Version 6.0
1. Getting Started with PocketPractitioner
2. A Quick Tour of PocketPractitioner
· PocketPractitioner Diagnosis List
· PocketPractitioner Medication List
· PocketPractitioner Procedure List
3. A Quick Tour of PocketPractitioner Office
· Opening PocketPractitioner Office
· Setup
· Patients
· Diagnoses / Medications / Procedures
4. About the Database Structure
· Overview
· Changing the Handheld User Name
· Handheld
· Desktop
· Overview
· Printing with PocketPractitioner
· Printing with PocketPractitioner Office
PocketPractitioner was designed for users like you. However, here are a couple of tips to help you along the way.
PocketPractitioner is a complete package to provide integrated Patient Tracking and Charge Capture. All elements of content were chosen with care to provide maximal functionality in the simplest package. Reading through this manual will help you understand the logic involved and will enhance your ability to utilize its many functions.
There are no hidden consulting or subscription costs with PocketPractitioner. You receive industry-standard software tools, and you have total control over all data elements on your Handheld and PC. The total cost of ownership is low, and your return on investment for the billing products is probably less than a few weeks.
Key Features
PocketPractitioner Professional is our Handheld versions.
PocketPractioner Professional: Patient Tracking
· Track patients in any clinical setting, sort patients alphabetically or by location, filter by location or activity status, and automatically purge inactive patients. A check box in the patient list lets you know who has been seen on rounds.
PocketPractitoner Professional: Charge Capture and Export & Print
PocketPractitioner Office is our Professional Plus Desktop version. This product contains the complete Handheld application, a complete Desktop application, and procedure and ICD-9-CM. This version offers a rock-solid business application built on Microsoft Access (runtime included), designed to keep track of billing for small and large organizations alike, at a fraction of the cost of comparable solutions. Designed for any medical practitioner in the world, and accepting any diagnosis or procedure coding system, this is a unique and versatile product.
Major Desktop functions:
Both versions will accept custom codes from any other billing system.
It might help to define a few terms.
· A device compatible with the Palm Computing Platform with version 3.5 or higher. These devices include 3Com’s line of Palm products, all Handspring products, Symbol Technologies SPT family of devices, the IBM WorkPad PC Companion, the Franklin Day Planner, the Sony Clie, Handera, and others.
·
PocketPractitioner Office
Place the CD in your computer. If the install program does not start automatically, go to the Start button, click "Run...", and then type "D:\setup.exe", where D is the name of your CD drive (the letter may vary). You may also go to "My Computer", open the CD drive, and double-click "setup.exe".
Download the appropriate file from http://www.pocketinformatics.com , or from any of our download sites, and double-click on the downloaded file.
You will be guided through the installation process. If you are upgrading your program, be sure to HotSync your Handheld before installing the new software.
If you have more than one user on the same PC, you will need to set up a different folder for each user. This process is described later.
This product will be continually enhanced. You can always download the most current version from our web site, and you can upgrade to more advanced products at any time.
Be sure to HotSync before you update your application, and, if you have the Office version, make a copy of My Data.mdb. (See Backup and Restore.)
You have 14 days to register your Handheld.
You may obtain a registration key at any time by following the steps listed on our web site at http://www.pocketinformatics.com .
Please send any comments or questions to support@pocketinformatics.com. We will try to answer all questions within 24 hours.
When you first open PocketPractitioner on the Handheld, you will be in the Patient List. Your initial selection is for “<All>” patients, and the patients are sorted in alphabetical order.
· Tapping "Export..." takes you to a form for exporting records to the Palm Memo Pad.
· Default. Select the patient view you
would like to see first when you tap a patient name from the Patient List. The default is "Demographics". You
should probably not change this until you are fully aware of the fields in the
Demographics view, as they add significant functionality to the program. However, if 90% of your time is spent
entering charges, for example, changing the default will result in two less
taps per charge entry.
· ADD ICD-9-CM 2006 Codes. Selectively add diagnosis codes from 400 of the most common ICD-9-CM codes.
· Add Procedure Codes. Selectively add procedure codes.
Password. This follows standard Palm conventions for setting a password specific for PocketPractitioner. This is an important element for HIPAA compliance.
· Numeric Keyboard. When ENABLED, the numeric keyboard will pop up in the Patient SSN, MRN, HomePhone and WorkPhone fields.
