Grouping identical items

This function was designed mainly for the pre-RVG era where it was necessary to include surgical items on anaesthetic accounts. For some procedures many instances of a single surgical item were performed, for example, an item for repair to a finger where 2 fingers were repaired. In extensive cases there may have been 10 or more identical procedures performed. These all needed to be added to the account as separate items so that the multiple/prolonged anaesthetic rule could calculate the appropriate fee. The standard printed account would end up being very long and repetitive for such an operation.

The alternative was to change the formatting of the item list when it was printed. To do this, the checkbox labelled Don't show duplicated items … on the patient's Format page was ticked. This groups the identical items on the printed account so that each item is only listed once, and a note is added indicating that the item was performed x number of times.

When using the grouped identical items format, the ordering of the items is maintained provided that all identical items are given the same ordering code. If for example you have one premed item, 5 finger correction items, 3 toe correction items and 1 blood transfusion item, the order codes should be 1,2,2,2,2,2,3,3,3,4. If the order codes are entered as 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10 they will all be treated as separate items and will not be grouped. It may simply require a bit of trial and error, previewing the account and making changes until the account is formatted according to your preference.