What is CCOW?
The Clinical Context Object Workgroup (CCOW) standard provides a way for VistA applications to synchronize their clinical context based on the Clinical Context Object Workgroup standard. In simple terms, this means that if CCOW- compliant applications are sharing context and one of the applications changes to a different patient, the other applications will change to that patient as well. By default, the CCOW link is automatically active.
Vitals has been made CCOW- compliant and can now synchronize with other CCOW- compliant VistA applications. For example, if you are logged in on CPRS (which is also CCOW- compliant) and clicked the Vitals link, the Vitals GUI will be launched and will open the same patient that is active in CPRS. You can also open two different Vitals sessions and not synchronize them, allowing you to view two patients’ charts at the same time.
For more information about using CCOW in Vitals, see About the Clinical Link. For more information about the CCOW standards for VistA applications, see the Workgroup web site at: http://vaww.vista.domain.ext/ccow/