Attached and Detatched
I received another good question from a user. Her question was about attached records, detached records and how to reattach records. This feature is not a very obvious feature and it kinda lurks in the background. I thought this was a good opportunity to explain this topic to everyone.
Attached Records
What does it mean when records are attached? You may have run across this, if you have access and are in the "Rescuer" tab. (Not everybody has access to the "Rescuer" tab. It is a security precaution feature.) This happens when you create a new record with multiple patients.
Example - Bob Smith brings in 10 mallard ducklings, and you use choose 10 on the "Number of Patients".
Those 10 records will all be attached to one another under Bob Smith's name and admit information. If you change his name or information in any one of those records, they will all change. After the admission process the only time the attachment is really relevant is within the "People" tab.
Detach Records
When you detach a record, it basically just detaches that rescuer from the record and allows you to edit the admit information without changing the other attached records. The fact that you detached one really doesn't make a difference to the patient's record, just to the Rescuer's list of patients they have brought in.
Example - Bob Smith actually only brought 9 mallards in, you counted wrong. You can go to any of those records and within the "Rescuer" tab you can Detach one (usually the last one created is wise) of those records so that you can either delete it (if it was the last record created) or you can rewrite over it with new information. If you rewrote over it with new information without detaching it, all 10 of the mallards admit information would change as well, so detaching a record in this case would be critical.
Reattaching Records
There are times when you detach a record by mistake or Bob Smith comes back in with 2 more mallards a few hours later and you want to make sure all the mallards are attached.
Example 1 - Actually, Bob Smith did bring in 10 mallard ducklings and you have already detached the last record, but you have not changed anything about it yet. The only way to reattach this record is in the "People" tab. What you have to do is "Combine People" and find the 2 Bob Smiths that have the same information but are not known as being the same person. If you combine them, then that mallard will be reattached to Bob Smith and therefore to the other 9 Ducklings.
Example 2 - Though Bob Smith is really nice his records are beginning to give you a head ache. Two hours after Bob Smith leaves, he is back with 2 more mallard ducklings. There have been a few admit's since he left. What you can do now, is go to any one of those mallard's record. Go to "Share" and "Duplicate Record". It will give you the choice on how many to duplicate, you would choose 2. All the information will be the same. Next you create the 2 new records. Now all 12 records are attached to one another and linked by Bob Smith's information.
