Open Dental Forum

As I mentioned before, most of the enhancements I have been requesting (and paying considerable fees for) add many features to the Appt Views so that every team member at any time has access to (via Q sheet schedule carried in pocket) vital info for each pt. Now included in the appt block (in addn to age & procedures) is a pt's parents' names, behavior, medical alert/premed cross,time asked to arrive(if different from the time in the appt book), if prophy jet needed, if ultrasonic scaler needed, if watching cavities, hx of decay and tx, etc, etc.
I am paying to have Jordan allow showing PatientFields in Appt Views and add Pt Info grid in Chart module to the Display Fields, allowing you to show PatientFields in Chart module. So more vital info displayed in the Appts and Chart (like the red W for watch we added). This will add quite a bit more functionality which may benefit many other users.
Another feature he will add in the near future will be rich text in the Appt Views, say for procedures. This will allow custom colors for certain codes and populate things like dates attached to the description. We'll use this to show BWX(6/09) in red, for example. This way our staff won't miss taking BWX before the exam, and discuss with the pt or parent, "We are planning on taking BWX today. The last ones were 6/09,and we are watching cavities."
Some of these are a pretty high dollar amount to complete soon, and well worth it- as they will enhance patient care and save several admin hours. And I welcome any contributions to these projects.

on the BW's in the notes (rich text), do you mean an appoinmtent flag? (displayed like a patientField, or ApptField?) I think it would very nice to be able to display this info in the chart module like the recall notices that already function this way to show in family module. I have wanted this feature for a long time. They already show in Red in the family module when they are due or overdue, just not where you need to see them!

I think this as an option to show on the appointments would be fantastic. When x-rays are due, have an indicator on the appointment show that. That would be VERY helpful.

I reakon the main feature enhancement has got to be locking the appointment time on a booked appointment when adding or deleting procedures. After that possibly different colors of sticky notes would be good as would payment tracking of individual payments with unique numbers attached to each patient payment for security. Anything else as above is a bonus

David,
Great ideas. Rich text will allow you to have certain procedures displayed in particular font colors in the Appt Views. I have not converted yet, just configuring everything so nearly completely tight when we do.Our Appt View now looks like this (hopefully it is showing the example):



So for Jack, we all see his vital info for his appt- age, behavior, parents, watching cavities(W), needs a prophy jet (O for ortho), he's on the ASAP list (A), he has a medical alert (+), he's asked to arrive at 8:30 (in the schedule for 8:45, and he needs special playtime as he is special needs). For his behavior (UR 2nd row)- he is good overall (+), he has special needs and he is usually anxious; for extractions his behavior(Frankl scale) is - (advanced anxiety). We have all important info for me and all staff members to be completely prepared for his appt. Before he arrives, we are set up for his BWX and Pano, prophy jet ready chairside, camera & cheek retractors & mirror for dx photos, Renew paste in his bag w/ tb and floss. When he arrives to his appt, a staff member will discuss with his mother Jane, "We are planning on taking Jack's bitewing cavity-detecting x-rays and his panoramic radiograph; his last bitewings were 6/09 and we are watching cavities, and his last pano was 3/07." (We rarely take both together unless he s long overdue or special considerations.

When all the staff pays close attn to all of this vital info, the appt usually is super smooth. We are in the profession of prevention, and this is what we hope to accomplish for each and every child's appt. If Jack is very anxious when he walks in, we know he may be thinking he is having extractions, so we gently remind him that today is for playtime and shining his teeth, and "we are not helping any teeth out, even though that would be a lot of fun too." This is also where the rich text comes in. Jordan will add the feature so we can color the BWX red in our bottom 3 proc rows, and dxphotos & Renew in blue.Also any radiographs will have populated the date of the last ones taken in ( ).

i met with our staff to discuss if we really need the colors for the procedures, and they said absolutely. Even today someone told a mom that we were planning on taking bwx, but didn't tell her why. All she had to do is read the appt block, and say- we are planning...her last ones were 11/09 and we're watching cavities." Because she did not, the mom wanted her to ask me if they were necessary. I had to get up from the middle of another appt (interrupt pt care), and explain the standard of care, why they are necessary,and how I would never rec anything that I didn't feel was necessary. The blue procs are so important because they are set up chairside before the pt is seated. If we are running around during the appt scavenging equipment and supplies, the appt appears rocky to the pt, we compromise pt care, and we add 30 min to the appt.

Sorry for the long discourse. Just hoping to explain why all these added features are necessary for us. And they might come in handy to others as well.

Not sure how to get the image to show for the appt view. Uploaded an image to flickr, then pasted url after pressing Img button. Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/40082944@N06/?saved=1

Voila - after about twenty minutes of futzing, I finally resorted to use the url button and not the image button. Joe - it wasn't you, Flickr's interface is as clunky as it gets. I couldn't get the image to show either (and I re-uploaded it to my account)

Jordan, I've got a project for your newbie programmer - re-vamping the forum controls and create the OD Wiki! Everyone have a good weekend. Stay off the computer <G>

In IE if you right-click on the image and go to properties, it will show you the URL for the .jpg file. It doesn't provide an easy right-click option like Chrome does. Here is the picture (using the img tag):

Thanks, Rick & Luke. Added the Img into the post.

Joe Gordon wrote:I have not converted yet, just configuring everything so nearly completely tight when we do.

You realize that you can't actually configure OD before you convert, right? Any configuration that you are doing now will need to be redone.

Joe...

What other enhancements are you requesting?

Any chance you want to see Jordan add multiple charted conditions on the graphical chart so you don't have to waste time fussing around trying to figure out why you have a tooth treatment planned and exactly where the decay, open margin etc. exists?

Jordan- yes, i know all configs will be lost. Right now just making a list of OD Configs that make sense and work well. Lots of time on the front end so when we do convert, will only take minutes to set up all our configs.

Robert- I too feel that graphics on the Chart can be enhanced in certain ways. As bad as our d*****x software is, there are a few things that i prefer. One of my first requests was to show interproximal incipient decay on the buccal/lingual views. This is more realistic and less confusing than showing on the marginal ridge- as there may be marginal ridge decay extending to M/D.



In this shot, #K and #19 have incipient mesial lesions detected on the bwx, and they both have hypoplastic OD pits, that are not true decay to be treated, but want to mark as possible incipient lesions. #19 is charted thru OD conditions,#K is drawn to represent. I would like to see the conditions shown accurately like #K, as #19 shows how we chart the barely erupted hypoplastic first molars that are bombed and need tx soon. They do represent it accurately for anterior teeth, as #23 has charted condition D incipient caries. Same for class II estorations- they should show on the M and/or D on the buccal view. #M has a correct representation, tx planned for a DL composite. But the DO Com for #L does not show properly.

So hoping to show interproximal incipient lesions accurately in Buccal view and have ability to edit surface painting (one of the only decent things our current software does, by right click/edit surface/checkbox for pits to show) on occlusal. Also, under Setup/Definitions/Chart Graphic Colors, we should be able to edit unerupted tooth color (we'd change to a lighter gray, so the red W is not obscured). As for recurrent or secondary decay, we draw that around restorations in red- much more accurate so we can pinpoint.

Otherwise, I do love the user interface for charting, just wish we could make the chart a bit bigger during chairside charting. Would love to be able to move the margins of the windows within the chart to make some larger or smaller.

Joe...

You sound like a really good guy to have around here! I like how you think!