Hi, everyone! I'm having trouble with vital signs. I have them in every report and I would like to know the best way to do them to save time. I have a glossary for temperatures, but I don't have glossaries for BP (too exhausting) or respirations or weight. I do have a glossary for pulse oximetry. Anyway, it seems a waste of time to input the temperature, Ctrl+ right and input the BP reading, etc. I think it may be faster to type the words every time but I wanted other opinions. If I am confusing anyone, an example is below.

Vital Signs: [temperature short goes here which is t983, for example], blood pressure, respirations, pulse oximetry is % on room air, weight is

The above is in my normal/template for each doctor but it's annoying with all the Ctrl+right going on! I've tried making those jump things but I'm in Dictaphone and 1) our Macros are turned off permanently and, 2) it doesn't seem to work when I put a marker in IT using the Commands feature and try to use F11 to jump from place to place (F11 is our jumping key; I don't know if it's the same for every Word-based platform). I was thinking of changing the above to:

Vital Signs:

and then just filling it in as I go...unless there's a better way?

Thanks in advance!!

Sorry the font is so big, I need to make an eye appointment!

There are glossaries available on this site for BP,heights, stuff like that. Other people have already done all the work and shared them with all of us! Search around in the IT section.

Amanda, is your ESP function turned off in EXText as well as the macros? You could most definitely make an ESP for this: temp (pause), blood pressure (pause), etc. and just fill in the numbers. ESPs easy enough to set up, and you can assign them shorts just as you would in IT. ESPs expand with either the space bar or the enter key, and there is a function you can use to suppress a trailing space if you don't want it.

I use both ESPs and Shorthand, so I don't think there would be problems with using them along with your IT.

I'll check in here tomorrow before I start work in case you have any questions, because I have to be in EXText to see the ESP menus and functions....

happy saturday

Carol, that is so sweet of you! I had this weekend off so I was away from the computer the entire time, but the offer was great! I do use ESP with IT. I didn't know about the Pause feature, though. I use ESP mostly for the small words (and, was, have, the), but I'll have to give the vitals a try with ESP. Thanks so much!!

Shipaddict, I didn't know anyone had completed a BP glossary. We don't do heights but I'll take a look around the site. Thank you!

Amanda, as I was creating a couple of new ESPs today (been a long time, forgot what the menus look like!!!), I thought I would pass on that you can find the Pause feature and some formatting options thus:

Open the ESP main menu (our EXText uses control-control), click on New. You will find the Pause, etc. by clicking on the Advanced button.

One caution: at the hospital I tx for, new ESPs are not saved permanently until you exit EXText. They will still work in that session before they are saved, but if for some reason the program crashes and you don't exit properly they will be gone. And using the SAVE feature, at least for us, is a total screwup, because it loses all the ESPs the hospital has put in (they put the housestaff dictator numbers/names in there). I don't know if this applies to all installations of EXText, but caution is STRONGLY recommended!

If there's anything else, let me know.

happy tuesday

I now work for a company that uses Dictophone, EXText and ESP. I use the ESP for the original expander I learned years ago and for longs that start with numbers. I still use Instant Text for phrases and all additions over the past few years.

I have not been told how to use the Pause button in ESP and/or how to make Jump-aheads. If someone could explain this or use a sample vital signs paragraph, I will be thrilled.

I did check and ESP does have the Pause command but I cannot figure out what to do with it. Thanks for any and all help!

Lori

Lori, here's an example:

This {pause}-year-old {pause}an was seen in the xxxx clinic on {pause}.

so, you type your abbreviation for the ESP plus enter, and it prints "This " and pauses. You fill in the age and press Enter, and it prints "-year-old " and pauses. You type either "m" or "wom" and press Enter, and it prints " was seen in the xxxx clinic on " and pauses. And so on.
Note that you can enter the Pause command from the keyboard while creating the ESP (I think it's ALT-P). If you find you are getting spaces where you don't want them, you can use the Backspace command at the beginning of what it types after your entry (I think it's ALT-B) from the keyboard also.

The allowed length of ESPs is limited. I have several that I have had to split into segments, but that's not really a big problem. I don't know what the limit is, the only way I find out is when it won't let me enter any more text (or, in the case of something copied from a report, won't let me insert any codes....)

have fun!

Carol, thanks! But it late and my brain is fried. Below is an exerpt from a report. Could I take this (after it is completed) and add the Pauses for vital signs and labs or is it done while one is typing?

Maybe it will make sense tomorrow when I am in EXText... Thanks!


PHYSICAL EXAMINATION:
VITAL SIGNS:  T:  98.2.  P:  107.  R:  20.  BP: 106/60. 
GENERAL:  Resting comfortably.  Easily arousable.  Occasionally is slurring her words.  
NECK:   Supple. 
CARDIOVASCULAR:  Regular rate and rhythm, no murmur. 
RESPIRATORY: Nonlabored breathing. 
ABDOMEN:  Bilateral lower abdominal wounds.  The one on the left lower abdomen does have some drainage.  
EXTREMITIES:  No edema is noted.  
NEUROLOGIC:  Cranial nerves II-XII are grossly intact.  
 
LABORATORY DATA:  Hemoglobin February 23, 2009: 8.1.  Platelet count 679,000.   INR 5.1.  Sodium 131.  Alk phos 95.  ALT 15.  AST 17.  Glucose 53.  BUN 38, creatinine 6.  

Sure, open EXText, copy this report segment from a previous report into the body of the current report (or type the corresponding segment in the current report), and then copy it from there into the ESP box. Delete all the numbers in the vitals and labs and the stuff that follows the headings. THEN put in the pauses. This should all fit in one ESP. Then run the ESP in the current report, just to make sure it comes out all right, in case you need to adjust the spaces or anything. If you bold the headings, you can set that up in the ESP, there`s a BOLD command in the same list as the Pause command. Once you have it right, delete what you were working on and carry on with the report.

You could also copy the segment into a notepad document and copy it from there into the ESP, but you should still run it after you`ve set it up to make sure everything is right (although you could always adjust it the next time you use it, too).

The one difficulty I have with them is that there isn`t a way to cut them off (Escape doesn`t work), so any time you start an ESP you have to go through the whole thing - enter, enter, enter until it`s done. Maybe it`s a good thing that they have to be so short!

If you have any other questions, I check in every day about the same time.