Electronic Mental Health Records

are helpful because they are:

LEGIBLE

• Computer records are more legible than hand written notes.
• Legible records protect you better than hand written notes.

FILE ABLE

• When you create a computer record it is already filed.
• You don't have to pull or put away charts. These programs decrease the chore of filing in a big way.

PRINTABLE-

• If desired the record can be easily printed for a paper chart, or other purposes.

NETWORKABLE

• The multi-user version can run happily in a peer to peer network or with a server. It makes clinical records and information management possible for groups, agencies, and clinics.

PORTABLE

• Created in a laptop, (or with the database on a USB drive) clinical records can be taken anywhere.
• Phone calls can be documented.
• Letters and reports can be done at a time and place of your choosing!

FAXABLE

• Any file in the program can be faxed if you have a fax modem and software in your computer.

SAVABLE

• Computer records can be saved quickly and easily. With the easy and fast backup methods I recommend computer records are actually safer than paper records.

COMPACT

• Your entire records are in a computer and backed up on floppy disks, zip disks, or an inexpensive USB drive the size of your thumb!
• Practitioners find they need fewer filing cabinets because paper files are dramatically reduced in amount.
• Printing, copying, paper and toner usage decrease substantially as well.

EFFICIENT and EASY to USE

• Typing is much faster and easier than handwriting. Think about that for a minute.
  • Clinicians routinely type at 40-50 words per minute. Very few people can handwrite at that speed for long.
• Time is of the essence when it comes to the mechanical and administrative parts of our practices.
• Anything that saves small amounts of time or energy repetitively adds greatly to overall efficiency.
• That is how I got my own work done and went home with some energy.
• Clinicians tell me that the documentation needed in their practices improves when they type their progress notes even though they are using less energy to create them.

ADAPTED FOR TEMPLATE USE

• Templates of various sorts are big time savers.
• Use my templates of letterheads, fax sheets, clinical outlines, managed care reports, visit records, receipt records, practice information and policies, and super bills. Addressed envelopes are a big help.
• Templates are easy to adapt to your practice. You don't have to use them but they help efficiency.
• Each of these templates saves time each and every time they are used. Cumulatively they make a big difference in the effort expended to manage your practice.
• Templates in the CRK Series are modifiable by anyone easily and quickly. No special knowledge is needed. If you type, you can modify the templates I include, create the templates you need or use templates you have already created.
• For more on templates:  Click Here

In addition, initial evaluations and progress notes can be created using free text (i.e. without the use of a template). Your choice.

EASY TO NAVIGATE

• A good computer program should make it easy to move around in. It should make good visual sense. There should be a minimum of steps needed to create a record.
• A major beef I have with most larger software programs is that they don't permit you to skip steps. You have to go from field to field with a tab key. In CRK Programs you can skip from step 1 to step 7 quickly if you want. This saves an incredible amount of time and is much more flexible.
• The screens you view should be large sized and easily visible. You shouldn't have to struggle to get your work done. Simplicity is a virtue when it comes to computer software!
• Click on the link     Navigation

ORGANIZED

• Electronic clinical records are organized inherently. You just want the organization to be one you understand and can use easily. Corporate software is much too much for most of us. We only use a fifth of it's capacity. The rest is unneeded. CRK takes out 4/5ths leaving the essential 1/5th.

DICTATING SOFTWARE

• Dragon Naturally Speaking Preferred (obtained separately) can be used to dictate into all versions of CRK at a high rate of speed.
• Speeds of up to 100 words per minute are not unusual!
• Use selected Palm PDA's, handheld recorders, or USB headset microphones.
• Your efficiency skyrockets!

Barriers to Keeping Computer Records

TECHNICAL ENVIRONMENT

• The Clinical Record Keeper Series are oriented towards clinicians.
• I designed them that way! Simple graphics, simple filing system, and sequences make this software a joy to use.
• You spend a lot of time using your computer. Why not make it a pleasant experience?
• A number of clinicians have converted from the large office management programs to a Clinical Record Keeper program for the record keeping part of their practice. Enough said!

INERTIA-

• We often don't want to change a method we have been using or go into unfamiliar territory.
• We rationalize that it may not be necessary for us to go through the alterations needed to make a successful change. So much is asked of us already, that we don't want to add to the pile.
• After the switch practitioners tell me that they are glad they made the effort.
• Electronic records are easy to use, fast to create, safe, reliable, and efficient.
• It is a fallacy to assume that there will be a better time than now to implement something that can help you be more efficient and less stressed.
• Use any available off the shelf technology to help you get efficient. Telephones, answering machines, faxes, and copiers all came into being in the same way.

FEAR OF COMPUTERS

• Software doesn't have to be hard to use.
• Others master their concerns and with the complete directions I include, you can too.
• Novices please click on the link for a lengthy rationale:   Novices 
• After years of talking with clinicians my programs circumvent the kinds of difficulties that are often problematic and provide an easy-to-use solution for mental health professionals.

TYPING

Unless you type easily, you may not have thought it was possible to use a computer for records. It is surprising how much improvement there can be when you type regularly.

Click on the link:  Typing for Clinicians    

This is a PDF file and it requires that you have Adobe Reader on your computer. If you don't have it, you can get it for free at   Adobe Reader

 

Solutions to the Barriers

CONSIDER YOUR NEEDS

• Typing is more efficient than handwriting, especially with practice. If you want to be more efficient in your record keeping, electronic records are a helpful technology.
• Choose a program that is easy to use, and you will have achieved a big leap forward in your practice's efficiency.

DEFINE YOUR GOALS

• Keep records more easily, and efficiently using less mental and physical energy.
• Electronic records are easy to create and use.
• They are portable, organized, and compact.

Typical buyers of my programs want a simple, basic, system that is foolproof and reliable. They want it to be easy to use, safe, and streamlined. They just want to get efficient. 

Click on the link   A Typical Story

In summary

Good computer software can help you keep records faster and easier leaving you with your records done and more energy at the end of the day. Put some time and energy back in your day!

  

Order Page