I am using Microsofts Word97. However, most of the basic
instructions presented here will also work in Word95.
Begin by putting the "Forms" buttons onto your Microsoft Word's toolbar. To do this, choose
View, then Toolbars, and click on Forms.
A Forms toolbar window will pop up.
Drag and drop the Forms toolbar window
onto your Microsoft Word's main toolbar window.
You are now ready to begin writing your SOAP template. In this example, you can begin by creating your
Subjective: line, and putting a text box following it as shown. The text box will appear
shaded, if you have the "form field shading" button pressed. It is the "a" on the toolbar. This first text
box will be for the patients name. As you can see, I have then written "presents today stating", and
I am putting in another text box for the subjective remarks.
In the Objective: line, I have chosen a "Drop Down Form Field" after typing in the words "Digital palpation
of the". When you click on the "Drop Down Form Field" button, a shaded box will appear. When you
double click on this shaded box, a new window will appear.
This is where you will put your most commonly used terms and phrases. Just type them in the
"Drop down Item:" box. Click on "Add", and they will be moved to the "Items in drop down list:" box.
Click on "OK" and you have now created a drop down box. Do not get excited about playing with it
yet, because you have to "Protect" the document first. We will get to that in a minute. Also, you will
soon find that you are able to only put a limited amount of text into each line. If you need to add a
long standard paragraph, you would use a text box and Keyboard Express, which has
unlimited text capabiilities. I will also use the "auto text" program in Word to put in common phrases that
are one or two sentences long.
I have only used the text button and drop down list button to create the form template in this example. Now that you
know the basics, you can continue to write your own customized form in the
manner that makes you most comfortable, for your particular style of practice. You may also want to include the available "check off boxes", "tables", etc. that are included in the toolbar. Below is the finished
example of one possible template, using only the text and drop down boxes. Here are a few helpful hints: I will leave a blank on the top line of a drop
down box, this way, if I choose not to include that information, it will not print. I will also leave
a text box at the end of each line, for additional information.
Now that you have a finished template completed, you can highlight, copy and paste as many
copies of it as you need onto one page of your Word program. I will keep as many copies as the
number of patients I will see on my busiest half day. I choose this number, because I will want to
print them out at noon and again at the end of the day. This gives me a chance to charge up my lap top while I am at lunch, and again over night.
BUT, before you can begin using your form, you must
first "Protect" it. You do this by clicking on the little "lock" on the toolbar.
I will open it up in the morning "unlocked" and then lock
it before I begin. For some reason, if I don't do this, the tabbing won't work. I will also have the date pre programmed into it, which word does automatically if you
choose. Be careful however, on some lap tops, when you shut them down and/or if your batteries run low, you can lose the accurate date, so be sure to check
it first thing in the morning. I will transfer my information from my lap top to my desktop Word97 when I edit and print, which will automaticall correct the date if it is not correct on my laptop. Also be warned,
if you "unlock" your form and then "lock" it again before you have saved the information, you will
lose it. Don't ask me why. Just don't do it. Word will autosave information and therefore it is retrievable, but it is still a pain. Also, I do not like to take my hands off the keyboard to use the
mouse, so I will use the "arrow" keys to negotiate the boxes, and "alt + arrow" to open the drop down boxes, with
the down arrow to scroll down them and "enter" to choose them. Clear as mud?
Trust me, it can be very fast once you get used to it.
At noon, and again at the end of the day, I will sit down and review/edit the half days notes. I will
then make sure that they will fit correctly on each 8 1/2 X 11 sheet of paper. I can usually fit 4
per page. I will then print them out on "transcription" paper. This is the kind of paper that is "sticky backed".
This usually takes me less than 5 minutes to do. I will then have the front office cut each into
strips and paste them into the patients file.
I am very happy with this style of progress notes. It serves my needs of quality, speed and accuracy.
If you are interested, feel free to drop me a line with any questions or comments, or visit the HyperNews Forum reserved exclusively for this page. If you are running
Word97 and would like a copy of my latest template to use as a guide, I would be happy to
send it email. I run several different versions to keep them looking fresh. I would be especially
grateful for anyone that has any helpful hints. I will post them to this page. Thanks!
