Accessing & Creating Flow Sheets
Flow Sheets provide a graphical representation of various clinical data elements. They also help show how the data elements all relate to each other. For example, users may want to visually trace a patient's INR, Protime, A1C or a lipid panel.
Notes
Flow Sheets in SOAPware are created as Templates, and can be found listed in the Template Manager.
Plotting graphs has been greatly simplified in SOAPware. A check box has been added to each managed item, which when checked, automatically appears in a graph above the body of the Flow Sheet.
Certain Flow Sheet Items, such as vital signs readings and lab report values can be automatically filled on creation of a new Flow Sheet if data for them exists in the patient chart. It is possible to drag and drop a vital sign from the Vitals Signs section and add it as an item in a Flow Sheet.
Opening the Flow Sheets Chart Section
To access Flow Sheets, Click on the Chart Navigator Docked tab, then double click on Flow Sheets.
This presents the Flow Sheets chart section.
Flow Sheets Chart Section
- Date/Time Stamp: This section contains the date/time stamp for when the flow sheet was created, the name of the flow sheet, owner and status.
- Graph: This section displays a graph of the flow sheet items when selected. Remember that you will need a Numeric Item type in order for the numbers entered to graph correctly. For more information see: Creating Flow Sheet Items.
- Flow Sheet Items/Filter: This section contains the flow sheet items along with the date and time of the flow sheet items and the mini-toolbar which allows the user to edit the displayed flow sheet. This section also contains a filter option where a user can limit the view of readings for a patient by putting in a start and end date, or check the "Show All" feature to display all readings for a patient for a particular test.
- Notes: This section can be used as a blank text box to insert notes.
- Flow Sheet List: This section contains the list of Flow Sheets that are being followed for the current patient, as well as the mini-toolbar which allows the user to add or remove a flow sheet.
Creating a New Flow Sheet within a Patient's Chart
To create a new flow sheet within a patients chart, Click the Create Document button (green plus).
Select an Available Flow Sheet
The Available Flow Sheets dialog will present the user with a list of Flow Sheet Templates that have been created or downloaded by the user. Select the desired flow sheet Template or select the Empty Flow Sheet item to create a new flow sheet. Click OK.
Adding a Flow Sheet Item to the Chart
To add a new item to the flow sheet:
- Click the Add Item button
- Select the desired flow sheet item (ex: PFT)
- Click the Add button
Adding a Flow Sheet Reading Date
To add a new reading date to the flow sheet:
- Click the Add Reading Date button
- Select the desired column type (Date or Text)
- Click Add
The patient's flow sheet readings can now be documented and tracked within the chart.