Getting ready to deploy openEMR; waiting for install disk from EMRlive!. Decided to use a commercial install disk to avoid problems with install issues. We are a two office Urgent care clinic. Therefore, no appointments are made. An MD and PA are usually on each day at each office. My query: how to set up the appointments template, or how to have front desk staff enter these patients? After all, patients are roomed and we dont know which patients the MD or PA will see. I can see many possibilities on how to do this, but if someone has a working solution, please let me know. Thanks in advance. I am a Physician Assistant and am spearheading openEMR for the office. The owner was thinking about several very expensive proprietary solutions, and jumped on the open software concept, but I warned that support would be an issue.
Thanks.
You might have trouble getting support for a vendor-provided CD here, since not too many of us know what’s on it. Suggest you download from SourceForge. As a practical matter you’ll either need to understand your installation pretty well, or get some professional support.
I have not yet even installed the software; my question is in using openEMR in a Walk-in clinic setting, where no appointments are made or needed. I will come back and ask a much more specific question when I get it up and running. Thanks.
You could record all appointments as they walk in sequentially into the calendar for a single “default” provider. Leaving the appt view setting to “see all calendars”.
Make the appt status “Arrived” at the time the appt is entered.
The front desk changes the status to 'In Exam Room" when the are placed in the rooms and add a note in the “Comment” about which room.
The Providers can then see from the calendar who is in what room and proceed with the medical exam/notes.
We do the same, except we have 4 exam rooms and set them each as a status. For example E1, E2, E3 and E4. No Note required in comment. When the provider looks at the calendar they know where the patient is.
In fact we use the status quite heavily as a patient moves through the clinic, their status is updated to provide info as to where the patient is (ie Biopsy, Exam rooms, Lab, Nurse Station, etc…)
Make it easy to know where a patient is in the maze.
You would want to add additional “Appointment Status” entries under Administration, Lists, (then choose Appt Status) for each of the exam room/areas.
I’m pretty sure that’s what Alfonso did. There won’t be any checking for things like preventing you from putting two patients in the same room, but it’ll get you started.
Thank you Tony, Alfonso, and yehster; excellent suggesstions all. Thanks for the very prompt support. I will try to contribute my ideas once I get through the learning curve and have something useful to add.