Does anyone know how to reformat a ResScan data card?

[pianomagoo]

I have almost three months of data on my rescan data card and when I use the download (upload) in the software it overwrites duplicate information.

I have already saved all my information, reports, stats, charts, graphs etc to a file in my docs and would like to reformat my data card so that I can just save one week at a time then clear the data card by reformating it.

Does anyone know how to do this with the rescan data card for 3.5 software version of Rescan?

I have compared the stats for almost 3 months and can see a gradual improvement over the 3 months by adjusting the pressure a little each month. I am doing this with the knowledge of the doctor and the dme as I have told them I don't like to be in the dark and need to have information on my therapy and take an active part in improving my readings. I still have a ways to go but probably wouldn't bother with therapy if I didn't have knowledge of what was going on and have an active part in it.

Doctors, RTs, dme and apnea clients should all be working to bring the best results for the apnea clients rather than keeping them in the dark. I am not putting anyone down here, as I think some professionals maybe just assume we already know enough to understand and so just don't bother to explain what is going on or what numbers mean. I knew nothing when the doctor told me my results so numbers had no meaning. If I had been on this site awhile I would have understood him enough to know at least where I was on the scale when first diagnosed. I should have asked him to explain, but I didn't. Next time I will. He was very nice, though.

We can all learn from each other, this includes docs, RT's, dme and the rest of us with apnea problems.

Has anyone reformated a Rescan data card? Hope someone knows how...

sleepy magoo

[billbolton]

I have already saved all my information, reports, stats, charts, graphs etc to a file in my docs and would like to reformat my data card so that I can just save one week at a time then clear the data card by reformating it.

Each and every time you insert a ResScan card in your S8, it will copy the most recent 180 days of summary data and most recent 5 days of detailed data from the flow generator onto the card.

There is no concept of "save one week at a time" possible as far as the data on the ResScan card is concerned.

Cheers,

Bill

[Slinky]

Yeah, I never could figure out why when the rest of the world is on a seven day week, these xPAP manufacturers decided to go w/a 5 day "week" except that maybe it is the amount of data that can be stored. But why not store LESS of the old data and go w/7 day recent data?

Heck, it can't be because doctors work a 5 day week. All the ones I know only work a 4 day week! It used to be Wednesdays years ago, but now it is Fridays that it isn't a good idea to get sick and need a doctor.

[danmc]

I know how to format them, I just cant find my formatting hammer.

[abysmillard]

Select "Device Settings" under the Tools menu.
You will get a screen that allows you to pick your device (if your card is in the reader, you'll see your flow generator's name as the device)
At the bottom left of the window, there is an option to Erase Stored Data.
I've never tried it, but this might be what you're looking for.
Ken

[Guest]

I have already saved all my information, reports, stats, charts, graphs etc to a file in my docs and would like to reformat my data card so that I can just save one week at a time then clear the data card by reformating it.

Each and every time you insert a ResScan card in your S8, it will copy the most recent 180 days of summary data and most recent 5 days of detailed data from the flow generator onto the card.

There is no concept of "save one week at a time" possible as far as the data on the ResScan card is concerned.

Cheers,

Bill

Thank you, Bill

I didn't know that and am glad you told me. Instead of recording one week at a time I will record 5 days of detailed data at a time.

Anne

[pianomagoo]

Select "Device Settings" under the Tools menu.
You will get a screen that allows you to pick your device (if your card is in the reader, you'll see your flow generator's name as the device)
At the bottom left of the window, there is an option to Erase Stored Data.
I've never tried it, but this might be what you're looking for.
Ken

Thank you, Ken

I followed your instructions and was able to delete all the information off my data cards. I still have the information on my computer and copies on a flash drive. I also erased all the data info on my S8 Elite so that I only get what I want.

Hopefully, in 5 days when I insert the data card into the S8 elite to copy data I will only get the 5 days and not all the previous data along with it.

