How To Customize SOAP Note MACROS

Soap Note Macros

Soap Note Macros allow for a user to click on a pre-made button, and have the system auto-populate soap note text into the appointment. These can be customized for each user.

When accessing an appointment on a new user for the first time, you will be asked if you would like to download a shared template. You can select YES to add the Macro panel to your appointment Screen or select NO and you can import a macro template later, or create your own.

CoAction has added templates for use to get you going. You can edit these pre-made templates also if you need.

You are more than welcome to use a Macros template we have provided or create your very own. To access shared templates, you will go to the green circle symbol located to the bottom left of your Macro panel screen, select ‘Download a shared template’, select the template you would like to see and it will generate on your screen.

Attached at the bottom of this article is a Sherman Macro template you can download to your computer and then upload to your user within CoAction. Just download and then follow the steps in the How to Import a Soap Macros Template section, to get it imported to your user.

Sections of this article include:

Beginner's Guide To Macros

How to Import a Soap Macros Template

How To Create A New Macro Button

How Create/Edit an Individual Macro Button

 How to Delete a Macro Button

Beginner's Guide To Macros

If you are using Macros for the first time, please use the steps below to complete your Macro's Buttons set up.

Step 1) If you want to use the Macros template that comes preloaded on your software please go to Step 2. If you want a different template, you will want to import one by following instructions in the Import Macro Template Section below. 

Step 2) Create your own category by:

**NOTE: Categories are displayed in the order created. Once created, there is not a way to re-arrange later. Please consider this when creating your Categories **

• Clicking on the little green circle icon in bottom left of macros panel
• Select Settings
• Under the Button Categories section select Add button
• Type your name as the title (can be changed later) & place in 6 rows & columns
• Click OK
• Click OK again to close the window 

Step 3) Now we advise that you open every category one by one and look at each button in the category and see if there are any buttons you want to keep/use.

Open the first category and click on each button in that category to see the text/questionnaire that populates in your notes (don't forget to make sure you are in Notes Mode! You can click Notes Mode button in bottom right of panel).

Step 4) If there are not any buttons that you want to keep/use, then you can delete the entire category all at once. To do this:

• click on the little circle icon in bottom left of macros panel 
• Select Settings
• Under Button Categories section, select the category you want deleted, to highlight it
• Then click the Delete button
• Click OK to close the window

Step 5) If there is a button that you want to keep from that category, you can click on the button you want, hold your mouse down, and then drag it to your own category and drop it. When doing this, drag it to your Category title (the section with your name on it, in the top row) and let go of the mouse, to drop the button in that category. The button will be placed on an empty button in that category.

Step 6) If you want to keep most of the buttons in a category, you can leave the category as is, and then either edit or delete the buttons that you don't want. To edit a button, please follow the steps in How Create/Edit an Individual Macro Button section.

To delete a button please follow steps in the How to Delete A Macro section

Step 7) You can change the name of the categories (buttons on the top row) if you need. To do this right click on the category title button (top row) and the edit window will open so you can change the name of it, and also change the number of buttons in the category as well.

Step 8) You can drag and drop a macro button onto any empty button. You can drag it to any category also so that you can get them perfectly arranged. 

To save your Macro's after editing, click Check Out to check out of the appointment, and they will be saved :)

How to Import a MACRO template into CoAction: 

Step 1) The Macro File you want to import must be saved on your desktop or in a file on your computer (There are several CoAction Macro Templates that have been publicly shared by our wonderful clients on our private CoAction Facbook page, that you can download from there)

Step 2) Open any completed or checked in patient appointment on the Provider’s Screen (where you type your Soap Notes) 

Step 3) In the SOAP NOTES Screen click on the GREEN CIRCLE in the bottom left of the Macro screen

 

Step 4) Then select "Import Template from File".

Step 5) Find the Macro template file you want to import (either on your desktop or wherever you saved it on your computer)

Step 6) Highlight the Macro File, Click Open

Step 7) The Macro File will automatically replace the one that is on your screen

Please Note: If you make changes to a template, your changes will be lost if you download another template to view. If you would like to save your current macro buttons template in case you decide to use it in the future, make sure you: Go to the Green circle symbol and select Export template to file and save the template to your computer.

That way if you decide to use this template again, you can go to the Green circle symbol, select Import template from file, Select File and Open to bring it back.

How to Create A New Macro Button

Step 1) Click on a blank Macro button

Step 2) Select the top option to add in text

Step 3) Add in:

• the name of the macro (this will not be the name of the button as that is done elsewhere)
• The section of your soap notes that the text will be placed into: D,S,O,A,P,N,E
• The Text box is where you can create the text that will be placed onto the button

 To see how to add in replacement tags and utilize them, please skip down to Step 4) in the next section (How to edit a Macro Button).

Step 4) Once finished adding in text and replacement tags, click OK

Nothing will display on the new button yet, but you will know that it is the button you just created, by looking in the bottom right corner, where it will have the name of the Macro displayed under 'Macros linked to this button'.

Step 5) To place a title on this macro button and change the color, we will type the title in the 'Caption' box, and then choose a background color from the drop down.

Step 6) Once you choose a name and a color, your button will reflect the changes right away. Now to be able to test the button, click the 'Notes Mode' button at the bottom right.

Step 7) To put the macro text into the appointment soap notes, click on the new button.

