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Patient letters versus patient forms

Submitted by samuelrs on Wed, 14/11/2007 - 22:06
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Hi, Could you please explain the difference between patient letters and patient forms and give an example where each one may be used with the practice. Thanks Sam
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Re: Patient letters versus patient forms

Submitted by tony on Mon, 19/11/2007 - 10:39.
Hi Sam, Sorry for the late reply. The difference between forms and letters is a Form is purely a template that is referenced but not stored for every patient. For example an admission form attached to a patient only stores a link to the template and if that template is changed subsequently the next time you print the form for the patient the content would be different. A Letter maintains a link to the template that initially generated the letter but also to the letter itself. The reason is the letter is typically modified to suit the patient and you want to maintain an exact copy of the modification. When you ad a new letter and specify a template the system generates the initial letter content from the template and then stores this generated letter against the patient. You can then edit and re-upload the letter. You will also notice when you have a letter there is an extra button called refresh. This will remerge the letter from the template and update the stored letter loosing the previous modifications. Cheers Tony

Templates and Letters example

Submitted by Matt C on Tue, 20/11/2007 - 23:07.
Hi Sam and Tony, Heres an example from our practice Sam. 1. Patient Forms We have Patient Forms such as "Euthanasia Consent Form" This document combines data from the patient and maybe its owner with text as defined in the Template. When we add this Form to a patient (in Patients -> Documents) it just stores a link to the template so if I go and change our patient name for example, if I look or print this form, the new name will appear in the document. Note: Customer Forms exist also. They are the same as Patient Forms but appear when you Add a new document to a Customer rather then a Patient. 2. Patient Letters We don't use them much but an example would be our Dispensing Letter. We use this letter to write scripts for a pharmacy for example. In this case the document is a combination of both merged data from the customer/patient but ALSO text we have edited within the document. As Tony says, the ACTUAL document is stored complete with whatever new text I might add (dispensing instructions in this case). Note: When you create a new Letter to add text to that letter you must open it in OpenOffice (by clicking on it within OPVPMS) and then choose "Edit". When you save these changes, you will need to save them somewhere, then re upload the newly saved document to the Customer/Patient in question.
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