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- Review of PFS: FILE
-
- Dr. Ed Weber
- North East Indiana IBM PC Club
-
- One of the original reasons my
- partner and I decided to buy a home
- computer was for storage and easy
- retrieval of information about our
- interesting cases. We are
- Radiologists in three rural hospitals
- and have no access to computers in
- our work environment.
-
- When I first ran PFS: FILE at
- Computerland, I had the aid of
- Professor George Gynn looking over my
- right shoulder. With nary a glance at
- the documentation and with some hints
- from George, I had the program
- figured out in minutes. It was love
- at first sight.
-
- After loading the system, the data
- diskette is inserted (better two
- diskettes, one in each drive for full
- use of the system's features), and
- the menu is displayed. Only a few
- special keys need to be learned. For
- example, the tab key is used to move
- the cursor to the next section of a
- form or menu, while the return key
- moves the cursor to the next line. F2
- prints the form currently on the
- screen. F3 removes the form on the
- screen. F5 enters the date at the
- cursor position and F6 enters the
- time. F10 begins or continues a
- specified function.
-
- The main menu gives the following
- choices:
-
- 1. Design file
- 2. Add
- 3. Copy
- 4. Search/Update
- 5. Print
- 6. Remove
- 7. Exit PFS:File
-
- After entering the Design file
- function, a blank screen appears. I
- created the following form:
-
- ACR#: Patient: X-Ray #:
- Hospital: Doctor:
- Diagnosis:
- Imaging studies:
- Clinical Presentation:
- Radiological Findings:
- Subsequent Clinical Course:
-
- Of course, my form has several blank
- lines after the major headings - room
- for descriptive text. The ACR# refers
- to a coding system: numbers to the
- left of the decimal point denote
- anatomic location and the numbers to
- the right indicate the nature of the
- pathology.
-
- I now have over 100 cases filed and
- expect to have a hundred more by
- summer. According to the
- documentation, "A standard (160KB)
- diskette can hold up to 1100 simple
- forms." So I expect to have data on
- approximately 2000 interesting cases
- on one double-sided diskette.
-
- Each evening I use the Add function
- to enter forms on new cases. When new
- information is received, such as a
- pathology reports confirming our
- radiologic diagnosis, finding a
- patient's file takes only a few
- seconds with the Search/Update
- function, and I type in the new
- information. Finding appropriate
- cases for a conference is quick and
- precise. By using specific numbers in
- searching for the right ACR #'s, I
- can narrow or widen my search to suit
- my needs.
-
- After a session of entering and
- updating cases, I use the Copy
- function to update my backup
- diskette.
-
- The program is friendly, easy to use,
- and it works quickly enough for all
- of my filing needs, only one example
- of which I have discussed.
-
- Soon I plan to purchase the PFS:
- Report, a program that would enable
- me to quickly create, for example, a
- list of patients of Dr. Jones on whom
- I now have no follow-up.