Clinical - Correspondence

Clinical - Correspondence

In this article, you will learn how to manage the correspondence that is recorded on the patient's file. This includes any written communication about the patient that is sent to, or received from, the patient, treating doctors, specialists, family members or any other person your contact list.

The Correspondence page in a patient's clinical records displays a summary of all the correspondence recorded for that patient. There are two sections within the Correspondence page - Out (outbound) and In (inbound) - and each of these sections will be covered individually in this tutorial.



Out (Outbound correspondence)

By default, Correspondence lands on the Out section of the patient's Correspondence summary. This summary displays a list of all the outbound correspondence sent to, regarding, or on behalf of the patient. From within the Correspondence summary, you can see the date, subject, category, to and from and the status of all outbound correspondence.



To quickly filter which correspondence you can see in the summary, click Filter, and select Status or Category, or a combination of both.



To search for correspondence, click the Search box, and type in a Keyword from the Subject of the correspondence. Press Enter, and the system will display a list of the closest matches.

You can also search using keywords from Category, To and From.



To Create a New Letter, click New Letter to open the MediRecords letter writer.

 

Before you start composition, a small form containing the properties of the letter will open, prompting you to select who the letter is From (you can send on behalf of another user), who it is being sent To (User, Contact or Patient) and the Status (Draft or Final) of the copy. Click the Down Arrow next to the name open the drop-down menus for these fields. Type in a Subject and any relevant Comments. The Patient name is locked and cannot be changed.

Complete the form with all the required details, and then click Save. 



The letter writer opens on a blank page, however you can select from a number of predefined templates. Click Letter (example) to reveal a drop-down list of templates, and click to select the Type, then the Name of the template. Templates are also available under Care Plan, Billing and Favourites.

To make the letter confidential, so that only you can see it, click the Confidential tick-box.



There is a toolbar at the top of the letter for formatting text, which is very similar to the toolbar in Today's Notes. You can select predefined text formats, align text to either the left or right or the center of the page, use bullet points or numbered lists, insert hyperlinks and images, use subscript or superscript, insert tables, view the letter in HTML format and change the font and size of the text.

The first section of the toolbar (Format) allows you easily switch between a number of predefined text formats. Click Format to reveal a drop-down list of text formats, and click to select the Style.



To change the font to either Bold, Italic or Underline, click the corresponding icon on the toolbar.



To align the text Left, Right, Center or Justify (edge to edge), click the corresponding icon on the toolbar.



To insert Bullet Points, Numbered Lists or Indent Text, click the corresponding icon on the toolbar.



To insert a Hyperlink or Image, click the corresponding icon on the toolbar.



To switch to Subscript or Superscript, click the corresponding icon on the toolbar.



To change the Colour of the text, click the corresponding icon on the toolbar.

To insert a Table, click the corresponding icon on the toolbar.

To view in the letter in HTML Format, click the corresponding icon on the toolbar.



To change the font, click Font to reveal a drop-down list of fonts.



To change the text size, click Size to reveal a list of text sizes.



To toolbar also has a section called Snippets, which is for inserting commonly use snippets of text into letters. For example, "This letter is private and confidential and should only be viewed by the recipient" 

Click Snippets to reveal a list of snippets.



When writing a letter, you can use merge fields to quickly insert text from your MediRecords database into the letter. Merge fields are available from many sections of MediRecords, including Addressee, Clinical, Patient and Practice.

The menu on the left-hand side are the headings of the categories of merge fields that can be inserted into the letter.



To view the merge fields that are available, click on the Addressee (example) to expand a sub-list of merge fields.

Click the heading again to reduce / close the expanded sub-list.



In the below example, the doctor is writing a simple letter to a technician at a pathology lab, requesting clarification on the results of a blood test received back for the patient.

To begin writing a letter, type in the beginning of the text up to the point where you will require a merge field (in this example, it's the patient's name).

To Insert a Merge Field, click Patient in the list of categories of merge fields, and select the Full Name from the sub-list.



The system will insert the patient's Full Name into the letter.



During composition of this letter, merge fields from the Patient, Practice and Current User categories were used to populate the letter.

In the fields highlighted in Yellow have been added using Merge Fields.



Once the letter is complete, or up to a point where it will require further revision, click File to reveal a drop-down list, and click Save to open the properties of the letter. 

