We interrupt our regularly scheduled Telederm blog for an important announcement: Otn.teledermSF is getting a facelift! Having processed over 10,000 dermatology consults, Otn.teledermSF will be upgraded to a new version (with the decidedly pragmatic name of 7.0.8) which incorporates improvements based on feedback we've received from our users.
The upgraded version will be available in December and OTN will provide lots of advance notice of the change to the new version as well as any necessary training materials.
Here are some of the new features:
- Mac compatibility. Until OTN started providing Otn.teldermSF to primary care providers around the province, I did not fully appreciate just how many FPs/GPs are using Mac computers. Once Telederm is upgraded to 7.0.8, Mac users will be able to join the legions of users receiving derm consults within five days.
- No more software downloads. In order to use the current version of Otn.teledermSF it is necessary to download a small software package (a.k.a ActiveX controls). However, these ActiveX controls are not compatible with Internet Explorer version 10 (IE10) and as IE10 was "automagically" updated on many computers, users instantly developed issues using Telederm and had to revert to IE9 in order to gain back functionality. Additionally, most users are locked out of Administrative Access to their computers by their own IT policy so it became quite an onerous task to upload, download (explode!). With the new version, no software downloads are required which also means that Telederm will work with most browsers.
- Derm out-of-office notices. The new version allows dermatologists to indicate their out-of-office status. This will ensure that referring users do not send a referral to a dermatologist who is on vacation only to have their referral sit unanswered for days or even weeks.
- Ability to reassign cases. In the event that the user inadvertently assigns a case to an out-of-office dermatologist, the user can reassign the case to another consultant. There is no need to engage OTN to perform this task.
OTN.teledermSF on PC and Mac
OTN is busy overhauling the Telederm training modules and getting ready for the switch to version 7.0.8. We’ll keep you posted.
Cheers!
Stewart
