I really miss the e-mail link that was in the version 4 sign off window. The new version 5 window has buttons for patient letters, reminders and orders, but not a way to send a simple email to a staff member to call a patient with the result.

Even if I send a message to staff using the reminder button, it takes several clicks more to complete the reminder form. After it is sent, you must click again to save the sign off item and advance to the next document. In version 4, a single click would send the message and save the document and advance to the next. Sigh.....

I agree and really miss the sign off and send button and am presuming that this is a bug ( but maybe not). Currently I minimize the window, right click on the patient's chart and send a message to whichever staff..."needs appointment", "needs medicine" etc. then open back up the sign off and put in the comment.

Between the loss of the message window and the lack of nested folders in Imported Items, I actually think using written charts for sign-off of incoming reports is more efficient.

Oh well, one step forward, one step back.

No! No! Never back... I have developed an allergy to paper and am trying my darndest to eliminate it, PERIOD. The paper folders and all that shuffling from one desk to another was the prime motive to go an EMR.

Oh, I agree, in principle. All of us on this board committed to EMR otherwise we wouldn't be here. And I have used several other EMRs, and AC is my choice.

But it's frustrating to have a promising routine like the version 4 signoff, lose the message link, still not be able to open the chart from the signoff screen (to figure out why the item was ordered). But then...it's a beta, I keep telling myself.

I too miss the messaging with the sign off. "Send and sign off". I used this all the time and find it quite cumbersome to now have to send a note and then go back and sign off. I often am out of the window before I realize that I didn't do both. The comment section saves a comment but doesn't allow you to send it anywhere. Bring back the send and sign!

I also agree, A signoff email message is still needed and very much missed. Lets forward this to Jon.

The sign off screen with the imported item can be minimized, highlight the patient's name in your in box and use the drop down to view visit history, send an RX or generate a message to the staff about needing to do something, not quite as friendly as the "sign off and send " option that was in version 4 but,really, still pretty darn nice. I wish the message box that pops up when you mark a pending result as having been completed could be disabled if you didn't want to use it as a rule and then specifically opened if it did need to be used.