On FOCUS

by Frank Fortner

In Part I of this post, we looked at the append-only (chronological) structure of the new MEDITECH Advanced Database (MAD).   That post resulted in some comments and requests that I’ll be addressing over the next few posts.  One of the comments came from an old friend who asked about opportunities all this Advanced Technology may bring to NPRites.  Great question! I think there are a number of opportunities MEDITECH Advanced Technology (MAT) introduces to this unique group of folks.

Here are just a few:

1. You will have the opportunity to expand your skill set and create additional job security because you will need to write reports in multiple report writers for some period of time before, during and after conversion to 6.x.  As a MAGIC site converts to 6.x, report writers have the distinct privilege of writing reports in THREE different report writers – MAGIC NPR, C/S NPR and the brand new MAT Report Designer.  In fact, one MAGIC-to-6.0 site I spoke with is still writing MAGIC NPR reports 8+ months post-LIVE.  How cool is that? In all, they have been writing reports in these multiple report writers for over a year and a half with no immediate plans to stop.  For months or years to come, you can think of the old MAGIC system as an archive that you write reports out of every so often when someone asks for data that wasn’t converted.  On the down side, you’ll be paying maintenance on two systems for some time, but that’s a story for another day…
2. To alleviate the need to use TWO or THREE report writers, you will have the opportunity to become better familiar with SQL, Crystal Reports and SQL Reporting Services.  This will allow you to write reports out of the Data Repository(ies).  Yes, there are TWO DR databases in 6.x and they utilize different data schemas, so your new (or old) SQL skills should get a real workout!
3. Don’t worry, since it will be several years before we see a true (non-hybrid) Advanced Technology system (possibly in 6.3 or 6.4), your NPR skills will be in hot demand for some time.
4. As Joe Cocuzzo mentioned in his latest post, you will have the opportunity to build up your hand strength by frequently using “the stapler” when writing reports to combine data from the NPR database and the MEDITECH Advanced Database.
5. You will (finally) have the opportunity to tell your users that some reports simply can’t be done, no matter how many advanced classes Joe teaches at your hospital.  Of course, there is always the possibility of 3^rd party tools to help with this.  (Hint. Hint.)
6. You will have the opportunity to skip learning another proprietary programming language, in this case MAPL (MEDITECH Advanced Programming Language).  There is no place in the 6.x applications where you can write MAPL code.
7. When NPR finally does go away, you will have the opportunity to stop writing Fragments, Macros and Computed Fields since they are not supported on the Advanced Technology side.
8. Finally, at that point, you will have the opportunity to master a scripting tool (maybe the free ScriptLink+ Standard version) and begin screen-scraping like the rest of the HIS world.

So as you see, opportunities abound for today’s NPR experts!

MAD Part I
MAD Part III

Related Posts

• November 25, 2009 -- It’s a MAD, MAD, MAD, MAD World – Part I (6)
• March 25, 2010 -- Will MEDITECH Expose Programming Code in 6.x? (1)
• February 17, 2010 -- It’s a MAD, MAD, MAD, MAD World – Part III (2)
• November 9, 2009 -- FOCUS: When/Where (1)
• May 24, 2010 -- The First Proposal (0)