Troubleshooting - CHR loads slowly

The TELUS Collaborative Health Record (CHR) is a cloud-based electronic medical record that runs using Google Chrome. Most functions should load in just a few seconds, except some more labour-intensive functions such as Analytics reports or performing chart exports.

When something is taking a long time to load, always try refreshing your browser as a first step. This reloads the CHR application on your computer.

If reloading does not work, try closing Google Chrome completely. On Windows, click the x in the top-right corner. On a Mac, click Chrome > Quit Google Chrome. Then reopen Chrome and log back in to the CHR.

Several factors can influence the speed of the CHR and loading time. While sometimes the slowness may be related to an issue in the CHR, common causes of slowness are factors that are within your control.

Factor	Possible remedies
Internet connection speed, and the number of people accessing the CHR simultaneously	Check your current internet speed on a speed test website, such as www.fast.com. We recommend a minimum of 15 Mbps download and 10 Mbps upload. If you are sharing the network connection with other users and they are engaging in video visits or uploading/downloading a large number of files, this will impact the network speed and you may require a faster network connection.
Type of computer you are using	Ensure your computer meets our hardware and software requirements.
Other applications running on the same computer	Try closing other applications running on the computer, such as: Music streaming applications (e.g. Spotify, Apple Music) Video conferencing applications (e.g. Zoom, Skype) Word processing applications (e.g. Microsoft Word, Pages) Other web browsers (e.g. Safari, Firefox)
The version of Google Chrome	Ensure you are running the most recent version of Chrome. See Updating Google Chrome.
Extensions running within Google Chrome	To check if Chrome extensions are slowing down your browser, open an Incognito window in Google Chrome, and then log into your CHR account. (See Browse in private for instructions on opening an Incognito window). The Incognito window disables most Chrome extensions. If your speed improves significantly with this step, it suggests that there are extensions that are affecting the speed of the CHR. See Install and manage extensions for more information on uninstalling or disabling an extension.
Cached browsing data and cookies	When you visit websites and navigate the internet, the browser saves images, webpages, passwords, and other content to allow you to quickly reload these pages in the future. However, over time, the amount of information saved can become quite large, and Chrome has to process through all this saved data, which can slow down the speed. If you are experiencing slow loading speeds, periodically clear your cache and cookies. See Clear browsing data for instructions.
Large amounts of data in the CHR	If you notice that the CHR is loading slowly only for specific parts of the system, you may be able to reduce the amount of information that is loaded for that area. Two common examples are Inbox and Patient Summary. If Inbox is loading slowly but the rest of the system appears to be running fine, it may be that an excessive amount of information is being loaded on that page. Go to the Filter settings of the Inbox, and ensure you are loading only the information you wish to see (e.g. make sure it is loading only your Inbox and only the message types relevant to you). If only the Patient Summary is loading slowly, it may be that the configuration settings for Patient Summary are set to load too much information at once. This can be optimized by reducing the number of segments of the Patient Summary that auto-expand, and by minimizing the number of records that load in each section (e.g. for Encounters, try having only 3 records auto-display, instead of all records).

If you are still experiencing slow loading times after trying all of the above, please contact your clinic IT administrator or the CHR team.

Updated December 8, 2021