USING THE VITAL SIGNS FORM (User's Manual, pgs. 792-798)

1. Press View\Forms\Vital Signs\Options.

2. Suppose you like to record temperatures in Celsius. Click on Units Default\Celsius.

3. Suppose you routinely check temperature using a tympanic thermometer. Choose Temperature\Route default\tympanic.

4. Suppose you never record a pulse except seated, so you don't want to include the position in the Writer, just the pulse. Uncheck Pulse\Playback position.

5. Suppose you don't want to report the limb, side of the body, body position, or cuff size for the blood pressure, just the blood pressure. Uncheck Blood pressure\Include body position, Include body side, Include limb, and Include cuff size.

6. Suppose you only record one blood pressure with each visit. Set Blood pressure\Max BPs to 1.

7. Suppose you never describe respirations, just record their speed. Uncheck Respirations\Include description.

8. Suppose you routinely measure height in inches. Set Height\Units default to inches.

9. Suppose you don't want to show height automatically converted to cm as well. Uncheck Height\Playback alternate units.

10. Suppose you routinely measure weight in pounds. Set Weight\Units default to pounds.

11. Suppose you don't want to show the BMI or overweight labels along with the weight, and you don't want to routinely show the weight converted to kg. Uncheck Weight\Playback alternate units, Playback BMI, and Playback Overweight.

12. Suppose you don't consider smoking or pain to be vital signs. Uncheck Include Smoking and Include Pain.

13. Suppose you want all of the vital signs played back as a continuous paragraph, rather than having each vital sign on its own line. Uncheck Separate Lines.

Note that BP, height, and weight have a Default to last option. When you check these, the program looks up the last recorded value from the patient's Lab Book and fills this in as the default value. This makes it easier to set today's BP, height, or weight, since it is probably close to the last value (especially height, much less for BP). However, if you use this feature, you must resist the temptation of just accepting that value and recording it as today's value without actually measuring it. Unchecking this option forces you to record something each time from scratch.

Now, let's use our custom designed Vital Signs form:

1. Start a note for the patient involved by pressing Write\New Note and entering the name of the patient.

2. Press View\Forms\Vital Signs.

4. Fill in the sitting Pulse of 80, leave the description as regular (unless you want to change it, in which case either choose something else from the list or type in whatever you want).

5. Enter the Blood Pressure of 124/72.

6. Enter the Respirations of 16.

7. Enter the Height of 64 inches. Note the program automatically shows this in cm.

8. Enter the Weight of 138 pounds. Note the program automatically shows this in kg, and automatically shows the BMI and whether the patient is overweight.

9. You can optionally enter a Comment about the vital signs, like "forgot her pills today".

10. You can enter the Chief Complaint here as well, like "sore throat for the past week".