· Backup. (Office version only). The PocketPractitioner HotSync conduit transfers data from the Handheld to the Desktop version, but it does not backup the files automatically in the Palm backup folder. When ENABLED, the files will backup with each HotSync, allowing for an automatic restore process if you have a hard reset or your Handheld runs out of power. This is strongly recommended. However, if you have an alternative backup program, and would like to have a shorter HotSync process, this function can be DISABLED.
Tapping the Location drop down list brings up a list of current location choices. Tapping any location finds patients for that location only.
The system locations are as follows:
Tap to create a new patient.
Tap any patient to go to the “Patient Edit” form. This is where the action begins.
Tap any location to assign the location to the patient. Select “New” if you do not know the location, “Unfiled” if this is an inactive patient , and “Edit Locations…”, if you want to change the list of Locations.
The Patient List is sorted alphabetically by last name, then first name.
Date of Birth: Tap the drop list (the downward-pointing
triangle) to show a list of decades for quick data entry. For example, tapping "1920's" will
take you to 1/1/1925. Tapping the date field brings up the Palm Calendar.
Medical Record Number: This is a KEY field, which means that if a new patient is added to PocketPractitioner on the PC with the same MRN that you have entered on the Palm, the Palm demographic data may be overwritten by the PC data. This allows you to simply enter your new patient as you are making rounds as “Smith”, adding only the MRN. If your staff is also tracking your admissions, the next time you HotSync the demographic data may be updated, but the clinical data will be untouched. If you decide not to implement this feature, your data will be untouched by the HotSync event.
Social Security Number: This is also a KEY field, as noted
above. Users not in the
Home phone
Work phone
Location 2. When the patients are sorted “By location” in the Patient List, they are sorted first by Location and second by Location 2. This allows you to start your rounds at the top floor and work down, or you can experiment with other naming conventions to make this work for you. For example, if you do a lot of outpatient surgery in the Ambulatory Surgery Department, you may want to give all patients the Location 2 name of “ASD”.
Check the appropriate box. This field was added as it is often a component of the patients Unique Identification Number or as an identifier in a electronic medical record.
Placing a check mark in this box places a “*” in the Patient List. You can use this for any purpose you wish, but typically it would be used after you have seen the patient for the day, or perhaps after you have entered the appropriate procedure code.
Go back to the Patient List by pressing the Back Arrow button and tap the Palm Menu button to bring up the PocketPractitioner Menu. If you tap “Clear (*)”, the “*” are cleared from the location that you are currently viewing. If you want to clear all “*”, then chose <All> for the location.
This will be described below.
Tapping takes you to another form to continue data entry.
This field should contain the name of the provider of services (typically, you). New patients will automatically be assigned to the last provider that was chosen.
This is the patient’s Primary Care Practitioner or PCP. For billing purposes, this is also the Referring Practitioner.
You can enter the name directly or tap the drop down button
for a list of practitioners. From this list, you can perform a Look Up to view
the practitioner you would like to add. When you tap the name, you will be
taken to another form. Tap “Add” to add this practitioner to your
patient’s form.
This is the patient’s medical insurance. You can enter the insurance directly or tap the drop down button for data entry as noted above.
Use this field to make additional notes related to this patient. You may want to add demographic information that is not included in other fields. For example, a trauma surgeon may want to record the patient’s drivers license number. Clinical notes may be created in the Patient Note List, which is described below.
Tapping this field brings up the Palm Calendar. The start date is the date the patient was entered on the Palm, and it will be auto-entered as the patient record is created.
Data entry is as noted above. The end date is the date the patient encounter was completed. The procedures should be complete and the patient can potentially be removed from the Palm. Entering a date makes “Charges complete” visible. You can clear the End date by tapping the label.
Check this box if all charges have been entered for all dates between the Start date and the End date. A “C” is placed in the Patient List.
If you have the Office version, checking the box makes “Delete after HotSync” visible. Then, after the next HotSync, the patient will remain on the Palm, the charges will be removed from the Palm and saved on the PC , and the “C” is replaced by an “X” in the Patient List.
Check this box to delete the patient and all associated lists from the Palm and save it on the PC at the time of the next HotSync. A “D” is placed in the Patient List.
Tapping shows up a dialog box confirming that you want to delete the record. If you tap “Ok” then the patient and all associated records will be removed from the Palm and all data entered from the time of the last HotSync will be lost.
Tapping shows a form where you can write or doodle on the screen. The date is auto-entered. Tap "Erase" to empty the form. When you click Done, the button changes to "Drawing!" if you have written on the form.
