Electronic Medical Records (EMR) and Electronic Health Records (EHR) have moved to the forefront of the medical agenda. SYSTOC creates, stores, and retrieves electronic medical information, whether originating in-house or from outside the clinic. EMR functionality, combined with the features of the Clinical Work Area, help you complete your work as it happens. When the last patient leaves, so can you.

SYSTOC provides a clinician-friendly work area, dubbed the Clinical Work Area, or CWA. The CWA provides access to what clinicians need to know to do their jobs. The initial view when you first enter this area is shown here:

Who is your next appointment? Has he arrived, and if so, is he ready to be seen? With SYSTOC, you can see your schedule for the day on the left side of the screen. A system of colored "flags" tells you who has arrived. If you tap on any appointment, you see, at the bottom left, the patient’s arrival time, where she is, and the status (e.g., with doctor, with nurse, waiting, etc.).

For any given patient, what is supposed to happen during the visit? Tap on an appointment to highlight it, and you see the name of the patient, type of visit, and a list of orders.

What has happened with this patient in the past? Easy to access tabs show previous injuries and treatments, as well as vitals, medications, allergies, and conditions. A complete narrative record is available from the Visit History tab:

This customizable report provides information about all visits at the clinic, most recent first. Previous orders and completed forms for the patient are available from the Search Medical Record tab.

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SYSTOC streamlines the recording of information as the visit progresses, real-time, so that when the patient walks out the door, the bulk of the work is done. There are two parts to this process: getting the information recorded in the computer, and knowing who has responsibility for each stage of the care.

There are multiple ways to get the data into the computer. You can type, write, speak, or record images. The primary data entry tool is an electronic representation of a paper form:

This mechanism is familiar to all healthcare workers, because filling out forms is an integral part of the job. Forms display information that is already in the computer, provide lists of options for you to choose, and help eliminate redundancy. Using the stylus on the tablet PC, or the mouse on a desktop unit, you check off boxes just as you would on a paper form. But computerized forms are better than paper forms because you can select responses from multiple options and only those selected responses display after the choice is made. In the injury form, you can even convert the form into a transcription. SYSTOC comes with a starter set of forms, and customization is available (you receive ten hours of report and/or form writing free of charge annually).

A message system lets you send audio or text messages to staff. While clinics normally have a regular e-mail system, this internal system lets you conveniently see that a message is waiting without leaving the Clinical Work Area.

As orders are completed, they automatically change color and drop to the bottom of the list so it’s easy to see what remains to be done. Any order that still needs attention after the patient leaves can be assigned to an individual or work group and accessed later in the electronic Chart Box. Practitioners can use the tablet PC between patient visits to read messages and check the Chart Box to sign forms, move orders to other staff, etc.

Some of what you may need to see during a patient visit comes to you initially on paper. Scan the documents, then attach the files electronically to the appropriate patient in SYSTOC:

If you use fax management software, you can intercept faxes before they become paper documents, convert them to the standard Portable Document Format (PDF), and attach directly to the patient record.

Possibly the greatest advantage of keeping medical records in electronic form is the ease with which records can be retrieved, viewed, and sent elsewhere. SYSTOC’s comprehensive search engine lets you quickly find exactly what you want.

SYSTOC lets you mark any selection of charts (for example, the entire medical record for an injury) and electronically "staple" them together to e-mail or fax them (with fax management software) as a group to the insurer or company. The e-mail feature employs encryption and password access.

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