Many of us were taught to document medical interviews in the SOAP format. We are therefore considering splitting the consult editor screen up into 4 sections so that template output goes to the correct section of the note. Others who don't use templates might find that a little disconcerting though to have to restructure their consults, so, perhaps we can offer that as an option. And there might be some problems with those templates that mix parts of the assessment. Opinions?
This would be a big step. For just pure note creation purposes, I think a change like this is fine. But it might have an impact on other things such as note recall, etc. I'd certainly would want to note to be together (not 4 parts) once it is finished. Why is the current templating a problem for SOAPers ?
the current problem is that if the patient comes up with another problem at the end of the consult ... then you have to cut and paste the template from the end of the notes to the beginning etc. So, you have to fill in the templates in order.
I think I'll ditch the idea of using a button to switch between full screen and soap mode .. just use a tab instead.
As it is now, you can't really switch around as only the S shows. What about SOAP templates to speed things up ? I'd like to use the visual niceness of the SOAP note and the fast templating of SOAP templates.
The S screen being full screen allows someone to use Dragon etc. So, the S screen is basically how it was before I introduced the segmented screens. I like the idea of a SOAP partitioning for macros as well... not sure when I can implement that.
Jason's idea about soap format for macros makes me think of a new function in soapware. Let's say you see a child with strep throat and they have scarlitina and that note is the one you want to save for future documentation of this particular condition, it would be very cool to click a button that says "save as macro" and then a pop up asks for the macro name, you enter the name, pick a category into which to place the macro, edit the macro and click save. All of a sudden, any note can quickly and easily become a new macro. Yes, Graham, I have magical thinking regarding your programming skills. Still, this would be a very cool feature.
