Using
and VA VistA EHR
Getting Started

Once your labs have been activated, click on the name of the lab
Component you’d like to work on. Note that the number of days
remaining in your subscription is listed above the Component link.
VistA – Component 7 & 11
You are now on the LiveLabs
OnDemand page. At the top
is a description of the lab(s)
you have selected.
At the bottom right you should
see the words “Lab Status” in
red and “Available” in green.
This means that you are ready
to move forward.
To launch your session, click
the ‘Lab Access’ link at the
bottom of the page
underneath the ‘Days
Remaining’ reminder.
VistA
– Component 7 & 11 continued
It may take a few minutes for
your session to load, so be
patient!
The OnDemand workbench will
appear when the lab is fully loaded—
it should look familiar because it’s set
up like a Windows desktop.
Each time you enter the lab
environment, the timer in the upper
right-hand corner of the screen will
begin counting down from 60
minutes.
When you reach the 10 minute mark,
you will be asked if you wish to
continue. If you choose yes, you’ll be
given an additional 30 minutes before
the system logs you out.
VistA
– Component 7 & 11 continued
Let’s take a few minutes and
take a tour of the desktop!
The most valuable time you ever
spent in your first trip to a Student
Desktop will be to review the User’s
Guide to Navigation. This 5 to 10
minute investment will give you all
you need to be self-sufficient.
Also, the folder containing the CPRS
application shortcuts is highlighted for
ease of access into the EHR
environment.
Also, please note that all
your homework assignments
are contained in these folders,
sorted by Component then by
the Lab or Activity.
ACCESS CPRS
READ ME FIRST!
VistA
– Component 7 & 11 continued
Once you have familiarized
yourself with the VistA User
Guide you can log into CPRS.
Page 4 of the User’s Guide
contains instructions for logging
in to the CPRS Chart and the
VistA Terminal, two interfaces
that you will use throughout the
lab activities.
Each of these systems require
you to enter an ‘access code’
and a ‘verify code’ per role. You
must type in these codes exactly
as they are written in the guide,
including all capitalization and
punctuation.
VistA – Component 8
Now let’s take a
look at the
Component 8
Student Desktop.
Click on the link for
Component 8 as
you might have
done to launch
Components 7 &
11.
Again, note the
number of days
remaining in your
subscription.
VistA – Component 8
You are now on the LiveLabs
OnDemand page. At the top
is a description of the lab(s)
you have selected.
At the bottom right you should
see the words “Lab Status” in
red and “Available” in green.
This means that you are ready
to move forward.
To launch your session, click
the ‘Lab Access’ link at the
bottom of the page
underneath the ‘Days
Remaining’ reminder.
VistA
– Component 8 continued
The first time you log in you
should familiarize yourself with
the VistA User Readme file,
located on the left-hand side of
the Toolwire desktop.
This document contains
instructions for logins and
password combinations plus
using the various client/server
services which you have
available to you in Component 8.
The next 2 slides shows how to
utilize this environment for a
Backup and Restore operation
as you might perform in a typical
EHR client/server environment.
VistA
– Component 8 continued
Both the EMR and OpenVista
configurations are installed and
available in the Remote
Desktops folder.
Refer to the username and
password information contained
in the README.txt file to log in
and enable these server
environments.
Additionally, PuTTY, WinSCP
and all other services necessary
to complete Component 8 Labs
are available.
VistA
– Component 8 Backup - Restore
Student
Desktop
10.10.10.2
OpenVMA With OpenEMR
10.10.10.3
OpenEMR
10.10.10.4
1.) Student launches
OpenEMR web
management against
10.10.10.3
2.) Student uses the
OpenEMR web
management tool to
save EMR data from
10.10.10.3 to the
Student Desktop
3.) Student launches
webmin against
10.10.10.4
4.) Student uses the
webmin SQL tool to
restore saved EMR
data from 10.10.10.3 to
10.10.10.4
Completing Lab Activities -
Components 7, 8 & 11

To begin a lab activity, click the icon for the component you’d like to work on—for instance,
Component 7-Working with Health IT Systems.

Click the Activities folder and open the PDF for the activity you want to complete. We’ll look
at activity 1 as an example.
Completing Lab Activities – Components 7, 8 & 11
Activity 1.1 requires you to view
several videos. The Internet Explorer
function has been disabled on your
virtual desktop, so to watch the
videos you must access these via
your own browser.
You will use the VA VistA CPRS
interface for Activity 1.2. To launch
CPRS, click the VistA_Apps folder on
the desktop, then open CPRS_Chart.
Log in using one of the access/verify
code pairs from the user guide and
follow the PDF instructions to
complete the activity.
Note: Just like on a regular desktop,
you can switch back and forth
between windows by clicking the file
names at the bottom of the screen.
Submitting Your Answers

It is extremely important to save your work because the lab
environment is not persistent—this means that your session
is erased each time you log out.

First, copy and paste the questions from the PDF into a
blank WordPad document.
 To do this, click the Start button at the bottom left of the virtual desktop,
then go to ProgramsAccessoriesWordPad.

You can type your answers right into the WordPad
document. When you’re finished, click FileSave.
Submitting Your Answers - continued
Select the Completed
Homework folder, then
click ‘Open’.
Click on the folder for the
component that you were
working on (in this case,
‘Component 7 Activities_
Completed’) and save.
Be sure to give your file a
name!
Submitting Your Answers - continued
Next, click the ‘File Transfer’ button at
the top of the page.
When the dialog box opens, do not click
Browse. Instead, click VHIT (next to the
word ‘Directory’), then ‘Completed
Homework’, and finally the component
folder where you saved your work.
The file you just saved should appear.
Click the file name and save it to your
own computer.
Note: The File Transfer Tool was created
so that you do not need to switch back and
forth between your own desktop and the
virtual Toolwire Student Desktop.
However, if you’d prefer to copy and paste
the questions into a word processing
document on your own PC, feel free to do
so.
Troubleshooting

If you have trouble accessing the labs, click FAQ at the top
left of the homepage to find solutions to the most common
problems.

If you can’t find the
answer you need,
there are 3 different
ways to reach the
Toolwire Support
Team:
Troubleshooting
– continued

Send an email to Toolwire Support at support@toolwire.com

Call the Learner Advocacy Support Center at 1-866-9358665 ext. 200

Chat with a live support representative (link located at the
bottom of the FAQ page).
 If your access code comes up as invalid, or you encounter any other
issues unrelated to your PC connection, please contact:
Chase Ford
Educational Technologist
email: chase.ford@bellevuecollege.edu
phone: (206) 588-5699