We have been forced into a feature called“CONCURRENT LOCK” (part of the new “MANDATORY UPGRADE”)
This means that now “ONLY ONE PERSON CAN USE THE CHART AT A TIME”.
This lock defaults to 15 minutes between users. That means each person who touches a patient chart must wait 15 minutes after the last user of that patient chart is finished with it.
We have been quite charming the past 2 days yelling up and down the halls
“Hey, are you out of there yet, so I can do my work?”
Our SAM has gotten us a concession with the programming gods to only make us wait 2 minutes between users.
Now we have at least 8 minutes added on to the time it takes to see a patient.
If you aren’t lucky to have a good SAM, you may have an extra HOUR added to the care of each patient.
INCREASED TIME TO SEE A PATIENT WITH CONCURRENT LOCK OF ONLY 2 MINUTES
+2 MINUTES CHECKIN
+ 2 MINUTES MA
+ 2 MINUTES DOCTOR
+ 2 MINUTES CHECKOUT
8 EXTRA MINUTES PER PATIENT!!
GOOD GOING!! GREAT PATIENT SAFETY AND EFFICIENCY MEASURE!!
A really “special feature” is the NASTYGRAM that is flashed saying so and so is already in the chart. Then, at times, the program just crashes after the NASTYGRAM. We work on screens that are visible to the patient. When all this occurs, it is very embarrassing.
It is ironic, that one of the biggest selling features in moving from AMAZING CHARTS to ECW for us was that more than one
person could be in the chart at the same time.
There are some instabilities to ECW that have been there long before we ever started experiencing loss of HPI or treatment data. We have for a LONG LONG TIME, only used one section at a time because of this instability.
Just admit that this is not an increased “patient safety” feature, it is a way of decreasing the program’s instability (not losing data the way it has for years)
What about this from your the information page:
Recommended User Action
£ Contact eClinicalWorks Support to enable the Item Key called EnableConcurLock if your practice does not allow connectivity to APU. This Item Key prevents simultaneous access to the blue links on the Progress Note (Chief Complaint, HPI, PMH, ROS, Vitals, Exam, Assessment, Treatment, and Billing).
Action Taken by eClinicalWorks
þ eClinicalWorks has an Item Key called Item Key (EnableConcurLock) that provides a series of pop-up access warnings to users who are attempting to access a portion of a chart that is being used by another system user. The user can then make an informed decision on whether to continue to access that area of the chart.
þ eClinicalWorks has enabled the Item Key (EnableConcurLock) for all eCW Cloud customers.
þ eClinicalWorks has enabled this update to all APU-connected client/server practices.
Note: The Auto-Practice Upgrade tool (APU) will be enabled by default. If you choose to not have this capability enabled, contact eCW Support to disable this feature.
If Admin wants to move this to the Watercooler, feel free. This is such a significant step backwards in the name of an upgrade, I thought it should at least start out here.