I am so glad you responded to my request and were able to give me these instructions. I have to admit, that at first I thought I might lose all the data on the software program but then realized it is all backed up on the computer as well as on flashdrive so no need to be concerned. However, I didn't lose that data, but now my data card is blank which is what I wanted.

Thanks again

Anne

[bigk]

The Data card as Bill said will hold up to 180 days of summary data and 5 days of detailed data.

When you download the card, simply tell Resscan to DISCARD duplicate days. Instead of overwriting them.

IF you delete all data on your machine, you will also lose all the weekly, monthly, 6 monthly and yearly summaries on the machine. All complicance data will also be lost.

There is no need to reset the machine to avoid overwriting data.

[Velbor]

Select "Device Settings" under the Tools menu.
You will get a screen that allows you to pick your device (if your card is in the reader, you'll see your flow generator's name as the device)
At the bottom left of the window, there is an option to Erase Stored Data.
I've never tried it, but this might be what you're looking for.

I followed your instructions and was able to delete all the information off my data cards. .... I also erased all the data info on my S8 Elite so that I only get what I want.

What is done, is done. For you and for future readers, let's review what you did, and what the consequences are.

First, the "Device Settings" did NOT, in fact, erase the data currently on your card. What it did was place an INSTRUCTION on your card to the effect that, the next time the card is inserted into your machine, it will instruct the machine to erase all of its stored efficacy and usage information. (You write that you had already done that manually, in any case.) The next time you put the card in the machine to copy data, the machine will "overwrite" the card with its new lobotomized memory.

If your desire was to save data "one day at a time", there was no need to take these steps. You can save data daily on your computer simply by downloading from the ResScan card BEFORE opening a patient file (yes, ResMed suggests opening the patient first, but you don't need to do so), and then do a FILE - SAVE AS with the session date as part of the "patient" name. Yes, what you save will contain more than one day: it will in fact contain up to FIVE days of detail data, and up to 180 days of summary data. The "extra data" should not get in the way of anything you want to do or look at. Unless you're running short on hard drive space, there's no reason to want to delete it (and many reasons to want to keep it). Saving data daily, by the way, is a very reasonable idea, and I do it this way myself.

IN ADDITION to doing this daily save, there's also good reason to do a cumulative save at least once every FIVE days to a "permanent" patient file for yourself. Open your patient file first, then download the ResScan data card. The most recent FIVE days of detail data on the card will be ADDED to your patient file. (While the machine and the card only store up to five nights of detail data, the cumulative record of your detail data will be retained on your computer.) In this way, you have a full record of detail data, as well as summary data, in one place. Again, I do this myself (and I also save a dated backup of the cumulative file every fifth night).

The issue I have with your plan is your erasure of all information from the machine (either manually or by using the software and card). Why in the world would you wish to do that? The software already gives you the ability to look at statistics for just one day, or just five days. Again, any additional data does not get in your way!

Here's the real unfortunate part. Once you've wiped the machine's stored data, I know of no way to put Humpty Dumpty together again. You can't put back onto a ResScan card what you have saved on your computer. So if your insurance company wants compliance verification of your usage, you have no way to give them a ResScan card with the full data. If your clinician wants to review your card for summary data, you don't have it to give to them. Nor can you, on your computer, look in one place to review your summary statistics across time.

When you save from ResScan, a FOLDER is created bearing your Patient Name / "save as" name. There are typically NINE files in this folder. FIVE are .rlk files, identified by date, containing your most recent five nights of detail data. THREE are .db files, containing (generally irrelevant) patient, clinical and miscellaneous notes. ONE is a summary.dat file, containing your summary data, up to 180 nights.

You CAN move or copy the .rlk files around from folder to folder, so you can pick and choose what detail data is available at any time; the software will recognize more than five. BUT once you erase your machine data, the summary.dat file will NEVER be the same again, and you can't recreate it. In theory the software SHOULD be able to recreate summary data from the detail data -- but it DOESN'T.