Tap to return to Patient Edit.
Tap the View Selector in the left lower corner of the screen. The views include Demographics (also called Patient Edit) and the patient clinical lists: Diagnoses, Medications, Charges, and Notes.
Tap “Export...” in the Record Menu to export Charges and Procedures for this patient only to the Palm Memo Pad.
Tap to return to the Patient List from any view.
Before we examine the patient lists, it is necessary to take a quick look back at an earlier topic. Return to the Patient List by tapping the Back Arrow button and tap the Menu button. You will see the six lists maintained within PocketPractitioner. Tap “Diagnosis List”.
As in the Patient List, you can use the Look Up or Find methods to find diagnoses.
In addition to Look Up and Find, Categories offers a way for you to quickly display those procedures that you use commonly. You can assign a category in Edit Diagnosis by tapping the procedure and then “Details”.
Tap to return to the Patient List.
Tap "Diagnosis List" or the Menu key to open the Record Menu. You will see that you can Sort your list by Diagnosis or Code or elect to Show either Diagnoses and Categories or Diagnosis and Codes. As in the Patient List, you can quickly delete records with "Purge Diagnoses...". (You can restore the records easily as noted below.)
Lastly, if you tap "Add ICD Codes", you will see the following message, "The records displayed are not currently in your Diagnosis List. You may edit the fields and then add them selectively or all at one time. You may repeat this process at any time."
When you first install the program, the list will be loaded with approximately 400 primary care diagnosis codes. However you may delete or purge some of the diagnoses, and you may decide later to reload the diagnoses or check for new codes.
Use the arrows to scroll back and forth through the list, adding the codes as you wish. Diagnoses on your list with matching codes will not be displayed. Although this process may take you some time, it is much faster than adding the items manually. If you have the Office version, you can perform the same functions on the PC.
Tap to create a new diagnosis.
Enter the diagnosis and code and change the category as desired. You also have a note field, and you can write anything you would like about this topic. You can enter up to 2000 characters, or about six screens of information, in this field. This makes it ideal for taking notes during lectures or to make quick notes as you are reading the literature. (Does this remind you of the notebook that you carried in your lab coat during your training?).
This returns you to the Diagnosis List.
If you have a product from Lexi-Comp on your Handheld, this
button will take you directly to that database without leaving
PocketPractitioner. You will be
presented with a choice of Lexi databases, if you have more than one, and after
your selection you will be taken to the closest alphabetical match to your
Diagnosis. In the Diagnosis List the
Lexi button works best with
Tap if you would like to delete a diagnosis. A screen will pop up to confirm your decision.
Stop! You may be thinking that this is entirely too much data entry for the Palm. We could not agree more, which is why almost all list maintenance is automated on both the Handheld and the PC, as described later.
Go back to the Patient List, tap the Menu button and tap
“Medications”. Everything is the same as above, except that there is no code
for medications and no categories. In
the Medication List the Info button works best with Lexi-Drugs, Nursing
Lexi-Drugs, Pediatric Lexi-Drugs, Dental
Lexi-Drugs and Natural Products.
Go back to the Patient List, tap the Menu button and tap
“Procedures”. Everything is the same as above.
In the Procedure List, the Lexi button works best with
Go to the Patient List by pressing the Back Arrow button and select any patient.
Tap the View Selector in the lower left corner of the screen and then tap“Diagnoses” and you will go to the Diagnoses form where the diagnoses for this patient are displayed. To distinguish the patient Diagnoses from the PocketPractitioner Diagnosis List, the patient’s name is displayed in the label. You will find this convention repeated throughout the program.
Tapping any item takes you to the Patient Diagnosis form.
You can edit the Diagnosis or Code, and you can enter a patient specific note.
Tap any item to move to another patient view.
Tap “New” to add a new diagnosis to your patient. Not surprisingly, you find yourself back at the PocketPractitioner Diagnosis List. It functions exactly as before, with the following exceptions.
Tap the View Selector and “Medications” and you will go to the patient Medications list. The list displays the medication name and Sig. Tapping the medication takes you to the Patient Medication form.
Tapping shows a table to assist data entry for the Sig. “Hide table” removes
the table.
Tap the View Selector and “Charges” and you will go to the patient Charges list. Everything is the same as above, with the following exceptions:
If you tap the Patient Name or the Palm Menu button, you will see the following options:
·
Sort by Date
Tapping the charge brings up the Patient Charge form.