National Vision User Group
National Vision User Group
This is where we list Frequently Asked Questions and their responses.
Why do the Epilepsy and Thyroid Registers show Zero Patients and consequently no Reminders?
At the moment the reminders from Clinical Audit are inaccurate. There are two audits available, Reporting and Monitoring. In both epilepsy and thyroid you need to have the diagnosis and a relevant prescription witin the 6 months to the reference date.
For the monitoring audit the reference date is end of the previous month, so the register of patients will be accurate, but the other lines in the domain will include activity in the last 15 months. Therefore a thyroid function test or epilepsy medication review in November last year will count and the reminder will not appear.
For the reporting audit, the reference date is April next year, so the disease register will only start to fill up in October as patients are prescribed the relevant medication.
Previously there were monitoring audits with 6, 9 and 12 months windows but these were lost in the last big update of Clinical Audit. NVUG has requested that they are reinstated. Until then there are some ways to work around.
You can now easily search on the disease registers of the monitoring audits. For the thyroid domain, search on the thyroid registers of the monitoring audits and find everyone who does not have a TSH measurement since 1/1/09. Save the patients to a group then add a reminder to this group. At the beginning of next month you need to remove the reminder from the group; repeat the search; save to a group then add the reminder.
The same can be done for epilepsy. In this case you need to look for patients without a Clinical entry since 1/1/09 of the Read code of 6675, 667F or 667P - 667V for seizure frequency or 8B1F, 667X, 6677-667A for epilepsy medication review. If you search for Clinical entries you will find entries made using these codes both in the history or Structured Data Areas (SDA).
How do I bulk-transfer patients' registrations to a different partner without generating new registration dates for all transferred patients?
Instead of using the "Bulk Transfer" options (on the Transfer menu in Registrations), use the "Partnership Reallocation" option on the same menu. This does the same job, but does not change the registration dates.
Why is EZMLM Warning or Probing me?
Short answer: Ignore it. Your email system is not perfect (some messages have bounced) but it hasn't (yet) died completely (the warning or probe message got through to you) and so you won't (yet) be thrown off the mailing list.
Long Answer:
This indicates that some emails to you from the nvug mailing lists bounced (failed to deliver). This could be due to a problem with your mail setup at surgery or at home, or to your PCT or ISP mail server, or to NHS/N3//Internet networks generally.
If this happens then some mailing list software simply removes you from the mailing list. And if the software doesn't remove you the administrator may well do so since they get fed up with your bounced messages landing in their inbox.
This mailing list software (EZMLM) is a little more sophisticated. It automatically handles bounces instead of dumping them in the administrators inbox. It keeps track of which messages bounced so that it can tell you which ones you missed, and it sends you a message to warn you that you have missed them and includes instructions on how to retrieve them.
If the warning message also bounces then maybe your email address is dead. A probe message is sent to check if it really is dead. If this also bounces then you are automatically removed from the mailing list. You can't be advised of this (emails to you are not getting through) and there is no point sending more messages to a dead address.
There is a grace period built in (ten to twenty days) between the warning and the probe, so this allows time for a temporary fault to be cleared. So you won't be thrown off the mailing list just because you bounced a couple of messages when you went on holiday and your mailbox overflowed for a few days, or when your cleaner switched off your practice mailserver at the weekend. But you will be removed if for a prolonged period you continue to bounce messages.
If you see a warning or probe message in your inbox then you know that at least one message to you has bounced. But you also know that, this time around at least, you are not being removed from the mailing list (if you saw the warning or probe then that means that it didn't bounce, and so EZMLM will know that your address is now working again).
If you do find that messages stop arriving please don't send test messages to the list. Instead simply resubscribe. You don't even need to check whether you really are unsubscribed, since there is no harm in resubscrbing even if you haven't been unsubscribed.
How do I unsubscribe from the mailing lists?
Two ways:
How do I subscribe to the mailing lists?
Register at the forum - link near top-right.
Do this even if you dont want to use the forum, since it gives you the option to search the archives (non-functional to non-logged in forum visitors).
During the forum signup there are radio buttons to click to subscribe to the mailing lists: the vision list, the newusers list, and the tech list.
You can subscribe to lists only, without signing up to the forum, (but will miss out on the search option) by sending email requests to the appropriate list robot:
When I search the forum I get no results?
The forum is configured not to show you any results on searches if you are not logged in. So before doing a search you should first login to the forum. (If you are not registered then you will need to register to create an account).
It is configured like this to protect the email addresses on the messages posted there. Spammers like to collect batches of email addresses from websites and forums. By requiring a login before viewing any messages, even including search results, we protect your email addresses from spammers.
How do I Access the Forum?
Go to the forum page.
If you have not yet registered, use the link near top-right of the forum, labelled 'Register' and fill in your details.
Your application will be reviewed by one of the forum moderators and after it has been accepted you will be able to login, view the messages, search, and post your own messages and replies.
How to Search in Vision?
Read the article on the VisionBlogged blog.
How Do I Switch DXS Off/On?
DXS can be switched on/off per user (i.e. different users can have different settings), by going to the Professional tab of Staff Maintenance in Control Panel. Locate the user, right-click and select edit, then tick/untick the DXS checkbox.
To be able to access this option you will need to be logged as a user who has sufficient security rights to be able to edit users in Control Panel, so most users cannot switch DXS Off/On for themselves.
Topics from the last 28 days (forum login required):