You can add custom vitals to your Vital Flowsheets to track and monitor your patients in a way that works best for your practice and workflow. For example, if you needed to add another set of vitals to an appointment, you could create additional vital signs to use in the visit.
1. To get started go to Account > Custom Fields, and select Vital Flowsheets on the left.
2. If you need to add a flowsheet, click +Add Flowsheet in the top right corner.
For more information on the +Add New Flowsheet fields, click here.
3. Once you have created a flowsheet or, if you already have one, click on +Add New Vital.
4. The Create Vital form will open. Here you can enter the information for your new vital sign.
You'll be presented with several fields:
- Name: The name of the custom vital. This is a required field.
- Name on Form Builder: The vital data can appear in areas outside of the vitals section on the clinical note. For example, if you wanted to include it in the narrative of your note. This can be set up in the form builder as long as you have filled out the Name on Form Builder field.
-
Data Type: The type of data to be entered during the appointment.
- The available selections are:
- Plain Text - records typed text
- Number - records a numerical value
- Single-Selection - provides a list of values that can be selected. After selecting Single Selection in this form, a field to enter your list of values will appear.
- The available selections are:
- Decimal Places: The number of decimal places that the number requires. This field is not available if the 'Data Type' selection is not 'Number'.
- Show + Sign Checkbox: This checkbox enables or disables the use of positive or negative numbers and will show the + or - sign. This field is not available if the 'Data Type' selection is not 'Number'.
- Unit: The unit of the field entered (eg. 'kilograms'). You may also enter a custom unit. This field is not available if the 'Data Type' selection is not 'Number'.
- Is Fraction: Checking this box will indicate that there will be two fields that need to be filled out. Once this option is selected, a field that allows you to enter your delimiter will appear. Here you can use the standard fraction '/' delimiter or you can use whatever delimiter you need (eg. the '+/-' delimiter will allow you to enter precision in your appointment, "30.5 +/- 0.3").
- Description: The description of your custom vital.
Once you set up your Vital Flowsheet, you can use it to track data within visits by entering them in the vitals section of the appointment window or clinical note. You can also make adjustments to how the vitals are rendered on the note in the vitals section.
The Vital Flowsheet will render on your note according to the settings you have created.