Please vote to have PF implement template export/import functions immediately.

[drreflex]

I am also asking PF to provide us with the ability to export PF templates to formatted WORD documents and to import formatted WORD documents into PF templates as soon as possible. (See: http://www.wikihost.org//w/practicefusionusers/import_export for a discussion of why this is an urgent request.)

 

Please vote to have PF implement template export/import functions immediately. To do so. Log on to PF. Go to PF Answers. Search for “Can we have a template import export feature?” Enter a reply letting PF know if you feel this is a priority request.

 

 

Darwin R. Boor, MD

[Naftoli Neuburger]

Your activism is wonderful.  I encourage you to proceed.  My points for improvement.
1. We must be careful if I am not mistaken templates are not considered valid medical records by the federal regulations  I seem t remember this obscure rule but can't   give you the source.
2. I am more interested in the ability to reformat the SOAP note into a format that looks less clinic/industrial and more consultative  with a real letterhead, eliminating the double entry of the chief complaints. placing the part about the electronic signature at the bottom of the letterhead, getting the medication into the middle of the letter and the plan and assessment at the botom of the letter.  This would make the PF product much more usable for those of us who still communicate with refering  doctors.
3. Any reduction of the constant openning and closing of fields would speed up the process.  For example entering the medications on a spread sheet type screen all on one field or using the same field for smoking allergies etc.  The product is good but for those of us who used our own homemade digital products in the past it is slow like molasses.


Naftoli Neuburger

[drreflex]

Naftoli,

I agree with what you say regarding templates and concur with your
other issues regarding using PF.

I am using templates to speed up the rote entry portions of my notes.
They have limited value in the HPI and Assessment sections.

I use templates to list important reference materials that are stored
outside of PF (ex. reference articles, differential diagnosis lists,
testing protocols for atypical diseases, patient handouts, etc.). I
also use templates to ensure that I address important quality of care
issues at each visit based upon (diagnosis and or treatment).

Managing most of this under PF would be too time consuming. I'd
rather link to a reference on my tablet and jump back and forth as
needed.

Darwin R. Boor, MD

[Naftoli Neuburger]

Interesting  I have to think about this.  You're doing alot more than I am  Naftoli

[tottydoc]

"My kingdom for a carriage return"
Darwin, I would be happy if they gave us simple formatting tools ie !!  For a line. ** for a paragraph etc.  To ask for Word would mean they would have to pay astronomical royalties to MS
It would  be wonderful if they had delimiting characters. Ie ## title of a template. "" A template item.  This would make sharing templates much simpler instead of having to cut and paste each template item one by one
Sent on the Sprint® Now Network from my BlackBerry®

[tottydoc]

If we can agree on a unified request perhaps if we remind them week in and week out we can make sequential changes

The steps should be simple, sequential and doable without too many budgetary constraints on their part.

Call it the Darwinian progression of PF.  (Sorry Darwin I couldn't resist that one ;) :)) :)))

On Monday, March 12, 2012 3:07:57 AM UTC-4, drreflex wrote:

[drreflex]

tottydoc,

To address the carriage return and paragraph issues, PF should remove
<ENTER> as the terminator for template item entry. This would give us
back our carraige return and provide for multi-line item entry within
PF.
<CTRL-ENTER> or a mouse click could be used instead of <ENTER> to
close a text item. I have already asked that they include [SAVE &
OPEN] as another button on the template window to let us save the
current item and open a new item.

You don't need WORD or to pay royalties to MS to be able to use most
WORD processing features in an application. They are already
available in the MS Visual Studio programming environment. Many of
them are alreadly loaded onto your computers in MS dynamic link
libraries (.dll files). Similar extensions are available under other
programming platforms (ex Mono(.net) and Monodevelopment under
Ubuntu). Unfortunately,it does not appear that these high level
extensions can be accessed from within the secure Flash environment.

For now you should look at the PF text windows as a cut down version
of NotePad (one of MS first plain text editors). PF is written for
Flash in Adobe ActionScript. ActionScript has more formating options
than we are given access to under PF. Newer Flash programming
interfaces (ex. Flex) offer substantially greater word processing
capabilities. Adobe now owns a feature rich word processor, Buzzword,
that runs under Flash. Hopefully the Buzzword extensions will work
their way into ActionScript and Flash and then into Practice Fusion.

With respect to template naming I recommend using the format:

TemplateName_iii_yymmdd

where

TemplateName = Your template name.
iii = The template authors initials
yyddmm = The date in two digit (year-month-date) format.

(ex. NeurologyConsultNP_DRB_120308)

When exporting templates from PF for backup or modifying them for
other symptoms/diagnoses I recommend using the same name to save the
*.doc file as you will use for template name in PF.

I also recommend the following template format:

`TemplateNameiiiyymmdd
`
`A brief description of the template and its purpose
`
`SUBJECTIVE
`Subjective section items go here
`
`OBJECTIVE
`Objective section items go here
`
`ASSESSMENT
`Assessment section items go here
`
`PLANS
`Plans section items go here
`

FOR MORE DETAILS SEE:
http://www.wikihost.org//w/practicefusionusers/templates_by_name
http://www.wikihost.org//w/practicefusionusers/template_hints

This is a good example of how this group and the PFUser wiki
complement each other.

Darwin