Knowledge is power, for better or worse. That's why a number of people think this forum dangerous. That's why "the establishment" doesn't want us playing with machine settings. That's why ResMed claims it established its "no software sale to patients" policy. That's why Respironics claims it created EncoreViewer (no instructions-to-machine function) as a patient option to EncorePro.

Knowledge is power, and in this case while knowing just enough to be dangerous may or may not be dangerous from a safety perspective, it can lead to unwise decisions, and here, I think, that's exactly what happened. Hopefully, you've only lost a few days of data. (EDIT: whoops, I see that you've already lost 3 months of data. Sorry.)

Velbor

[Slinky]

... That's why ResMed claims it established its "no software sale to patients" policy. That's why Respironics claims it created EncoreViewer (no instructions-to-machine function) as a patient option to EncorePro. ...

Velbor, I'm going to disagree w/you on the above. Resmed established that policy and Respironics developed EncoreViewer BECAUSE OF FDA. And FDA elected to take their stand BECAUSE of the American medical establishment's medieval mindset on what patients should and shouldn't know. FDA took their stand because of the powerful medical lobby. Each "sect" of the America medical community jealousy guards their little piece of ground based on GREED and no regard for the patieints.

Resmed provides the software and cable reader to those patients in Oz who want it according to a couple of recent posts here in this forum by a couple of Aussies.

[Slinky]

Okay, here it is:

... Resmed in Australia will send you a free upgrade to 3.5 if you phone them up. Bill Bolton and I both got Resscan 3.5 by this method. ... If you purchase a Resmed machine and mask in AUSTRALIA, your Dr can fill out a form recommending that you get the Resscan software and the supplier will give it to you free-of-charge as well as a USB adapter for the S8. Cool huh?

bigk is on the Central Coast near Sydney Australia and was replying to danmc who is in Perth, Western Australia.

... For myself, I bought a reslink, plus the standard card reader for rescan cards (which are different to reslink smart media cards) and I asked specifically for 3.5 to suit vista. I was told that I could just order 3.3 and call resmed for a free upgrade to 3.5 but I forget who said that to me. ...Someone also said that 3.3 is free with a new resmed machine - just call resmed ... Anyhow, I think the attitude of Resmed is much more enlightened than the clinics would have us believe in respect to the software. ... WHen I called them I didn't even have to prove I had previously purchased Resscan 3.3! I presume you are a sleep vantage member? Just phone Resmed and ask for tech support - they will send you a copy. ...

[Velbor]

Velbor, I'm going to disagree w/you on the above. Resmed established that policy and Respironics developed EncoreViewer BECAUSE OF FDA. And FDA elected to take their stand BECAUSE of the American medical establishment's medieval mindset on what patients should and shouldn't know. FDA took their stand because of the powerful medical lobby.

Slinky, I have read in a number of places that FDA required this limitation of software availability in the USA. However, I have not been able to find any authoritative source of this information, only hearsay. I have been able to find no evidence of a recent change in FDA policy requiring these changes.

My recollection is that ResMed implemented its prohibition of software sales to patients as part of the "ResMed Preferred Internet Provider" program, which also set pricing policies. This whole program was widely interpreted as ResMed's business decision to support their B&M DME market, at the expense of online sellers. And B&M DME's of course have no motivation to sell the software. No evidence of FDA involvement - just business.

As for Respironics, a second-hand press release dated Nov 2007 reports that "The original Encore software was designed for clinical use only, and recently was pulled from the market for distribution to patients because it allowed for the changing of prescribed settings and could pose a danger to the patient if a physician prescribed setting was inadvertently altered." However, I find no evidence of "pulling from the market" in the sense of a recall, nor of FDA having "taken a stand" and issued new regulatory requirements.

FDA has always approved and regulated medical software in the USA, so of course there are international differences But there are corresponding international business differences, too. If I'm to swallow any "conspiracy theory" in this matter, it would more likely have to do with direct US business decisions, rather than with FDA involvement. Unless you can provide documentation?