How to EDIT a MACRO button

Step 1) Select the macro button

Step 2) Right click on the button to open Drag-Drop mode (edit mode)

Step 3) In the Button Properties section in the bottom right side of the screen, Select Edit button

Step 4) This will open the Macro Action Wizard

• You can change the Name: Macro Name (not the button name as the button name is changed elsewhere)
• Change the Target: section you want the text to be placed in (D,S,O,A,N,E)
• The color drop down will change the color of the text.

Now you can change the text that the button will populate. You can use Replacement Tags to have the system pull data from the patient's file and place it in the soap notes, have it place in today's date, or create a pop up questionnaire to help customize your soap notes for each patient.

Any text that is not placed within these brackets {{ }} will appear in your notes. Anything that is within the {{ }} brackets, is a Replacement Tag.

The Replacement Tags that you can place into the text are as follows: Text, Number, Single Choice, Random, Date, Multiple Choice, Body Parts, Patient Info

**Please Note** That after editing a Macro Button, and clicking OK to save, you will need to go back to Notes Mode (button is in bottom right corner of Macro's screen) and then click on the Macro button once in notes mode, in order to test your button out, and place text into your notes.

Here we'll go over details of each Replacement Tag:

• Text - This option lets the user free-type text within a certain place of the auto-populated data.

So in the Example below, I typed in "The patient was told that they would be referred to" and then clicked the 'Text' replacement tag to bring up the editing window for the replacement tag. I typed in 'Physician' as I will be placing the name of the physician that I will refer to, into this area.

Click OK for it to insert the tag

• Number - Creates a calculator display to allow the user to put in numbers quickly.

Here we used this replacement tag to enter in a number for pain level documentation. When clicking the Number button, a window appears that allows the user to insert the reason for this replacement tag in the Caption box, and then the desired values. Leave the boxes blank to allow for any number to be inserted.

Click OK and then don't forget to add in a name for the button in the Caption box, and pick a background color in the bottom right corner of the screen.

Click Notes Mode button in bottom right to be able to test your new button. This is how it will populate when you click it:

 

I chose the number 5 and clicked Forward to get the data into the soap notes area.

• Single Choice - Creates a list that allows for a single option to be chosen.

Click on the Single Choice button.

Type in the reason for the list as the Title.

Add in your options by typing in the bottom box and clicking the Add button. The list on the button, will be as it appears in this window.

Click OK and finish putting in your text for the button.

• Random - This will insert a random phrase into the soap notes.

This might be a good option if you don't want all of your notes for patients to be redundant, if you insert the same info frequently.

Click on the Random button.

Type in the info that you want to generate randomly and click Add. Do this for each piece of info.

Click OK.

Add in a title for the button in the Caption box, and choose a background color for the button.

Click the Notes Mode button.

Click on your new button to test it. If you click it several times within the same appointment, it will generate the same info. You will have to Check Out then reopen the appointment and click it, to get it to generate a new random phrase. The opening of an appointment is what triggers it to chose a different random phrase.

• Date - This will allow you to choose a date from a calendar display to get it quickly inserted into your soap notes.

This is what appears when you click the button that you have put the Date replacement tag in:

 

• Multiple Choice - This displays a list with multiple choice options. What makes this different than single choice, is that you can click to select more than one option within the list.

In the example below I was able to select 3 choices (highlights in blue) for it to insert all three options.

 

• Body Parts 

• Patient Info - This Macro can pull information from the patient's file and place it into the notes.

For example, you can choose to have the patient's name auto generated within your notes. To do this, click on Patient Info button in the bottom right corner and then select the data that you want the button to pull from within the file.

Once you are done editing your Macro button, click OK in the bottom right corner.

Now to to test out your Macro button, you will need to click the Notes Mode button in the bottom right corner.

Then you can click on your new Macros button to see the information populate within your notes :)

'Macros linked to this button' Section

Here you can add a second Macro to be auto placed in after your current Macro. Adding a Macro here creates an additional action that will initiate when you click the Macro Button, to where CoAction performs the action of the first Macro, and then it will perform the second Macro action, after.

This would be useful in a situation where you want to place in a note and then have the displayed image be changed to a new image.

Step 1) Right click on a Macro Button

Step 2) Click the Add button at the very bottom of the page

Step 3) Select Show A Different Image

Step 4) Select Your Image

 Step 5) Click OK button

Your Macro will show up under the name of your current Macro

 Step 6) To Test: Click the Notes Mode button, then click on your Macro button, and the text from your first macro (notes) will be placed in, and then it will show the new image (second Macro) as well

All set!

How to DELETE a MACRO button

Step 1) In your SOAP Notes Template find the macro button you want to delete

 

Step 2) Right click on the Macro button to open Drag-Drop Mode (edit mode)

On the bottom right of the page you will find Button Properties

Step 3) Select the Macro under the 'Macros linked to this button' section and click the Delete button. 

you will see a pop up that says "Are you sure you want to delete this macro?"

Select Yes

Step 4) Delete the text in the Caption box

Step 5) Change the color back to white, in the drop down

Completing these steps will clear out the button, so that you can create a completely new macro on this button now.

To access your Soap Note Macros: 

**You will find the Providers Dashboard or Patient Visit(Appointment) screen by going to Appointments > Appointment Dashboard and double clicking on any appointment (no future appts) in the Checked In/Being Treated or Completed Section. This will open the Patient Visit/Providers Dashboard.**

- Support Information -

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