System Configuration

Configuring Your Server:

The entire configuration of the software is done on the server. Therefore, before your clients can begin to use the system, you will need to sit down at the server and enter the basic information as described below.

1. Locate the application. At the computer where you installed the server, go to the SpringCharts folder, and double click on the 'SpringChartsServer' application.

2. Enter practice information. You will be asked to enter your practice information. The practice name is critical, and must be the EXACTLY the same name you used when you registered the software including spacing, capitalization and punctuation; it is directly tied to your activation key.

3. Register users. Enter doctors (you) and users (nurses, PA's, clerks, etc.) into the appropriate sections. The usernames should be short as they are used throughout the system as part of the messaging functions, and as login names.

4. Enter Preferences. Here you will set the locations for the Tracker. There are short phrases used by the tracking system to locate patients in the office. You should enter any location where patients might be located such as: Waiting Room, Room 1, Room 2, Room 3, Room 4, Nurse Desk, Lab, etc.

VERY IMPORTANT NOTE FOR THOSE UPGRADING TO A NEWER VERSION OF SPRINGCHARTS: DO NOT PERFORM STEP 4 IF YOU ARE UPGRADING YOUR SYSTEM. YOUR MUDATA FOLDER CONTAINS ALL OF YOUR PRACTICE DATA. THUS, DELETING THIS FOLDER WILL BE HAZARDOUS TO YOUR PRACTICE!

5. Set the status for the Tracker. These are short phrases used to indicate the status for the patient. Examples include: Needs Shot, Ready for Dr., Needs Lab, Lab Done, Needs X-ray, BP Check, Lab Only, etc.

6. Enter the categories for the Address Book. Some of these are predefined, but you can use the address book for things like Plumbers, Doctor's Friends, or whatever categories you choose. Some categories are already entered and are permanent, such as Physician and Pharmacy, because the program uses these categories in other locations. If you enter pharmacies into the address book, then while in the messaging system, you can hit the button Pharmacies and choose from the list. Your staff will love this feature, and you will not get any wrong numbers.

7. Specialties for the Address Book. Some of these are permanent, but you can add others. This allows you to search for something like 'all Cardiologists'.

8. Set Social Hx preset buttons. These phrases become radio buttons when entering a patient's social history for speedy entry. Examples include: Smokes Tobacco, Excessive Alcohol, and Unprotected Sex.

9. Setting Appointments. You must set up the doctor's appointments. But, you can also add other schedules to the system. For instance, you can set a schedule for a resource like the EKG Room, or a nurse's shot schedule, or a PA schedule. In any case, you choose the interval for the appointments, and the times during the day that each of these resources is available.

10. Add any categories for Procedures. Some of these are preset, like Immunizations. But, you can define others, like Casting, Minor Surgery, etc. These allow for speedy and consistent data entry into the patient's chart.

11. Set Letter File Names. Whenever you write a letter that concerns a patient, it is charted in his/her patient record. When you write letters you want to keep, but do not concern a patient's medical health, they are stored here, under any name you choose. These letters include complaints to a hospital, letters to the editor, etc.

12. Set OV Code Preferences for Routing Slips. Here you set your most frequent codes. These codes will go into a dropdown menu for rapid entry on your routing slips.

13. Set your Email Data. Here, you enter information about your Email account. This program simply downloads all of your Email from your Email account into this program. If a patient has given you his/her Email address, and he/she sends you an Email, the messaging system will pull his chart for you and will chart your correspondence for you. It should be noted that, for security reasons, the Email system is text only. Anything in an email that is not text, like attachments, viruses, etc, is removed before entering the system. Also, in order for the Email system to work properly, you need to acquire your Email from a POP server. Therefore, the Email system will not work if you get your mail from AOL or Yahoo.

14. Edit Chart Evaluation Items. This is a powerful feature of the program. Here you can enter screening data to check each chart as it is pulled up. For instance, you can enter items like: all females age 35-40 should have one mammogram, or all females over age 40 should have a mammogram every 2 years, etc.

15. Enter your Immunization List. Enter the names of the immunizations you most frequently administer like DaPT, IPV, DT, etc.