Everything you need for CHARTSandNOTES can be downloaded using the links at the bottom of this page.
Example screenshots are available for download first (next paragraph). They can be useful for checking how your computer will display the various pages of CHARTSandNOTES.
All are free (of course), as is the software itself.
These seven Visit pages show standard, hospital, and not-seen pages as they would appear after being printed:
The two files available for download at the bottom of this page are all you need to comprise a complete working CHARTSandNOTES medical record database. Provided you place both in the same directory folder, you can use them immediately, and print results for your charts — if you have MS Access already installed. If you do not presently have MS Access (such as with a current subscription to Microsoft 365), then you can obtain a free copy of Access Runtime at https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=50040 (or, Google “MS Access Runtime” and select the appropriate Microsoft site; directions will be provided there on how to install it. Once it is installed, you should have no problem running the database program).
IMPORTANT NOTE: THE DATA YOU STORE WILL NOT BE ENCRYPTED UNLESS YOU SET UP ENCRYPTION YOURSELF (see below)!
I suggest you start working with the program with fictional data, not actual patient data. Of course, all the data pertaining to yourself and your practice can be inserted where needed, and it will be preserved thereafter, even if you delete the fictional records later.
When you decide to create actual records of patient visits for your charts, I strongly suggest that you encrypt the entire database. (I cannot do it for you, because then I would know your password — and only you should have that.) Encryption is easy and quite fast; I will outline how in the Instructions section. The encrypted program will work practically as fast as before, and provide you with security in case your computer or data should fall into unfriendly hands. Just remember: you MUST keep your password in a safe place, as without it the data CANNOT be recovered. A suitable approach might be to keep it in a password manager of your choice (lots are available online), with a backup hard copy in a bank safe deposit box. Using a password manager, as I do, makes signing in to CHARTSandNOTES quick and easy every time.
I am providing the files as binary compiled files — files with no code remaining. This means there is no way for the program to be changed on the way to your computer. These files will provide you with everything I have, but any future changes will require requesting them and then downloading a replacement file. Just post comments or email me with suggestions, if you think changes are needed.
Each file is “zipped” — compressed into a new file with the file-extension “.zip”. This allows the download to proceed. Once you have downloaded it, you must “Extract” it (that is, restore it to its original accessible form). Right-click on the file name and select “Extract All…”, and give the location to which the file should become resident; note that location for future use. Download both the Program and the Data files to the same location, which could be “Desktop” or some other desired place.
These files include programming components called “macros” (otherwise they wouldn’t work!). However, your computer will almost certainly try to prevent you from using them, unless you take certain steps to alter the security settings, so you should proceed as follows:
Right-click each file’s name, and choose “Properties” from the dropdown menu. At the bottom of the “General” page, click on the “Unblock” checkbox, then press “OK”. Now you have working files. Even after you have unblocked the files, when you try to open the Program file you will see a startling message about the file being untrusted, and “a potentially dangerous macro has been blocked” notice may also appear; but now you can select the choice “Open”, and the program will start to work. [If you want to avoid this warning step every time you run the program, you can list the files in “Trusted Places”. To do this, select “File” in the top menu, then “Privacy Options“, “Trust Center“, “Trust Center Settings“, “Trusted Locations“, “Add New Location“, and then finally add the database path as one of those locations.]
Note that before the program will fully open, it has to connect to the data files. That is why I suggested that you put them in the same folder, although actually you can put them elsewhere if you find it more convenient (such as on a flash drive that you can take elsewhere). The opening screen will show what it thinks is the path to the data, and you must make sure the correct one is given. On-screen instructions tell you what to do. IMPORTANT: The data path must end with a backslash character; for example, C:\Desktop\ and NOT just C:\Desktop .
Use this link to download C+N_v4_04Apr2023de_prog , the compiled program database.
Use this link to download C+N_v4_24Mar2023Adb_data , all the data table structures (and place these in the same folder as the program file).
On to Guidance …