Why are keystrokes on my Mac computer generating the wrong character in Hyperspace?

Problem: A few users have reported that keys typed on their Macintosh (Apple) computer generate the wrong (unintended) character in Epic Hyperspace when logged on to the Connect Care clinical information system (CIS). Special characters are affected (e.g., @#$%^&). Indeed, this can occur at the Hyperspace logon page and cause one's password to be misread (and so cannot log on).

Cause: CIS access on desktop, workstation, notebook, or laptop computers occurs via the Alberta Health Services Unified Access Portal (UAP) at myapps.ahs.ca. This causes the Epic Hyperspace software to be viewed within a “virtual machine” that is running on an AHS server. The viewer software is called Citrix Workspace (or Viewer or Receiver).

Problems can occur if the client’s (user’s) keyboard maps keys to different characters than the host (Citrix, then Epic) expects. This happens rarely but affects special characters important to SmartPhrases and SmartLinks.

Solution: A workaround involves forcing the Macintosh computer to interpret all keystroke input as coming from a standard American (US) input device. The Citrix server is already set to US keyboard input and cannot be changed. Simple steps for making this fix are outlined in a tip: