In general, you won't need to upgrade anything in your clinic at any particular time, especially if things are going well. We upgrade the Ocean web portal every week but we are very careful to avoid breaking connectivity with EMRs and tablets.
That being said, there are reasons that you might want to update your tablets or EMR integration code (like the PS Suite custom form). Maybe you've heard about a new feature you'd like to use. Maybe you've run into a bug (perish the thought). Or maybe you are trying to use a clinical form that requires a newer version. In any case, we've made upgrading tablets and EMR integration code fairly easy for large and small clinics.
If you do want/need to upgrade your Ocean tablets, there are a few "best practices" that we recommend if the situation allows:
- Don't upgrade them all at once; upgrade one or two near you physically and make sure everything is still smooth. There are too many moving parts to go with a "big bang" upgrade, particularly with EMR integrations at different versions.
- If you are a large site upgrading many tablets at once from an old version, let us know.
- Generally speaking, first thing in the morning is a bad time to change anything.
There may be times that CognisantMD staff will remote update your tablets or force you to update your EMR integration code before using Ocean again. We generally only do that with you on the phone although we might do it without warning if we find a security issue or other urgent bug that warrants it.
As always, don't hesitate to contact us at ocean.tips/support if you have any questions about the upgrade process.