Saving Clicks and Keystrokes By Donald T. Stewart, MD FAAFP PPUG July 2007

Saving Clicks and Keystrokes Having a template be as close as possible to being done the minute it is opened is the ideal. This means that you want to have the most common default values to every element of the template already present in the template. And, the patient’s own previous values should come in automatically whenever appropriate

Creating a Data Entry From One way of getting lots of data in at once is to create a data entry form. This can be especially helpful for an initial visit. The point of such a form is rapid data entry, not a pretty note to show a referring doctor. This can be saved in “Miscellaneous Notes” so it does not show up in “Progress Notes.” Once the form has been saved, a conventional note can be opened for the visit that will pull in the data as appropriate.

Sample Data Entry form The next several slides show a form created for an endocrinologist to transfer data from paper charts and another EMR into Practice Partner

Expanding/Recursive Quick Text to Make Data Entry Easier We will use Past Medications and Why They Were Stopped

Past Medications, and Why?

Past Medications and Why?

Each Past Medication Category will hold up to 10 medications and the reason they were discontinued The categories for diabetes are: – Past oral medications – Past injectible medications – Past lipid lowering medications – Past ACEIs – Past ARBs

Summary A Data Entry from can be an effective tool for speeding data entry into the patient’s chart If the data are stored as Lab Data Values and Clinical Elements, they can be reused and pulled into future notes automatically Once the data are in the chart, they can be edited within a note with dot codes, from a Lab Table, of from a Clinical Element Table

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