Filemaker newbie- needs help

[jdoc]

Hi all. Please pardon my ingnorance, but I'm brand new to filemaker. Here is my situation:

I'm a physician and I bought filemaker to help me organize my patient data. My intentions are to place all relevant data in one place, and to be able to send certain pieces of information to my patients via mail (ie, summary letters from recent annual exams displaying lab results, etc, information documents with data pertaining to individual health risks, etc). So far, I have set up a basic database which includes various layouts- a general "input data" layout where name, address, vitals, lab results, etc are stored, and a few different "letters" layouts which allow me to print out letters containing patient specific information in a general format. So far so good.

I have a basic script written to print letters by performing a find for the "date of exam". This script allows me to find all patients who have had an annual exam for a set time period, usually one week, and to print an "annual review letter" for each of those patients. A couple of problems: I've been trying to figure out how I can track who I've sent letters to automatically, and to not let those who have gotten letters show up in the find again. Typically I'll print letters once a week, but some of the necessary lab results aren't back within a week for some patients. So I omit those from the list. But when I go back to print the left over letters from that particular week, all of the patients show up again. How can I sort those that have been already been sent from those that need sending for the same time period?

Also, I print letters annually, so I need some way of updating the system automatically every year. In other words, when I go to search for "unsent letters" a year later, the patients that I sent letters to the year before should show up, even though they had letters sent to them before.

Any suggestions? sorry for the length of this post.

John

[danjacoby]

Assuming each exam is a separate record (so that there may be several records for each patient -- one for each exam), create a "LetterSent" field, and have the script enter something into that field when the letter is created. That way, you can amend your find to omit those to whom letters have been sent.

[jdoc]

Thanks for the reply. I tried making such a field and placing a "place current date" command in the print letter script (at the end), but I couldn't get it to work. Also, is there any way that the field "letter sent" could revert to a default "unsent" status after a period of time, say 9 months or so?

[George]

You could create a startup script to perform a find on all records older than 9 months and clear the content of the "letter sent" field.

I have created a solution I used in a skin cancer clinic where we used the SOAP format, imaging, pathology OCR, correspondence etc. Loved the speed of creating a usable application and the ability to fully customize the program using Filemaker! You can work on the program as you go and you don't have to have the "finished product" before you can begin using it. I later incorporated a drop down list of meds and Rx printing ability. The great thing about elect med records is the fact that you can do a keyword search within the db and immediately find certain diagnosis or anything imaginable which gives the doctor a greater level of patient care. Stick with Filemaker and you will be pleased with the tool that it can be to you.

George

[jdoc]

George,

I would LOVE to know how you set up your db- the format sounds similar to mine. I too have somewhat of a SOAP organization, complete with fields for things like PAP results, mammogram results, etc. If you used a standard template, let me know which one- I would appreciate it greatly. If not, any pointers would more than suffice. Thanks for your reply.

John

[kenneth2k1]

Hello jdoc:

Use this step instead of "insert current date":

Set Field ["LetterSentDate", "Status(CurrentDate)"]

-ensure that your letter sent date field is defined as a date field.

-I had the same problem with insert current date before, ensure that the layout you are on when the script executes has that particular field on it if you want to use this. Please post your script here so that we can see what you are doing.

The solution you are making sounds very useful. I classmate of mine here in SD also works for Scripps Mercy Hospital, where they just implemented a hospital-wide client-tracking database called AIMS. The idea was that there would be a monitor with vital patient information at every point of care - from A&R to Discharge, consisting of a modifiable template. Very exciting (and very expensive - total cost of around 750,000).

[jdoc]

thanks for the reply. this is my script:

Enter Find Mode [Pause]

Perform Find []

Go to Layout ["Annual Review Letter"]

Enter Browse Mode [Pause]

Print []

Set Field ["Sent Letters","Status(CurrentDate)"]

Go to Layout ["Data Input"]

Show All Records

Exit Script

The only thing I have changed is placing what you recommended. The last three lines just put me back to my input field- no functionality. I will try your suggestion. Thanks.

[bobsmith]

Unless you are only finding one record you will have to use replace or a loop to change the field ["Sent Letters","Status(CurrentDate)"]

since Set Field will only replace in the current record not all the found set.

Replace ["Sent Letters","Status(CurrentDate)"]

[jdoc]

I'm searching for a range of dates, and your're right, the SetField command only sets the date for one record. But when I replace that command with the Replace command, it doesn't work at all. Do I need both?

[bobsmith]

Not sure what the problem is. I wrote this simple script to test and it seem to work OK. I just entered find mode did a find for a range of dates in the test database and then continued to the replace and all dates were replaced with today's date.

replaceTest

Enter Browse Mode

Enter Find Mode

[ Pause ]

Perform Find

Replace [ SendLetter, Replace data:Calculation: , Status( CurrentDate) ]

January 1, 2002 test - replaceTest -1-

[jdoc]

I can't seem to figure it out. Some further information that may be helpful: I have all of my patient records in a single database (73 records thus far). When I perform the find, I use "dates of exam" and a range of dates, say 12/1/2001...12/14/2001. When I run the script as written above, the "Sent letters" field is filled in with the current date of one record only. The others have a blank field. Any clues?