Frequently Asked Questions
Following are some of the most commonly asked question concerning using NoteShare.
A. Most offices today have all of the necessary equipment to run this application. NoteShare is a Client/Server based application. It uses the Microsoft SQL database engine. If your company already has at least Microsoft SQL 2000 or greater the battle is almost won. If you do not then the Microsoft SQL 2005 Express will work. Keep in mind there are some limitations with the Express edition. First is the database size limitation. This won't be an issue for some time as NoteShare database is small.
A. No. With applications like this it is far more efficient and advisable to have a dedicated server in your office. A dedicated server does not mean you have to have an IBM blade server or comparable machine in you closet for NoteShare run on. In many cases you will already have a server that the database can reside on. If you wanted to implement a machine for a dedicated server most new PC's (IBM compatible) will work very well for NoteShare. (See System Requirements).
A. No. NoteShare is not web based application. However since it is a client/server app and is SQL based it is efficient enough to run outside of your office via a VPN connection. This would mean that users could access and manage information in NoteShare from home across the internet.
A. This is probably one of most important functions of the system. Not only is there a secure login for keeping up with HIPPA requirements, but a clean audit trail for looking back. We took great pains to make sure that when it was time to CYA, you could actually do so. Any data put into the system has an owner. Lets say USER1 starts a call thread or note in NoteShare. Any user on the system can indeed view it. USER1 is the only user that can delete it or edit it. Other users can append new or changed information the the note but not delete it. If the owner does choose to delete the note they can and it disappears from view. However we designed into the system that deletions are only hidden from view. They never get totally deleted from the database. The audit report will always show any data in the system. Including deleted data as well as who deleted it and when.
A. Absolutely anything! In coming or outgoing calls. Needs and to do's for patients, office and field staff. Follow ups. You can even keep up with personal tasks. Reminders can be set for any item put into the system that pop up and remind you. Anything you would write on a sticky note, pad, or binder is the definitive answer.
A. No. The software is only limited by the amount of workstations in your organization. The software uses a "concurrent" type of user license. In other words if an office only purchased a 5 user license this simply means only 5 users could be logged in to it at one time. You could have unlimited user names in the application so anyone could actually use the software.
A. No. This is based on how an agency gets information to the field staff. This does not mean that an agency would not want to implement this for their field staff. It has been done. In many cases one or two workstation are made available for field staff to access the application when they are in the office.
A. Actually quite a bit. Before we developed NoteShare we earnestly tried to use both Outlook and ACT in the agencies we owned. We already had both of them and they are excellent applications. We have years of experience with ACT and had no problem with implementation of it. These types of applications do indeed track notes put into them and after all they are contact managers. It was a matter of what you could see quickly. It became evident in a matter of hours that this was not the solution we were looking for.
Why?
First: As a contact manager you can only see the active screen (contact notes) of one contact at a time. Causing the user to constantly look up a different contact for each call or task.
Second: When notes or to do's are completed they are still in full view making it more difficult to see what needs to be completed next without printing a report.
NoteShare by default displays all open or incomplete items one your screen regardless of who the patient is in order of oldest items first. (see screen shot). This view can be sorted in a different order. By clicking a check box all completed items can be viewed either by date range or all. Notes are completed by checking them off at which time they disappear from the default view. The best way to think about NoteShare is one single to do or task list that is filtered for each user. Each user can switch from their default view showing all of their open items to all open items regardless of who entered it, or by physician, patient, etc.