Chart Interface Basics

Creating Charts

"Your Chart Rack is very similar to your Chart Room."

In the Chart Rack, a specific chart can be retrieved via a number of methods: Name, DOB, Chart number or Social Security number.

A new chart can be created from within the Chart Rack. Click the New Chart button.

Type Timmy for the First Name, and Test for the Last Name. Click OK.

The Chart will open and immediately allow for the entry of more demographics information. However, if time is limited, create a chart and only include the patient's first and last name.

Next, to close the chart. Go to the Chart menu and Click Close.

When closing the chart, options are available so that the Chart Rack or the Task Manager are automatically opened for action.

Pulled Charts

Pulled Charts is a carry-over from legacy SOAPware. it’s functionality was very useful and intuitive in the old days before the need for electronic signatures and legal electronic records. The Task Manager has evolved as a more capable To Do List, and is being groomed to soon, entirely replace the Pulled Chart Lists. Use of the Pulled Charts List to manage any tasks, such as charts needing completion, etc is strongly discouraged in current and future versions of SOAPware.

Chart Rack

Locate the tab at the bottom of the screen labeled Chart Rack and Point to it. At the top of the Chart Rack is a field labeled Search, and the cursor should be blinking in it. Type the last name: Test. As the name is entered (after entering the third letter), notice the corresponding chart name is already highlighted in the list. To display the chart, either Press the Enter key, or Click the View button, or Double-Click on the name.

This should open the Timmy Test chart.

Chart Sections

Just like a paper chart, SOAPware organizes patient data under various Tabs or Chart Sections. Currently displayed are the Summary, Vital Signs, Demographics, SOAP Notes, Labs and Radiology Chart Sections. Though not covered here, the layout of the chart can be altered so that various Chart Sections are sized and placed at specific locations as preferred.

"Chart Sections - correspond to the divider tabs in a patient chart - they organize groups of related documents"

Again, just like a paper chart, most Chart Sections can contain multiple documents or in SOAPware-speak Docutainers (i.e. Document-Containers).  SOAPware is unique in that its docutainers can include combinations of almost any types of documents. For example, both Microsoft Word Documents and PDF documents can be added to any SOAP Encounter note docutainer. So, a Docutainer in SOAPware serves much like a paper clip in that it can contain and associate one or many documents.

Look closely at the bottom of the SOAP encounter note Chart Section, and notice a small bar with Down Triangles-Arrows on it.  This is called a Splitter Bar. Click on it to close that section. Click on it again to reopen that section.

Chart Sections, that can contain multiple Docutainers, will always have this Document/docutainer List located at the bottom. Expand/Collapse this display with a simple click. Within the Document/docutainer List display, there is a mini-toolbar that provides a number of commonly used commands such as: Create a new Document/Docutainer, Delete and Sign. These commands always impact the items in the currently displayed Document/Docutainer.

"Docutainer List - displays all the Docutainers found in the current Chart Section"

If there were previous documents(i.e. Docutainers), they would be listed.  A single-click on one of them displays it. Because this example is a new patient, no previous SOAP encounter notes are listed.

Sections, such as he SOAP encounter notes also have a Splitter Bar across the top. As with the Document List display, clicking on it toggles between expanded and collapsed states.

This bar contains 'demographic' information for the displayed Docutainer.  

Chart Navigator 

 "Chart Navigator is the Table of Contents for the entire chart."

Now to review how to find documents/docutainers that may exist in the patient's chart but are in Chart Sections other than the 6 that are currently displayed in this example. SOAPware has a Chart Navigator that provides a complete Table of Contents for the entire chart. To display Chart Navigator, Click on the Chart Navigator tab located along the bottom edge of the SOAPware screen. (Or Click the Chart Navigator menu item in the Chart menu)

Chart Navigator is divided into two main sections - the left side lists all the available Chart Sections (and custom Chart Sections can be created), and the right side displays a Document List (very similar to the document list in Encounters). To display a list of documents for a given Chart Section, simply select the desired item from the left, and all available documents in that section will be displayed on the right. Spend a few moments displaying the contents of the various Chart Sections. (If there are not any documents in any chart section.. as would be the case in our new patient, feel free to practice and create new documents for chart sections.)

In Chart Navigator, a Docutainer can be viewed by Double-clicking on it or by Clicking once on the desired document (to select it) and Clicking on the View button.

Double-click on the Correspondence Out chart section listed in the Chart Navigator. Notice  when a Docutainer is opened that is contained within a Chart Section not currently visible in the chart layout, a new tab will be created in the chart layout. In this case, a Correspondence Out tab, as shown below has been added.

Now, close the Correspondence Out chart section. With the Correspondence Out tab clicked (i.e. selected), Click on the X at the top right corner. This will close that section. Click Yes to verify in order to close the section.