfixed by their computers
rather than their listening to what is being said. The pen and paper is cheap, easy, reliable and unobtrusive and we would recommend it as the best means for initial case history taking and followup.

I personally used to have a laptop in the room - it was modern - i could show them short films/diagrams etc and could update my written notes semi simultaneously, but in the end i found it to be a
distraction from the job at hand, unless used very sparingly. We added a dictated notes area to each patient record and, you can quickly dictate some notes after the patient has left the room if you want.

Similiarly any reports or scans can be inputed, but again I would advocate this being done once the patient has left.

We all work differently but these are our experiences from 10 years of having electronic case histories allied to written notes.


If pen and paper were 'discovered' now, and marketed, it would blow computers away.
However audit software, allows you to find groups of patients by condition, sex, age group, or whatever criteria you require, and then refer to your written notes for the detail.

paper alone will not allow this, especially if you have thousands of patients on the database.

written case notes are excellent and you can 'find' patients alphabetically by name, but not by any other criteria.

We indeed include on the company website the following

"Remember this is not a comprehensive input of therapeutic case history taking, which we expect to be on a Patient's written Notes. It is however designed to allow the Practitioner to record quickly, the pertinent facts of a patient's history, and treatment, and thus allow quality audit - with final reference to the patient's written notes, found alphabetically. Put simply this program (as well as keeping Accounts, Stationary, Electronic booking, Mass mailing etc) allows us to find a patient by condition, treatment and a myriad of other factors, age, sex, address, which is impossible with a simple
alphabetic written system on its own. Thus, for example case taking,is simplified enormously but can be input-ed at the end of the day very swiftly, and along with the other pages, allows a good detailed
snapshot of the patient seen earlier. Similiarly with Acupuncture, i was asked by a colleague for a way to compare pulse histories of a patient at a glance, and this i think we have achieved, the practitioner being able to reference further info from their written
notes, but an immediate comparison can be seen when comparing the different treatment dates and outcomes. This is true for most of the Therapies referenced in the program including Herbalism & Homeopathy.

our featurelist is extensive have a look at
http://www.crystalsolutions.org/featureweb.html

a help index is at http://www.crystalsolutions.org/csHelp/Help/index.html

a how do i? at http://www.crystalsolutions.org/csHelp/Help/howdoI.html


and we have started uploading some short film/video tutorials to help
you at.... http://www.crystalsolutions.org/Tutorials.html