Active/Inactive field

[Jan :\)]

Hi all Access 2007, Vista SP1

I am creating a table to record all of my dad's medications. He is am 85
year old Disabled American Veteran and as such he sees mostly Veterans
Administration doctors for his medical treatment, although, not limited to
such, and has, at times, been referred to outside treatment for situations
that require more timely attention than the VA can provide at the time.

I came back home not long ago to take care of him as he now requires a
full-time caregiver, and I was appalled to see that he had so many
medications that were out dated, some that have had the strength or dosages
changes, or been replaced with different medications, and some he had mixed
together as they are the same name, yet the strength had been changed. So,
I want to put together a small database to record all his current
medications to help make sure that they are kept up to date, and any that
are stopped, changed or new issues are properly logged.

I have a table that lists the name of the Rx, provider, strength, Rx number,
date of issue, last filled, and if they are active or inactive, inactive
being that they have been stopped or replaced with a different strength or
different medication and he is no longer taking them, etc.

I want to be able to query on if a medication is active or inactive. And
when doing other sorting, be able to pull up all medications and see which
ones are active and inactive. I am thinking of using a two column list for
this task, with one column to list the Rx name, and the other to list active
or inactive, but, not sure this is the best way to do this. I am not sure
if I need to have a single field entering Yes or No, a separate field for
Active and Inactive, or a Yes/No function with Yes being active, would be
best to query on.

Thus, each time there is a change in his medications I can print out a new
list to put in the Emergency Medical envelope on the fridge at the house for
the Paramedics in case of an emergency, and have a current copy to carry
with me in case I need to reference them while we are away from home.

I can do the work once I know which way is best for me to set the table up.
This particular point is what I am not sure of at this point.

Any suggestions would be very much appreciated.

Jan

 

[Noëlla Gabriël]

Hi,

the simplest way is to add the field "RxActive", type "Yes/No" to your
table. Then you can write a query on this field stating Active = Yes or
Active =No to filter out the active or inactive medication. A Yes/No field
in Access is in fact a simple field that contains a zero (for no or false) or
(-)1 Value (for the yes or true).

 

[Jan :\)]

Hi Noella!

I actually started setting the table up using this design, but, was not sure
if it would be the best way, so wanted to check to be sure before I wasted a
lot of time and not be able to get the results I wanted and have to redo.

One other question if I may....I am thinking of using a 3 column List box or
a 3 column combo box to show if the medication is Active or Inactive, and
the Issue date or Inactive date, and date of the last refill. There are
only about 14 prescriptions at present, not all are pills, some are
ointments, lotions, eye drops and inhalers, so these may change more often
than his actual medications.

Thank you so much for your time and help, it is very much appreciated.

Jan

 

[Jan :\)]

Hi Steve, and thank you for your consideration and generous offer, it is
much appreciated. However, I would prefer to tackle the project on my own,
as it will also be a good learning process for me. I sometimes come to the
groups to look for suggestions or which idea I have would work best, or
perhaps why it won't. Plus, perhaps a question I ask and the answer here
will help someone else. I have learned a lot from answers to other people's
questions in these groups.

Jan

 

[John... Visio MVP]

Careful when dealing with steve, he has a long reputation for harrassing
people for work and providing questionable results. Though for a novice,
steve appears to know what he is talking about, he is an amatuer and is only
interested in helping if he gets paid.

These newsgroups are provided by Microsoft for FREE peer to peer support.
Steve is imfamous for ignoring that.

John... Visio MVP

 

[Jan :\)]

Thanks, John. I know..... ;-)

Jan

Careful when dealing with steve, he has a long reputation for harrassing
people for work and providing questionable results. Though for a novice,
steve appears to know what he is talking about, he is an amatuer and is
only interested in helping if he gets paid.

These newsgroups are provided by Microsoft for FREE peer to peer support.
Steve is imfamous for ignoring that.

John... Visio MVP

 

[Noëlla Gabriël]

Hi Jan,

I think you could add another table to your database: tblMedicationTypes.
Add 2 fields: mtID : autonumber and mtDescription : textfield
You can fill i as follows:
mtID : will be automatically filled by the system
mtDescription:
----------------
pill
ointment
lotion
.....

Then you open the medications table in design mode, and add the field
medType using the Lookup Wizard field type. You make the lookup field lookup
the values from a table.
In the second step you choose your newly made table.
Add all 2 of the fields in the next step.
Next step: sort by the description field.
Next step: hide the primary key field (mtID)
When you finish Access will make a relation between the 2 tables.
You have now an extra field with a combobox to choose the type of medication.

To show your data in a better way, just make a new form based on your
medication table. Just practice a bit with the different type of possible
forms and you'll sson get the hang of it.

succes

 

[Jan :\)]

Thank you so much, Noella, I will give your suggestions a try. I truly
appreciate your time and additional input.

Jan