[pianomagoo]

Hello Velbor

I appreciate your concern but I am not concerned. I still have all my data on my software as well as backed up on my hard drive and on a flashdrive. As for future summaries of entire year, I don't care about the summaries. I am more concerned with what is happening from day to day and on lowering those apneas to 0. That is why to me the detailed data is the most important and what I am most interested in.

I do not see this site as dangerous as you say some people think. No one makes me do anything. No one on this site suggested I try anything I wouldn't have eventually figured out myself, either. I appreciate all suggestions that are made and understand I have a choice to try such suggestions or not to. I appreciate everyones input, including yours.

As for Insurance company wanting summaries or clincians wanting summaries they can have a copy from my hard drive. I don't really think they even care if we comply or not. If they did they would treat us like adults who need to be active in their treatment and to be aware of what is happening in their own body. I got three calls, one a week and one more two weeks after I told them I was suffocating at the pressure my machine was set on. Actually my machine wasn't giving me my prescribed pressure and I have sinus allergy problem and have a full face mask. I had to take mask off for the time I was waiting to hear back from the doctor to raise my pressure. After a week I raised it a cm myself and told the dme that I did. I told them I went into the clinicians menu to do it. Finally the doctor told them to call me to let me know I could raise it another one or two cm.

I told the dme I need to know what is going on and not be in the dark. I need to be active in my own treatment and that is the only way I will be compliant.

The RT, although very nice had suggested I get another sleep study done. I asked her how they can get a correct pressure in 6 hours of someone lying awake almost all of that time. She said they only need an hours data. I disagree! My apneas are up and down a lot in one week and that is on the same pressure.

I will gradually and carefully get my apneas down and eliminate them.


ResMed in Austraila helped me with a problem with my smart card reader and sent me another reader and a free copy of ResScan 3.5 as my xp laptop was in its death throes. They knew I was not a professional but just a person with apnea who needed to participate in her own treatment to give her incentive to be compliant.

Therefore, the doctor, the dme, and ResMed in Austraila all know that I go into the clinicians menu, that I have the ResScan software and no one has said I shouldn't be doing this. Maybe they know it wouldn't do any good or maybe they are glad because they would do it too, if they were in our place. I don't know. I just know that everyone I spoke with was nice but they can't be there for us so we need to be there for ourselves and each other.

I do appreciate your concern but after erasing machine data manually and erasing data card yesterday I copied this mornings data and downloaded it to my patient name and got all my data including that one days summary data. It is still recording summary data from this point on. Therefore the only data the machine is missing is the past data which I have backed up on computer and software anyway. So this missing data on the machine isn't a concern to me. If dme or doctor has a problem with me erasing it, maybe they should have given me that information a long time ago along with other information that would be helpful to someone new at this.

I still say thank you to all of you for your help and it was all appreciated and I am still glad you all explained some things for me, even you, Valbor.

I guess keeping summaries from beginning is important to you, but it isn't to me. To me the detailed stuff is most important.

I am very grateful for this site and for all the folks on here because this is the only place I feel anyone genuinely cares and that I believe is because it takes someone with the same type of issue to really understand our needs.

Take care, all

Anne

[pianomagoo]

The Data card as Bill said will hold up to 180 days of summary data and 5 days of detailed data.

When you download the card, simply tell Resscan to DISCARD duplicate days. Instead of overwriting them.

IF you delete all data on your machine, you will also lose all the weekly, monthly, 6 monthly and yearly summaries on the machine. All complicance data will also be lost.

There is no need to reset the machine to avoid overwriting data.

Thank you Big K.

I appreciate the information you have given me. It is good to learn from others. I guess I should learn to ask others before attempting some things. As it turned out though, I am ok. I have everything backed up. I didn't know how to do it and I generally learn by trial and error.

I think this is a great site and very much appreciated.

Anne

[Slinky]

Velbor, check your "About" on your ResScan 3.4 or whichever version you have:

In the USA Federal law restricts this software to sale by, or on the order of, a physician.

Or check your "About" on your AutoScan 5.7:

In the USA Federal law restricts this software to sale by, or on the order of, a physician.