Using the Optical Ability
- Dylan Nigh
The Optical Ability manages the clinical documentation of Optical Prescriptions. This article will cover the setup and basic usage of the Optical Ability.
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Setting up the Optical Ability
The set up for the Optical Ability is relatively straightforward and simple. We'll cover the few steps you'll need to follow to quickly get up and running.
Selecting your Optical Prescription Form
Out of the box MacPractice does not have an Optical prescription form selected by default. You can always choose the form you'd like to use from the Optical Ability itself, but to save time, we'll set a default Optical Prescription Form.
MacPractice provides a basic Optical Prescription Form. In order to select it, you'll first navigate to the MacPractice Menu and select Preferences.
Select Forms in the sidebar. Then, select the "Optical Rx" or another form on the "Optical Rx Form" drop down.
There's no forms there!
You may not see an option listed for the Optical Rx Form. In order to keep things neat and organized, all MacPractice forms must first be set as active in the References ability before they can be selected. By default, the relevant forms for your type of MacPractice are active. However, on occasion the forms you need will be inactive.
To adjust this, navigate to the References Ability, and select the Forms node in the sidebar. When you expand the node, you'll find the Optical Rx form. At the top of the Form reference, you'll see an "Active" checkbox. Click this checkbox.
Make sure that you press Command-S to save the Form reference.
Note:Â For a customized Optical Prescription Form, you'll need to contact MacPractice Support and ask to speak to a Forms Specialist who can discuss what is possible and detail any relevant pricing information.Â
Managing Optical References
Optical References are stored directly within the Optical Ability. They are used to pre-populate drop down menus within the Optical Ability. Taking the time to fill out your most commonly used references will save you time when filling out Optical prescriptions.
There are Optical References categories for:
Contact Colors
Contact Lens Companies
Contact Lens Name
Contact Lens Type
Contact Material
Frame Collection
Frame Company
Lens Color
Lens Material
To add to a Reference category, first select the category node in the sidebar, then click the Green Plus. Each Optical Reference only has a name associated with it. Once you have finished entering a name, don't forget to press Command-S to save the Reference.
If you need to remove an outdated or mistaken Optical Reference, simply select the Reference in question and click the Red Minus to delete it. This will not impact previously created Optical prescriptions, they will retain the information as when it was created.
Using the Optical Ability
The Optical node in the Optical Ability is where your patients' Optical data is stored. With no patient selected, the Optical node will list optical prescription data for all of your patients. With a patient selected, this node will narrow down to just that patient's optical data.
Clicking on a record in the sidebar will bring up the details of that optical visit.
To create a new record for a patient, simply select the patient with the Patient Selector in the sidebar, then click the Green Plus button with the Optical node selected. If you don't have a patient selected, an interface will appear allowing you to select the patient you'd like to add a record for.
The top half of the Optical view is split into the Prescription Tab and the History Tab.
The Prescription Tab contains fields that relate to a patient's eye exam information. Most fields are free-text fields, meaning any data can be entered into them. You can also use the drop downs to tie a particular Optical record to a specific Provider, Office, or Incident.
The History Tab provides a list of all previously entered data entered into the Prescription Tab in one location for the patient in question.
The bottom half of the Optical view is separated into the Eye Wear tab and the Contact Lenses tab. These are used to fill out an Optical prescription for the patient in question. Drop down menus pull from the relevant Optical Reference, as discussed in the previous section Managing Optical References.
You can type into any drop down field to add a reference on the fly. For example, if I wanted to add "Test Company" to the "Frame Company" field under the Eye Wear tab, I could simply type in "Test Company", which will add that to the Frame Company reference.
When you have filled out information to your satisfaction, you can then print an Optical Prescription by clicking the "Print Rx" button in the lower right hand corner. This requires that an "Rx Form" is selected by the Print Rx button. This should be pre-selected if you followed the steps in Selecting your Optical Prescription Form.
Optical Bridges
The following links take you to articles that assist with setting up Optical Bridges such as the Heidelberg Bridge, along with tools to assist MacPractice and your mac communicate with PC-based software and configurations. For additional information, contact MacPractice Support.