Home › Forums › Archives › Computer Support › Computer Support Discussion › Question Regarding Tab Key
- This topic has 9 replies, 4 voices, and was last updated 14 years, 10 months ago by Doris Kenney.
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June 17, 2009 at 2:00 am #30519NessaParticipant
At my place of employment we use our computers oftenly for patient information as we use electronic medical records. Every so often the tab key will stop functioning for a few minutes but to each at different times. Does anyone have any idea why this happens?
I can’t say what we do similarly or differently since we do so much on the computers but we’ve all had it happen more than once at different times.
It has never happened to me on my home computer though (both desktop and laptop).
June 17, 2009 at 2:27 am #175001Doris KenneyParticipantDoes anything else freeze up at various times? Or is it just that you use the tab key more than anything else and it’s more noticeable? And I assume this is on multiple computers? If so – may just be an issue with a slow server and network access, just perceived as being a tab key issue.
June 17, 2009 at 3:03 am #174997NessaParticipantNope, not that I notice. The tab key is used about the same as everything else and even the enter, shift, and other keys work fine always. Yes, this is on multiple computers connected to the same network/server. Rough guess without even really counting it’s 17 computers (the 17th one being main server).
What I don’t get is why doesn’t it happen to everyone at the same time? It’s always a different computer.
June 17, 2009 at 10:54 am #175002Doris KenneyParticipantDunno….very odd indeed!
June 18, 2009 at 9:38 am #175000PhilipModeratorCould be a bug with the software used for patient information. Have you queried the IT guy about this? It is indeed odd for 17 tab keys on 17 different computers to malfunction at one time or another.
June 18, 2009 at 11:45 am #174996NessaParticipantPhilip;239559 wrote:Could be a bug with the software used for patient information. Have you queried the IT guy about this? It is indeed odd for 17 tab keys on 17 different computers to malfunction at one time or another.Well even more odd when it happens it only happens on one program at the time as well. When the tab key stops functioning on the software for patient information it still works in Microsoft Word or when it doesn’t work on Microsoft Word it still works in the software information or it works fine everywhere.
Well actually they are finally interviewing IT guys so maybe when they hire one very soon, we’ll find out! I’ll let you guys know what he says.
June 22, 2009 at 3:53 pm #174994Jon8RFCMemberWhat function(s) are you using the tab key for, and are you using it in conjunction with any other keys? I’m wondering if you have roaming profiles and the functions performed are dependent upon the main server.
June 23, 2009 at 1:52 am #174999NessaParticipantIn the EMR, I use the tab key to move between spaces to put Vitals from height, weight, blood pressure, and pulse. BMI is calculated from all this.
From microsoft, I use it to move between preset templates to enter patient information to set them up for surgery.
So generally moving from one place to another and not as an indentation.
June 23, 2009 at 3:05 am #174995Jon8RFCMemberOk, so it’s not a unique command you’re invoking then. The only thing I can attribute it to is a roaming profile that saves the input data regardless of you manually saving the document. If it’s not every time you’re depressing the tab key, seemingly at random times but on various computers, and there are 17 computers on the network, I would guess that the server isn’t able to keep up with the constant writing to disk, and one or more computers get priority over the others, and that’s why some feel like they lag. A low-bandwidth network and/or switch that can’t handle the load could also be part of the problem; if it’s a daisy-chained setup of switches purchased from a brick-and-mortar store like best buy, that could definitely be a contributing factor for a 17 computer network using roaming profiles. I’m thinking the server has low capabilities on the hard drive(s) for what is needed, although other components could be insufficient as well, like insufficient ram for caching. Tough to say since I don’t have loads of experience in this arena.
I can’t think of a solid way to test this, but when the tab key stops functioning, I’d continue to input data and check the document on another computer to see if the data is current. Again, I had experience in only one workplace with a network of about 30 computers (including the servers), and their bottleneck was the network hardware since they pushed so much data which caused other computers to not respond at times.
June 23, 2009 at 4:01 am #174998NessaParticipantYou may be on to something though – maybe that’s why we are getting an IT guy finally to make the server better. The computers are pretty new but we did have a time frame where the server was crazy, then we had internet issues, but right now it’s pretty stable minus the occassional tab misfunction.
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