Things to Know First

CILe - Client Information Ledger

Hints, helps, and traps

There are a couple of things you need to know about how the application works. Some of them are about how CILe was designed, and some of them are a function of how Microsoft Access works. If you know these things, you will have a much more satisfying and less confusing experience.

The 'Save' bar

To save a record in CILe, Access has provided a mechanism that I used.

When you see this 'pencil' on the left-hand gray bar, that says that the data is in the process of being written, but is not yet saved to the database.

To 'save' the data you've just entered, click the gray bar (which may be a small gray box if it is a listing of some sort). Then you'll see the gray bar turn black, and the pencil turns into an arrow. Click it as often as you want to be sure your data is saved.

At that point, the data has been saved to the database.

Adding new records

There are many places throughout CILe where you can add a new record by using the Microsoft "Add Record" mechanism. If you find yourself wanting to add a new record (like adding a Secondary Insurance policy to the Fiscal Face Sheet, or adding another Visit Authorization Letter), look to see if the "Add" button is available at the bottom of the screen. It is an arrow with a small orange box next to it. If it's there, click it and you will be presented with a blank version of the screen you are looking at.

Deleting a record (e.g., a Session Note, an Authorization Record, etc.)

Some data that can be deleted has a "Delete" button right on the screen. Those are obvious. But for those records that can be deleted but have no "Delete" button, click the gray bar to the left of the information you want to delete to turn the gray bar black (as shown). Then, click the "Delete" key on your keyboard. Some records cannot be deleted (such as the client), and it won't give you the option. If a record can be deleted, though, that is generally the way.

Accessing Menus

There are two different kinds of menus in CILe: Main menu items and the client pop-up, or "context" menu. The Main menu items are "Therapy," "Administrative," "Fiscal," and " Help" as shown below. You access those menus by clicking the corresponding words at the top.

The client "context" menu, also called the Client pop-up menu, is accessed by right-clicking on the client's name in the schedule, the client list, and several other places as well.

Automatic population of fields

There are several fields throughout CILe where I was able to automatically populate probable data values. Examples include the 'display name' for both the employee and the client, which I automatically created from the first and last names entered. Other examples are the client's copay on the session note, extracted from their copay data entered at the time of initial data entry, their primary diagnosis on the session note screen derived from the diagnosis entered at intake, and the insurance company's mailing address derived from the insurance company table.

In each case, the action that causes the data to be automatically populated is when you click inside the actual text box itself on the appropriate screens. CILe has been optimized to do these functions if you use your tab key to navigate through the fields, so I recommend you get into the habit of doing that. If you use the mouse to click inside specific fields you want to populate, you may miss out of something being pre-populated for you.

So for your convenience and the accuracy of your data, try to use the "TAB" key to navigate around screens that have several fields that need data input, at least during the initial data entry.

You can actually accomplish the same thing by clicking inside the field, but you may accidentally miss something that way. Tabbing ensures that you won't.

Exiting Screens

Getting out of a screen is easy. You simply click the "X" at the upper-right-hand corner of the screen. (Caution: be sure to click the lower of the two "X's", as the one at the extreme upper corner will exit you completely out of CILe, and in some cases, gives you an ugly message to go along with it. It doesn't actually hurt anything - it's just annoying.)

Switching between screens

You can have several screens open simultaneously in CILe. To conveniently navigate between them, you can simply click on the tabs at the top of the screens.

Switching between records

Access has provided graphical "next" and "prior" buttons for moving between records such as Authorization Letters, letters written to clients, diagnoses, etc. From the left, the buttons in the picture below represent 1) Jump to the first record, 2) Jump to the previous record, 3) Jump to the next record, and 4) jump to the last record.

One exception to this navigation scheme is for the schedule. Moving from one day to the next or previous is performed with the arrows next to the date itself, as shown below.

Another exception is the session note screen, although it is very similar to the Access version. These buttons were created because I needed more control over the display of the session notes than the Access system provided.

Exiting CILe

Access has also provided a way out of CILe that I have used. When you are ready to close CILe down, first, click the large orange button in the upper left corner of the screen (identified as "1" on the screenshot). Then, either click the "Close Database" button or the "Exit Access" button.

E-mail

Note: There are occasions when an e-mail may get lost in cyberspace. I answer all e-mails, so please, if you don't hear from me within 24 hours, e-mail me again. Persistence will get you through.