Digital Image Importing

[parksjdp]

Hi all

A quick question. Is there anyway to get a 4bw mount imported into OD to view in the chart at the bottom of the screen, instead of always having to name grab and view in appteryx?

Thanks,

[jordansparks]

First of all, if you use Apteryx, DO NOT use the name grabber. Use our built-in bridge. The name grabber was designed as a workaround for practice management software from companies that refuse to support bridges. This refusal to support bridges is one way that these companies restrict your freedom and force you towards their own hardware and their own imaging software. But Apteryx has specifications for an actual bridge which is far superior to the name grabber. Use this bridge.

Now, as to your question, if you can export a 4bw mount as a single large image, then you could drop it into the patient's A-Z folder. Can you export the whole thing?

[cneelley]

I am using Dr. Suni software, which is apteryx software. There is an option to store images in apteryx in jpeg format. I am using this and having no problems with importing.

I have been using name grabber also, so I will try the bridge instead.

cneelley

[jordansparks]

The problem with name grabber is that it "grabs" the name from the title bar of the OD window. If the name is John Smith, how is name grabber supposed to know which John Smith? There's just too much possibility of error.

[parksjdp]

First of all, if you use Apteryx, DO NOT use the name grabber. Use our built-in bridge. The name grabber was designed as a workaround for practice management software from companies that refuse to support bridges. This refusal to support bridges is one way that these companies restrict your freedom and force you towards their own hardware and their own imaging software. But Apteryx has specifications for an actual bridge which is far superior to the name grabber. Use this bridge.

Now, as to your question, if you can export a 4bw mount as a single large image, then you could drop it into the patient's A-Z folder. Can you export the whole thing?

Whoa, I had no idea there was anything other than Name Grabber that would work. We use Apteryx and were told to use Name Grabber. What should we be doing? How do we get your bridge to work?

[jordansparks]

I'm curious. Haven't you ever had problems with duplicate names? Does the data drill part of it work, where it supposedly goes into the database and gets the birthdate for the person? Are the patient Id's used in Apteryx the same as the ones use in Open Dental? Have you ever had a problem with the name grabber when you update your version of OD? I was under the impression that the name grabber failed to keep up with our database changes a few versions ago, like maybe last year. So please tell me about your experience with it. I'm most interested in the handling of the keys: the patient ID's and birthdates.

[parksjdp]

I'm curious. Haven't you ever had problems with duplicate names? Does the data drill part of it work, where it supposedly goes into the database and gets the birthdate for the person? Are the patient Id's used in Apteryx the same as the ones use in Open Dental? Have you ever had a problem with the name grabber when you update your version of OD? I was under the impression that the name grabber failed to keep up with our database changes a few versions ago, like maybe last year. So please tell me about your experience with it. I'm most interested in the handling of the keys: the patient ID's and birthdates.

We have updated multiple times without any problems name grabber after an upgrade, however you have kind of scared me from upgarding anymore.

I honestly don't have any idea about the data drill part. When we select a patient and then click name grabber, the only time we get any pop-ups is if it is a new patient in Apteryx or if there has been a change to some part of the patients name. For example, if on the day they come in we add a middle initial, it will prompt you to accept the new change.

In regards to duplicate names, we have had that happen once, however it was found quite easily once the middle initial was added and name grabber indicated that they were a new patient. So we just moved the images to the correct person.

Is there a better way? How do you do it? How is the OD bridge set-up and how do I set it up?

[parksjdp]

OK, I got the OD built in bridge to work, however whenever I click on it, Apteryx tells me that they are not a patient and they want to create a new one. Is there any way to have them data drill for the same info so that it finds the existing patients that already exists?

[jordansparks]

Look at the primary keys. Are they the same?

[parksjdp]

Not to sound to dumb, but how do I find that out and what am I looking for?

[jordansparks]

By primary keys, I mean the patient ID's. Are they the same? Every patient has a unique identifier. That's how you identify different patients even if they have the same name. In OD, you typically use PatNum, although you do have the option to use ChartNumber. In Apteryx, you also have a patient number. Are they the same? This is a very important concept to understand and to track down. Are the patient identification numbers in each system the same? The way you tell is by looking up patients and looking to see if their numbers are the same.

[parksjdp]

No they are not. OD is trying to find patient in Apteryx by chart #, however Apteryx does no have pat #, Chart # or SSN, they only have their ID, which started with #1 through #??? when we add patients.

So the only way to get these 2 to match would be to go into each patient file in Apteryx and add chart # or Pat #? Would we have to add SSN's as well? Lastly, the file names in Apteryx currently has preferred names from OD in there as well, where as the OD bridge does not include the preferred name. What would be the preferred workabout for this?

Thanks in advance for any help.

[jordansparks]

Right. Now you're getting the idea. Our bridge is based on those numbers. SSN's are not a consideration. How many patients do you have in Apteryx? Is it worth it to you to try to change all the ID's to be the Open Dental PatNums? I suppose if you do have a lot of patients in Apteryx and none of the ID's match, then the Name Grabber might be useful. I'll try to get all of this documented in the manual at some point.

[parksjdp]

OK, we have 1395 patients in Apteryx. I could have them change the ID's in apteryx, that should not be a problem, however I want to make sure that will fix everything, so I changed a few of them and it still gives me the "do you want to create a new patient". I think this is because when the were initially set-up, they had the middle initial and the preferred name from OD set up with them. Now with the OD bridge, it does not see take into account middle initial or preferred name. Should this matter?

[parksjdp]

I started troubleshooting with limited success, here are my steps and results

1. Changed the ID # in Apteryx to match chart # in OD - Did not work, still wanted to create a new patient

2. Added SSN in apteryx to match OD - Worked however still wanted to update the file to not include middle initial or preferred name.

So I got it work with some busy work, however once you try and open an image it still lets you know that the saved image does not match the current record. So even though I got the bridge to work, it still will have a pop up stating it does not match old record and click yes to update.

Any thoughts or should I get started on this update project?

[jordansparks]

Hmm. You need to decide for yourself if the benfit is worth the hassle. Maybe sleep on it? I don't know. I would personally lean towards getting all the ID's straightened out. But I don't feel strongly about it.

[parksjdp]

It will be some work, however I think that the pros def out weigh the trouble of getting it inputed and updated. I think that this way, name grabbers ability to continue to support the bridge will not be an issue with future upgrades, as well as the certainty of not duplicating patients.

Thanks for your help in this.