Templates To Medical SOAP Notes

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How SOAPassist solves EMR problems

Medical templates are already out there. They exist in our email accounts, on our desktops, and in the cloud. Their very existence in the modern electronic medical record (EMR) era speaks to their usefulness.  Despite this, medical templates have some inherent limitations.  The many places we store them and the many colleagues we share them with creates issues of accessibility and tracking which template is the most up-to-date.  Additionally, templates are meant to address one problem or even just one part of a problem.  The use of multiple templates for a single encounter creates challenges with redundant text.  At SOAPassist, we believe that the usefulness of medical templates has yet to be maximized.  Let’s talk about how SOAPassist solves many of these problems.

Achieve consistent documentation

With the various places we store templates and our frequent sharing, we run into the issue of having multiple versions, often making it unclear as to which version was updated most recently.  Instead of having multiple versions of these templates, you can store all of your templates in one place, the SOAPassist database.  When it comes time to share templates with your colleagues, you don’t have to worry about them getting an out-of-date version either. The template you share will remain up-to-date even if you make edits after it is shared.   This is how you achieve consistent documentation across all EMRs and practice settings.

Customization demands granular data

We also run into the problem of patients having multiple problems requiring the cumbersome task of editing templates together.  As we’ve said, templates are generally meant to address a single problem or even just one part of a problem.  Ultimately, this is their biggest drawback.  The SOAPassist SOAP Note Generator page solves this problem.  Templates are stored on the SOAPassist website according to their various components.  Some of these include “HPI”, “Physical Exam”, “Bedside Ultrasound”, “Assessment and Plan” and “Preventive Medicine”.  There are also components for procedures and surgeries.  When data is stored in a granular fashion like this, the components can then be stitched together by the SOAP Note Generator into a preselected format resulting in an on-demand custom SOAP note.

Endless possibilities of mixing and matching templates to generate SOAP notes

Generating SOAP notes in this fashion unleashes a tremendous amount of potential.  Now, just a handful of templates can be used to create an exponentially greater number of SOAP notes.  You can have a primary template for a complaint and then additional templates based on the patient’s progress and response to treatment.  The endless possibilities of mixing and matching templates in this way solves the problem of editing and empowers providers to maximize the potential of their templates.

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Streamline your documentation today!

SOAPassist is the best way to create, store, share and use medical templates.

Reduce redundancy and save time

An additional problem of combining templates is that there is often duplicate text, requiring additional editing on the part of the provider.  Combining templates can only be maximized if redundant information is left out.  This is another challenge that is overcome by the method of storing templates in a granular fashion.  Physical exam findings, medical history and other note components that are prone to redundancy when templates are combined, utilize selectable items to generate data.  Thus, when creating a SOAP note on the SOAP Note Generator page, these items will not be generated redundantly even if they appear in multiple templates selected for the note.  The physical exam portion of a SOAP note made from “Abdominal Pain” and “Syncope” templates will have all the exam findings from both templates with no redundancy.

Templates are a terrific way to speed up the documentation process.  Alone, they are not without their limitations.  However, SOAPassist has minimized these limitations through the use of granular template entry on the Template Creator page as well as streamlined integration on the SOAP Note Generator page.  Minimizing these limitations allows you, the medical provider, to document quickly and accurately. 

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