Adding work: Using Automatic Pricing

Automatic pricing is a method of entering work quickly and easily, letting the system price it for you automatically. You enter a code for the procedure or stock item you wish to add. The description is added to the animal's consultation record and the price is worked out. You may or may not be asked transaction date and user - this are configurable.

As you become more skilled at adding automatically priced notes you will probably go on to use the more advanced features, which include entering more than one code at the prompt and the various special characters, macros and so on.

To access this method of pricing you select the clinical record prompt line option Auto.

The following prompt will appear:

Item(s) ........................

Note: In the following examples we will use a random selection of data. Do not expect the same data to exist on your system.

Examples
A clinical record is displayed:

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(43) Melvin,Mr T          :Fido                  Fees   Drugs    Bal   Ana   U
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
10.10.00 Consultation & Examination             10.00           11.75   25 1PVS
         Weight 24.6 kgs.                                       11.75  229 1PVS
         12 x Synulox Tabs 50mg                          5.05   17.69  254 1PVS
         @ DOSE 2 TABLET[S] EVERY 6 HOURS                       17.69  232 1PVS




                                                  ------------------------- 
                                                 |Species :  Canine        |
                                                 |Breed   : Cross Poodle   |
                                                 |Age/Sex :  2y  0m / MN   |
                                                 |Weight  :   24.60 Kgs.   |
                                                 |Vacc.   :   13.12.1994   |
                                                 |Insured :  Pet Health    |
                                                 |ID:                      |
                                                  ------------------------- 
Auto Bill Cash Diary Edit List Reports Management Text Up Hidden Quit
                            Return to the Main Menu                     F1=Help

As an example we shall add a dental: At the Items .... prompt we enter 'dem' as we know that 'dem' is the code for DEental Molar and press <RETURN>. The screen would be updated e.g.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(43) Melvin,Mr T          :Fido                  Fees   Drugs    Bal   Ana   U
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
10.10.00 Consultation & Examination             10.00           11.75   25 1PVS
         Weight 24.6 kgs.                                       11.75  229 1PVS
         12 x Synulox Tabs 50mg                          5.05   17.69  254 1PVS
         @ DOSE 2 TABLET[S] EVERY 6 HOURS                       17.69  232 1PVS
10.10.00 Dental surgery, extract molar           7.42           26.41  132 1PVS

Finding the AP/Stock Code

Obviously there will be occasions where you cannot remember the correct code for the item you wish to add. As there can be as many as 999 procedures and 9999 stock items, this is not surprising.

Premvet 5 will help you to quickly find the item you wish to add if you prefix your entry at the Item(s)......... prompt with a forward slash (/).

You are then given a choice of all procedures, stock items and macros that match either the description or code for the entry typed in, and taken through various steps to ensure the code is added correctly.

Note: If this method is used then you are NOT permitted to enter multiple codes on the same line.

Let's illustrate this searching technique with another example. We want to enter the same work as before but cannot remember the code, so we shall enter /den at the item prompt.(You will notice in some of the example boxes some additional information relating to sex, recalls, discounts and the like. Ignore these for now as they will be explained later.)

The following will be displayed in the bottom left of the screen:

    1 DENCD (Mac) Whole dental D for kitties  
    2 DENDA (Mac) Dog Dental A               
    3 DENDD (Mac) Dog Dental D              
    4 DENDE (Mac) Dog Dental E             
    5 "GA & dental on rabbit, &&          45.70
    6 "Dental on Guinea Pig or Hamster    23.07
    7 && postdental check                  0.00

Select no. (1-20), <F>orward, <B>ack, <Q>uit (or arrow keys) [13] ..
          Scroll with the arrow keys or select by number on the right

Followed by the prompt line: Items .....

The number of possible choices is given in the prompt line, so in our example above there are 20 different codes which begin with 'DEN'. The Forward option will move the options in the window forward to examine the next seven. Or if you have already moved forward you can use Back to reverse a screen.

Once the option you require is within the window you can select it by:

1. Entering the number (on the left hand side) of the option required.
2. Using the arrow keys to scroll the highlighted bar until the option required is highlighted and press <RETURN>.

So in our case we scroll till we see 'Dental - Extract Molar' by moving the highlight bar to this item and pressing return.

Once we have made our selection, another box appears displaying the details of our choice and we are asked to confirm that they are correct:

 DEM    (Procedure 87)                         
 Dental surgery, extract molar                 
 Recall fields :  - , - , -                    
 Status field  : No change                     
 Sex field     : No change                     
 Price         :     7.42                      
 No stock items involved                       

Is this the one you want? (A/Y/N/Q) [Y] .

Following confirmation Premvet 5 displays another prompt:

Parameters .................

This is to allow us to enter a quantity and/or any of the special characters (which are explained later in this chapter).

Note: If the quantity was entered on the same line as the code i.e. '/den 2' was entered, then this prompt would be by-passed.

The screen will again display the changed settings e.g.

 Text  : Dental surgery, extract molar        
 Fees  :     7.42        Drugs :     0.00    
 Items :     1.00        At    :     7.42   
 Analysis code 132                         
                                        
Change <T>ext/<F>inancial <A>ccept <R>eject [A] .
                Check the details and change any that are wrong

Followed by the prompt line:

This gives us another chance to make any corrections, and when we have finished the code is processed.

And the same result as shown in our earlier example is achieved. Premvet 5 now returns us to the item prompt.

Customisation - It can be a little 'slow' to go through all the selection screens. The prompt line:

Is this the one you want? (A/Y/N/Q) [Y] .

If you set AP_Default_Accept to 'Yes' in params.txt then the default will change from [Y]es to [A]ccept.

While entering an AP item on the clinical screen the breed box on the right of the screen will contain help on the questions.

If you want to switch this to show the animal details then set the option: