copyright 2005,  Welford Medical Computing, Inc.  All rights reserved

USING FLOWSHEET LETTERS (User's Manual, pgs. 886-890)

Version 4.8 lets you send letters to your patients informing them of test results that have been entered into a Flowsheet. This is quicker and easier than calling each patient to report the results, and automatically documents that the patient has been notified.

The simplest way to use this feature is by using the letter that is created automatically by the program. However, if you are a more advanced user and prefer to design the contents of the letter yourself, you can create your own letter file with embedded @functions and have complete control over the look and layout of the letter.

Let's do it the simple way first:

1. If you have not already created a Flowsheet, follow the instructions in the August, 2004 Newsletter, "Creating Your Own Flowsheets" so you have a Thyroid Flowsheet. You may wish to edit the Advice and Assessment slightly so that they read better in a letter. For example, change the Assessments to start with "You are" and end with a period, i.e. "You are doing fine.", "You are on too much medication." etc. Change the Advice to end in periods, e.g. "stay on the same dose.".

2. Now, press View\Flowsheets\Use

3. In the Title field, type or pick Thyroid and press <Tab>. The Thyroid Flowsheet is filled in.

4. Specify a Name of Kelly Erickson.

5. Click the Add button to add a new line to the Flowsheet.

6. On the Tests page in the bottom portion of the screen, for TSH, enter a result of 2.5.

7. For T4, enter a result of 8.0.

8. Move to the Assessment page or double-click on the Assessment column on the current line, and choose "doing fine".

9. Move to the Advice page and choose "stay on the same dose".

10. Leave the Next Tests set to TSH and THYROXINE, and the Repeat In set to 6 months. (Of course, you could change any of these if you wish).

11. If you want to adjust the font, point size, or other aspects of the letter, press Print\Options. For example, if you want the test results to line up in columns, choose a proportionally spaced Address Font such as Courier New. (The default letter is written in the Address Font; if you use a Letter File, it is written in whatever Font you used in the Letter file).

12. If you want to see what the letter is going to look like before your print it, press Print\Preview Letter.

13. From the preview, you can press Print Letter or Print Letter & Envelope, or from the Flowsheet itself you can simply press Print\Letter or print\Letter and Envelope to print the letter out (with or without the envelope).

14. Once you have printed the letter, notice that the Flowsheet's Notified column contains today's date, the time you printed it, a Notification method of Mail, and the name of the user sending the letter.

15. Note that you can send letters for any previously stored line in a Flowsheet; it doesn't have to be a new line you are adding today. Simply highlight the line whose results you wish to send out as a letter before pressing Print.

Now, let's see how to customize the content of the letter:

1. Press Write\New Note\Letter.

2. Choose no patient name (press Cancel).

3. Type the sample letter into the Writer, something like this:

@Date

@Hon @FirstName @LastName @Ending

@Address

@City, @State @Zip

Dear @Hon @LastName,

We wanted you to know about your recent thyroid test results, done on @FlowTestDate:

@FlowTests

@FlowAssessment

My advice is: @FlowAdvice

Your thyroid medication doses should now be:

@FlowNewDoses

Get the following tests in @FlowRepeatIn:

@FlowNextTests.

If you have any questions, please call us at @PracticePhone.

Sincerely,

@PrimaryMD

4. Press <F10> to store this Letter. Remember the name that you give to this file, e.g. THYROID.RTF.

5. Press View\Flowsheets\Edit.

6. Enter Thyroid as the Title to edit this Flowsheet.

7. In the Letter file box, type in the name of the file from step 4, e.g. THYROID.RTF.

8. Press Ok to store the Flowsheet.

Now, when you print the Flowsheet, it will be in the format of THYROID.RTF instead of in the default format of the program that we saw above. For more about Flowsheets, read the August, 2004 Newsletter, "Creating Your Own Flowsheets", and the September, 2004 Newsletter, "Using a Flowsheet".

We are putting the finishing touches on version 4.9. It allows you to view documents in the Writer as if you were filling out a form, if you prefer. Please let us know if there are new features you would like to see included.

If you have tips, shortcuts, questions, or suggestions for future newsletter topics, please send them to us at:

Welford Medical Computing, Inc.    or      MEDCOM Information Systems

3779 Hermitage Trail                                 2117 Stonington Avenue

Rockford, IL 61114                                    Hoffman Estates, IL 60195