Then you'll want to create and set up a subfolder to Patient Files that will be used for each new patient. You can call this new folder New Patient. In the New Patient folder, you'll want to create several subfolders depending on how you like to organize your charts. You may want to keep your progress notes in the main portion of your New Patient folder so you won't have to create a Progress Notes subfolder. That way, when you select the individual patient's folder, you'll automatically be seeing the Patient's progress notes. You may however want to organize your patients' charts by storing labs, x-rays, ultrasounds, hospital information, personal and insurance information, consents, consults, etc. in separate subfolders. How you organize you charts is completely up to the individual user. Imagine the number of dividers you would have buy in order to accomplish this with paper. You will then want to populate the subfolders with any files that you may want available for each new patient; e.g., you may want a New Patient Evaluation form in each of the main portion of the New Patient folders so that you won't have to copy them individually for each patient or if your practice is almost all obstetrics, you may want a copy of the SmartOB Prenatal Forms in there as well. This folder will serve as your New Patient folder template.

The screen above is an example of  the file structure for patients as seen in Paperport. This allows you to work with digital charts as you would with paper, only more efficiently. Once the pregnancy is completed, Paperport enables easy conversion of the Excel based SmartOB Prenatal Forms to .pdf format and then simply STACKED (as with paper) on top of the Notes.

Then you will rename one of them for each new or existing patient whose chart you plan to digitize. Your naming convention is a personal choice and may be similar or identical to the one you're already using. I use a unique number for each patient that was generated by my billing software followed by the patient's name. You may choose to use patient name followed by DOB. Whatever you choose, your charts will be organized by that naming convention in Explorer. If you use a numeric system and want to quickly find a patient by name, you can select the Search button on the toolbar above and enter the name of the patient in the search field.

You could keep the name of each copy of the SmartOB Prenatal unchanged; i.e. "SmartOB Prenatal Forms v2...", but that wouldn't help you identify individual patients in certain circumstances. For example, you want all the Obstetrical patients with due dates less than a certain date quickly and easily sent to the hospital through E-mail. You could Search for "SmartOB Prenatal Forms" and you would get all the files matching that description. But you wouldn't be able to tell which file corresponds to which patient or their due date. I suggest renaming each set of SmartOB Prenatal Forms used something similar to EDD, Name of Patient, Patient Number, "OB" (e.g., "2006-12-10 Jane Smith 2104 OB"). That way when you search for OB, all the OB files will be returned with the EDD ordered. When you then create your E-mail to the hospital, you can select all the charts that you want attached in one step. It doesn't get more efficient than that unless you're accessing the charts through the Internet (to do that go here).