The Consultation Screen is the place from which you can record clinical notes against individual patient appointments. Each consultation can be assigned to the relevant Treatment Episode to provide a detailed record of the course of treatment for that client.
Consultations can be recorded as plain text, charts, and custom forms. You can also attach files to the consultation and access physiotherapy programs via our integrations with Wibbi, PhysioTools and Rehab My Patient.
This guide will give you a general introduction to the Consultation screen and the functionality within.
Section One - The Consultation Screen
a. Access the Consultation screen via the Client menu, you may need to close your diary. If the selected client has Treatment Episodes already open you'll be prompted to select the correct one for this Consultation via the Select Treatment Episode screen.
Tip: Open the consultation screen from the Client menu with a client appointment selected on the diary. The new consultation will then automatically be associated to that client and the same Treatment Episode as the appointment you have selected.
b. Now you've opened up your consultation we'll take a look at the various elements of this screen.
c. The dark grey bar at the top of the screen contain your main consultation options. Hover over each of the icons for a brief description or see the details below:
Complete a Form- Open the list of your custom forms and fill one in as part of this consultation record.
Quick Chart- Add a Quick Chart to the content of the consultation. Choose a chart or image from your machine or existing library to annotate with free drawing or text.
Start a Video Consultation - Opens the integrated video consultation screen where you can send a video chat link to your client.
Attach a Document- Attach a file to this consultation record. Find details on using the Attach Document functionality here.
Send a Letter- Open a new Send a Letter screen. The letter will automatically be linked to this Treatment.
Consultation Complete- Open the Consultation Complete screen, we'll look at this later in the guide.
Update Treatment Episode - Open the Treatment details or use this to assign a consultation to a different Treatment Episode.
Start a New Consultation- Open a new consultation screen for this client. You'll be prompted to save your current notes first if you have not already done so.
Medical History- View Medical History details for this client. Any entries set to appear "in summary" or that are due for review will be listed here. Double click into the box that opens to view the full Medical History questionnaire for this client.
Client Profile Details - Anything on the Client Details screen ticked to show on the Client Log will appear here. This included profile information, third-parties, and notes.
Consultation Screen Settings - This allows you to configure elements of your PPS consultation screen. These settings include font and size of the consultation notes, the consultation history display and the note headings.
Phystiotec, PhysioTools and Rehab My Patient - Access these programs to create exercise programs for your clients which can be attached to the consultation. More information can be found in each of the guides on Wibbi, PhysioTools and Rehab My Patient.
At the far end of this menu you can choose to view your consultation screen in a diagonal or vertical split. Use the buttons to toggle between the two display options. Use Close to exit.
d. Depending on whether you've chosen a vertical or horizontal split for the consultation screen you'll find the client details and treatment history for this client down the left side or at the bottom. Here you'll see a general overview of the Treatment Episode as well as all consultations, forms, activities, and documents already associated to the treatment.
You'll also see here the details of the selected client as well as the ability to switch between viewing historical records for just the current treatment episode or all those associated to the client. You can also refresh the history to update where any changes may have been made.
Double click any of the entries in the list of historical records to open.
e. Finally, you have the main body of your consultation record.
Bring Forward Notes from Previous Consultation - This will allow you to populate the consultation box with the notes from the previous consultation. These can then be edited or added to.
Save these notes - Save your notes as you're working on them.
Cancel- Clear your current notes.
Delete this consultation - Delete your current notes.
Click here to Sign-Off these notes - Sign-off these notes using your PPS password. No further changes will then be able to be made to them.
Click here to make these notes Private- Mark these notes as Private or Public. Private Notes can only be viewed or modified by the PPS user who created them.
Print your notes - Open the Print screen which allows you to print this or a series of consultations for this client.
Pop Out - This will open the consultation notes in a separate box.
Below this you have basic formatting options for your notes where you can make text bold, underlined, italics or change the font settings.
You can then add symbols or text sets and add the time and date stamp.
You also have six notes headings buttons available which can be used to add headings to your notes with the click of a button. Configure these headings for your users via Tools > Options > General System Options > Clinical Notes > Notes Headings.
And finally you have the consultation notes box where you can add plain text details to the consultation held with your client.
Section Two - Completing a Consultation
a. Once you've finished your consultation notes you can complete the consultation in the same way that you would an appointment.
Tip: If you'd like any associated appointment to also be completed when you complete a consultation then you can enable this via Tools > Options > Appointments Diary Options > General > "When completing a Consultation..."
b. Click the Consultation Complete icon from the top menu of the consultation screen.
c. From here you can associate a note to the consultation and check and make any amendments to the details of the treatment episode. You can also raise ad-hoc charges or bill directly from any treatment plan you may have for this client. This can be done from here as an alternative to the appointment complete screen if the client also has a booking in the diary.
d. The final two options allow you to either continue or close this Treatment Episode with the completion of this consultation. Check the relevant details and choose Continue or Complete to complete the consultation.
Section Three - Consultation Reports
a. Like all elements of the PPS system you can create reports to produce information based on your consultations via Reports > Reports & Mail Merge. One report in particular, Consultation Statistics, can be used to view how many consultations particular clients have had within a certain time period or against a particular Treatment Episode. Find more information on reporting in PPS here.