Care Notes helps dental professionals document patient visits, treatment plans, procedures, and more. Create template categories and templates, add predefined questions and responses to standardise notes, and use settings to further customise your workflow. Here's how!
Topics Covered
- Add or Manage Template Categories
- Add a New Care Notes Template
- Add or Manage Care Note Responses
- Manage Settings
To create Care Notes Templates :
Navigate to the System Menu > select Practice Settings > Clinical > Care Notes.
Add or Manage Template Categories
Template Categories organise care note templates into relevant groups, making them easier to find, manage, and use for clinical documentation. To create a template category, on the Templates tab,
Click Template Categories.
On the Template Categories slide-out,
- A list of existing template categories is available to select from or Search through as needed.
- Click + Add New Category to create a new one.
- Enter the desired Name for the Template Category and click Save.
| Tip: Use an existing template category or create a new one to group related care note templates. |
Add a New Care Notes Template
Care Note Templates help you document patient information, conditions, treatments, and progress consistently. They save time and ensure important details are captured every time.
To add a new template,
Under the Templates, click + Add New Clinical Template.
a. Details Tab
Enter the following details, such as:
- Name: Add a name to the template, e.g., Limited Oral Examination.
- Template Category: Select a category from the drop-down. To create one, see Template Categories.
- Use Single Note for Multiple Teeth: Select Yes to create one note for multiple teeth, or No to create separate notes.
- Need Clinician Acceptance: Select Yes to require clinician acceptance, or No to make it optional.
- Responses and Quick Links: Add Responses or Quick Links in the text box. You can also search for and select predefined Responses or Quick Links to quickly insert information into your note. To learn more about responses, see Manage Care Note Responses.
- Click Save.
A toast notification will appear on the top right stating, 'Clinical Template created successfully'.
b. Field/Form Rules Tab
You can use the Field Rules and Form Rules sections to create predefined notes with IF, IS, and IS NOT operators.
Field Rules
Set one or more conditions and assign a Smart Answer to automatically add predefined notes based on the selected responses. To learn more about responses, see Manage Care Note Responses.
How Smart Answers work
You want Oral Hygiene: Good to be added automatically when specific responses are selected.
Set up the field rule as follows:
- If Teeth Condition = Good, no cavities or decay
- And (optional) Gum Health = Healthy – pink, firm, no swelling or bleeding
- Then Oral Hygiene = Good
When these conditions are met, the Oral Hygiene: Good note is automatically added to the care note.
Form Rules
Use IF, IS, IS NOT, and AND/OR conditions to automatically add a custom note when specific responses are selected.
- To add a Form Rule, click + Add New Rule.
How Form Rules work
Set one or more conditions. For example:
- If Teeth Condition = Good, no cavities or decay
- And Gum Health = Healthy – pink, firm, no swelling or bleeding
When the conditions are met, the custom note is automatically added to the patient's care note.
Add or Manage Care Note Responses
Care Responses are predefined answer options that help you complete care notes faster. Instead of typing the same information repeatedly, select a response to automatically fill the corresponding field in the template with the required clinical details.
To add a response:
On the Response tab,
Click + Add New Custom Response.
-
Enter the following details:
- Name: The name displayed for the response.
- Response Description: A brief description explaining when to use the response.
- Preceding Text: This text will appear preceding the selected responses. Example: Tooth number.
- Preceding Text: Text displayed before the response value (for example, Tooth Number).
- Item Type: Choose how users will provide a response. For example, select Text Box for notes, Teeth Selector to select a tooth, List Item for predefined options, Date Picker for dates, or Surface and Area to record tooth details.
- Require Additional Text Area: Choose Yes to allow users to add extra notes.
- Is Response Mandatory: Choose whether the response is required or optional.
- Response Type: Select Single Response or Multiple Response.
- Use Default Value: : Set a default value for the response, if needed.
- Items: If Item Type is List Item, click + Add New Item and enter the list values.
- Click Save.
A toast notification will appear on the top right stating, 'Custom Response created successfully'.
To edit a response, perform the following steps:
- Select the response you want to edit or search for it.
- Click Edit.
- Make the required changes.
- Click Save.
Click here to set up Smart Answers and Smart Phrases.
Manage Settings
The settings feature allows you to customise notes during patient check-out. On the Settings tab,
Click Edit to make changes.
You can configure the following settings:
-
Enable Care Note Merge: Use the toggle to enable or disable merging multiple notes in a patient's profile.
- You can add or merge multiple notes saved as templates in a patient's profile.
- Find this option under Add Note in the clinical treatment section.
- When you are completing treatment codes for a patient, you will have the option to combine several notes triggered by those codes, helping you create one comprehensive note.
-
Appointment Settings: Under the Appointment Settings, you can decide whether to save the note as a draft or finalise it. You are provided with three options:
- Do not warn if linked notes are incomplete: This setting allows you to proceed with the linked notes in incomplete status.
- Completion of the linked note is mandatory: This setting makes the completion of the linked note mandatory to proceed.
- Warn if linked notes are incomplete: This setting displays a note to let the user know that the linked notes are incomplete, but the user can still proceed.
- The default action you select will be triggered during checkout.
- For options two and three, additional fields will be available below. You have the following sub-options:
- Notes to be Started: Tick the box to display this status during checkout.
- Notes to Review: Tick the box to display this status during checkout.
- Notes to Complete: Tick the box to display this status during checkout.
-
Print Settings: To set up the header for the Care Notes printout, configure the following under Print Settings:
- Click on the toggle button for Show Header in Print. This will enable the custom header on the care notes printout.
- You can see the Preview of the header.
- Set the Logo Alignment as intended.
- Set the Header Logo and Address to display at Account, Location, or Brand Level. Select None to avoid displaying the header logo and address.
- Click Save.
A toast notification will appear on the top right stating, 'Settings saved successfully'.
To learn how to Trigger Care Notes from Procedure Codes, click here.
Practices can use this simple guide to learn how to create care notes in CareStack.
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