*Note Letters save automatically as seen by the message in the top right corner however to change the status of a letter, a save using file needs to be done.



Make any changes to the properties (like converting from Draft to Final), and then click Save to return to the Correspondence summary.



The newly created letter will now be visible in the Correspondence summary.



To Import a Letter, click Import to open the letter properties form.



Fill in the form with all the required details.

DO NOT CLICK SAVE.



There are a number of options available for imported letters. Click More to reveal a drop-down list of options, and click to change the Status, assign a Follow Up date, or Assign Review Task for another user.



To Add an Attachment, click Select File to open a file explorer window, and select the file to upload.

Once the file is uploaded, the file name will be on the form, with Done 100% written above it.

Click Save to finish.



The newly imported letter will now be visible in the Correspondence summary.



To Open the Properties of a Letter, click the Tick-box next to the name to reveal a list of options, and then click Open to open the properties form.



From the properties form, you can make changes to the Date, From, To, Subject, Category, Details and whether or not the letter will be Confidential.

To attach a file to the letter, click Select File and select the file to upload.

Once the file is uploaded, the file name will be on the form, with File(s) uploaded successfully

Click Save to apply all changes to properties of the letter.

To change the status of the letter, click More to reveal a drop-down list, and select Draft or Final.



To Change the Status of Multiple Letters, click the Tick-box next to the names to reveal a list of options. Click Status to reveal a drop-down list, and click Draft or Final.
To Print a Letter, click the Tick-box next to the name to reveal a list of options. Click More to reveal a drop-down list, and click Print to open a print preview.
Check to make sure the page is going to the right printer Destination, select the Layout and Color if required, and click Print.
To Preview a Letter, click the Tick-box next to the name to reveal a list of options. Click More to reveal a drop-down list, and click Preview to open a preview of the letter.



To Delete a Letter, click the Tick-box next to the name to reveal a list of options. Click More to reveal a drop-down list, and click Delete to permanently delete the letter from the patient's record.



Click Yes to acknowledge the letter will be deleted.



In (Inbound correspondence)

The second section of Correspondence is Inbound correspondence. 

This section displays a summary of all the inbound correspondence recorded for the patient. From within the summary, you view the date correspondence was received, the category, who it was from and to, the subject, the date it was checked and who checked it.

Click In to switch the Correspondence summary to inbound correspondence.

You can Filter and Search for inbound correspondence the same way as outbound.

To Add New Inbound Correspondence, click New Correspondence to open the properties form.



Fill in the form with all the required details.

DO NOT CLICK SAVE.

There are a number of options available for imported letters. Click More to reveal a drop-down list of options, and click to change the Status, assign a Follow Up date, or Assign Review Task for another user.



To Add an Attachment, click Select File to open a file explorer window, and select the file to upload.

Once the file is uploaded, the file name will be on the form, with Done 100% written above it.

Click Save to finish.

The newly created inbound correspondence will now be visible in the Correspondence summary.
To Edit Inbound Correspondence, click the Tick-box next to the name and click Open.



Update the form with all required details, and click Save to apply the changes.



When inbound correspondence is uploaded into a patient's file, it is marked as Unchecked - meaning the Checked Date and Checked By fields will be blank. This is because it will often be uploaded into the patient's file on behalf of the doctor, and the doctor will need to check and read the correspondence.



To Mark Correspondence as Checked, click the Tick-box next to the name to reveal a list of options. Click Status to reveal a drop-down list, and click Checked.

You can also mark checked correspondence as Unchecked.



To Print Correspondence, click the Tick-box next to the name to reveal a list of options. Click More to reveal a drop-down list, and click Print to open a print preview.

Check to make sure the page is going to the right printer Destination, select the Layout and Color if required, and click Print.

To Preview Correspondence, click the Tick-box next to the name to reveal a list of options. Click More to reveal a drop-down list, and click Preview to open a preview window.
To Delete Correspondence, click the Tick-box next to the name to reveal a list of options. Click More to reveal a drop-down list, and click Delete to permanently delete the correspondence from the patient's record.

Click Yes to acknowledge the correspondence will be deleted.



To Delete Multiple Correspondences at Once, click the Tick-box next to the names to reveal a list of options. Click More to reveal a drop-down list, and click Delete to permanently delete the correspondences from the patient's record.

Click Yes to acknowledge the correspondences will be deleted.