This may seem like a very newb question...

[mCassidy]

In my job I currently use Excel to track information. I have a group
of employees that provide treatment to a large list of patients each
day. Every employee keeps track of their treatment time in minutes on
a schedule sheet which they turn in at the end of the day. I have a
spreadsheet designated for each individual patient and the daily
minutes are inputted to those sheets each day. The sheets are used by
me both to track treatment time as well as to review and adjust future
treatment time based on need. (I have a row on each sheet which gives
me a running total of the past seven days. This is the reimbursement
model for Medicare and requires daily attention).

My question is: would Access make this easier? I think that it would
allow me to set up a better data entry and tracking system that
physically clicking through each sheet.. but I am not entirely sure.
I am very comfortable and familiar with Excel, but as my caseloads get
busier I have the continued thought that a database would be much
easier to manage than a series of spreadsheets. I am willing to put
the time into learning a new program but I want to get a little bit of
feedback to see if I am thinking correctly.

The way my current workbook is set up is a series of 49+ tabs
representing patient rooms. When a patient is discharged from the
room I move that sheet off and save it individually. When a new
patient comes into that room I copy a master sheet over and rename it
(to the room number). As I enter the previous days time into each
sheet I look to see how our 7-day minutes are looking and make changes
to the upcoming schedules as needed. The problem I have is that
clicking through 49+ sheets can be confusing and each sheet has a row
for up to three staff to provide time per day. If I am in a hurry or
especially if I have someone entering data for me mistakes can be
made. I envision that a database would allow me to specify which day
I wanted to add time onto an active patients sheet as well as which
discipline I wanted to add time for. Then I could still review a
summary sheet containing data from all three disciplines.

Again, apologies if this seems basic. I just don't want to spend much
time moving forward if I am not even on the path.

Thank You,

Matt

 

[NoodNutt]

G'day Matt

Yes, a DB will almost certainly speed up what you do, all information(Data)
is stored in tables which can then be entered via a User Interface (form),
then manipulted via queries for reporting purposes.

You say your comfortable with Xecel, does this comfort level extend to
VB/VBA (Visual Basics for Applications) in other words Coding.

To learn and grasp Access will require many hours not only in the books and
class rooms, but actually on the computer honing your techniques, then I'm
certain like most of us, you'll spend a lot of time here in the NG's
requesting help to iron out bugs that will trip you up.

Depending on your location ei US, UK, Aust. you could check out your local
college or TAFE to see if they hold Basic Access classes that meet your time
needs, eg afterhours or weekends.

Once you have a basic understanding, you can then start building your own
rational DB. Depending on your aptitude it will come quick, or slow grasping
everything that you will need to understand.

I only do Access programming as a hobby and don't spend nearly as much time
as I should. This title is the main reference book I use when my brain goes
a little foggy & I need a refresher.

Microsoft Access(YourVersion) Developer's Handbook

Written by:

Timothy M. O'Brien, Steven J. Pogge & Geoffrey E. White.

It's my bible, but if I have problems understanding I turn to people who
frequent the NG's, like myself (generally alot better) & MVP's (in my book
are gods) take care of all the gaps I have in my brain box..

HTH
Mark.

 

[John W. Vinson]

In my job I currently use Excel to track information. I have a group
of employees that provide treatment to a large list of patients each
day. Every employee keeps track of their treatment time in minutes on
a schedule sheet which they turn in at the end of the day. I have a
spreadsheet designated for each individual patient and the daily
minutes are inputted to those sheets each day. The sheets are used by
me both to track treatment time as well as to review and adjust future
treatment time based on need. (I have a row on each sheet which gives
me a running total of the past seven days. This is the reimbursement
model for Medicare and requires daily attention).

My question is: would Access make this easier?

Absolutely. As NoodNut says, it's just the kind of job Access is designed to
do. You will indeed need to learn how relational databases work. Here are some
resources to get you started, and you're most welcome to post questions here.

Jeff Conrad's resources page:
http://www.accessmvp.com/JConrad/accessjunkie/resources.html

The Access Web resources page:
http://www.mvps.org/access/resources/index.html

A free tutorial written by Crystal (MS Access MVP):
http://allenbrowne.com/casu-22.html

MVP Allen Browne's tutorials:
http://allenbrowne.com/links.html#Tutorials