Custom Forms are a component of PPS Clinical Notes that allow you to design and build forms that can be filled in to collect information about your clients and their treatments. PPS comes with a sample of custom forms as standard which you can use as-is or modify to better suit your needs.
This guide will take you through creating and modifying your own custom forms as well as filling them in for clients.
Extra Information: As well as Custom Forms each client can have a Medical History Questionnaire which can be altered throughout the duration of their time with you.
To make full use of Custom Forms you will need to ensure that you have Clinical Notes as part of your PPS Pro system contract. To check this navigate to Help > About PPS and ensure you have Treatment Episodes and Consultations marked as registered. Contact our sales team via sales@rushcliff.com if you're looking to upgrade to a Pro system.
Section One - Creating and Modifying Custom Forms
a. Navigate to Tools > Custom Forms Designer to add or modify custom forms.
b. Here you'll find all of your existing custom forms sorted into folders by Form Category. Expand each of the folders using the + button to view the forms within. You can then select to Modify or Delete individual forms.
Important: Deleting an existing custom form will also delete any records of the form being filled out for clients. If you wish to retain this information we recommend modifying the form and setting it as Inactive rather than deleting. Modifying forms that have been filled in can cause issues viewing existing instances. If you wish to make changes to a form that has been used in the past we recommend creating a copy by modifying, renaming, and choosing Save As. You'll then have a new copy of the form with the new name which you can use without affecting the old.
c. To create a new form click New in the bottom corner
Tip: Use the Send Form option to export your custom forms to a file that you can transfer to other PPS systems using Load Form
d. In the Custom Form Set Up screen choose an existing Form Category to assign the new form to or type into this field to create a new category. Form Categories are the folders you saw forms sorted into when first opening the Custom Forms Designer screen. Forms will be sorted into these same categories when you come to locate them to fill them in.
Mark the form as Active and available to be filled in by ticking the relevant box. You can also add the list to your Favourites to make it more quickly accessible to fill in for clients.
Give the form a name and a menu name if this should differ to make it easier to identify when it comes to locate the form for a client.
e. The first options you'll notice at the bottom of the screen are those for Headings and Sub-Headings. These can be used to section out parts of your form as in the example above. Whenever you add a new heading, sub-heading, or question to the form it will be added to the bottom of the list. Use the arrows to the far right side of the options to reposition questions or headers.
f. To add a question to the form choose Add Question.
g. First, give your question a heading to identify it, you can choose whether or not this heading is visible when filling the form in via the tick box.
You can also choose to duplicate another question from any of your forms using the Copy Question option. You can then make additional changes to the copied question if required.
When adding a question you'll need to choose from a list of question types that determine the format in which it appears and is answered. For further information on these types and the options they present see our Question Types guide.
All question types have Input Notes available that can appear as a prompt at the bottom of the form when it's being completed. You may want to use this to advise the way the answer should be filled in or for any prompts. Anything in the Comments section is not visible when completing the form.
The Word Merge Field Name is used if you want to export results from this questionnaire to a Word Document.
Some Question types have an additional Option button here. See the Question Types guide for what this means in each instance.
h. Once you've finished your question choose Save.
You'll be taken back to the Set Up screen for your form. From here you can add additional questions and headers and rearrange the lines until you're happy with your form.
i. The Form Settings option takes you to a screen where you can configure your selected form further.
Make changes to the font and text appearance of the forms you're filling in and associate a Word Document if exporting results to Word.
If you want to be prompted to fill in this form whenever you complete a client consultation then you can set this here also.
Tip: You can also associate particular customs forms to certain Appointments Types via Tools > Look Up Tables > Appointment Types. Open an Appointment Type and set a form in the Consultation Notes section.
j. Save out of the Form Settings screen when done. You'll then return to your form where you can Save or continue making changes. Use Cancel to exit without saving and use the Save As option to save this form as a copy of the original, leaving the original in tact. You'll be prompted to provide the copy with a unique heading and name if you have not already done so.
Section Two - Completing a Form
a. You can fill in your custom form for a client from within a consultation via the the Complete a Form option in the top menu.
The form will then automatically be associated to this consultation and any linked Treatment Episode. Alternatively, access and complete custom forms via the Custom Form option of the Client menu from your main PPS options.
b. In either instance you'll be presented with your list of forms. Favourites forms will be listed first or choose All Forms to view all form categories and active forms.
c. You can then fill in the form for the client.
Has this client filled this form in before? To quickly see how clients have answered a particular question before right click the question column of a particular entry and choose "View Previous Values".
Across the top of the form you'll find a series of options:
Save this form: Save changes made to the form and exit.
Save as a New form: If you're reviewing an already saved form at a later date you'll have this option to save the instance you have opened and made changes to as a copy of the original using this option.
Delete: Delete this instance of this form for the client
Sign Off: Sign-off this instance of the form using your PPS password. No further changes will then be able to be made to it by anyone.
Make this form Private: Private forms can only be viewed or modified by the PPS user who created them.
Print: Print this instance of the form and any answers.
If you've associated a Word document to a custom form you'll also have the option to export and email it.