Patient Info Terminal  

DO NOT USE THIS FEATURE UNLESS YOU HAVE UPDATED YOUR VERSION!  Some older versions (before 3/24/08 or before version 5.5) might have allowed the patient to access information in the main program by dragging this window to the side.

The patient info terminal is a kiosk program that is designed to replace your paper new patient forms. It can run on one or more computers in the reception area. Each computer needs to have a keyboard and mouse so that the patient can type in their information. Laptops work well, but you might need to fasten them down so they don't get dropped.

From the Main Menu, select Tools | Terminal

The window is exactly 1024x768. If you set your screen resolution to that value, and then set the taskbar to be hidden, the window will be all that the patient will see on that computer. If the patient attempts to close this window by using the button at the bottom, it will ask them for a password before allowing it. A resourceful patient could still manage to get into the rest of the computer, but the worst they would be able to do would be to shut down Open Dental completely. They will have no way of getting out of the terminal and seeing information about other patients.

Now you will want to start the terminal manager on a different computer, probably the receptionist's computer. From the Main Menu, select Tools | Terminal Manager.

Once opened, the terminal manager can be left open, and Open Dental will still be usable without closing it. It can also be run on multiple computers if you wish.

Remember that even new patients will already at least have their name in the system. So select the patient in Open Dental, probably by clicking once on their appointment. Then, go to the terminal manager and click the New Patient button. After a few moments, the patient will see the following on their screen.

When they are done filling out or editing their information, they can click the Submit button. They will not be allowed to continue until they have indicated whether they have insurance, have entered a birthdate, and have entered a referral source. Their screen will then change to this:

The upper portion is Diseases/Allergies. The lower section is the new patient Questionnaire. It does not force them to answer any of the questions. If they accidentally hit submit before they are done, you can only reload that page if it's still completely blank. Otherwise, you might have to finish it orally, usually after the patient goes back to the operatory. But if they need to go back and make changes to their name, address, etc, you can easily let them do that. In the terminal manager, if the patient is still loaded, right click the computer, and select Patient Info. If they are not loaded any more, than reload the patient.

The terminal manager lets you monitor and control which screen the patient is looking at. If you accidentally load the wrong patient, rightclick on the computer and set it back to Standby. After the patient completes the basic info window and moves to the Medical page, the terminal manager will show this. At this point, it is safe for the receptionist to open that patient's Patient Edit screen as normal, because the patient on the terminal will not be able to go back. The receptionist should not have the Patient Edit window open at the same time that it's open on the terminal. In fact the program will not let anyone in the office open the Patient Edit window for that patient until they have moved to the Medical page.