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OutSmart Guide

Headings and Smart Lists

What Is a Heading?

A Heading categorizes content within a chart section. For example, a heading of “Asthma” in a Chief Concerns section identifies the contents of that section as pertaining to the patient’s asthma concern.

Example workflow:

  • Add a Chief Concerns section to the Subjective page.
  • Choose or create a heading called “Asthma.” and chart details about this concern.
  • Then add additional Chief Concerns sections with different headings (e.g., “Back Pain,” “Infertility”).

Do I Have to Use Headings?

No, headings are optional, however their use is strongly recommended to organize your chart. Also, using headings unlocks additional benefits, such as the Medical Summary in the Client Workspace.

Benefits of using headings:

  • Automatically builds the Medical Summary in the Client Workspace.
  • Allows you to continue adding details to that specific heading over time, so that you can more easily see the patient’s evolving progress related to that specific heading over several visits.

How to Create Custom Headings in the SOAP Chart

When adding a section with a heading option (e.g., Chief Concerns), OutSmart may provide a list of default headings. However you can also create your own.

Steps to create a custom heading:

  • Type the heading into the available blue text field in that section.
  • Highlight the heading with your cursor (click and drag to highlight).
  • A toolbar will appear. From the toolbar, click +H. (H = heading).
  • The heading is saved and added to your overall list for future use.

How to Delete a Heading

If you want to delete a heading:

  • Search for the heading in the heading drop down for that section.
  • A blue ‘x’ will show up to the left of every heading that you created. (no ‘x’ shows up for headings we have provided as they cannot be deleted).
  • Click on that ‘x’ to delete the heading from your list.

What Is a Smart List

A Smart List is a list of sentences, paragraphs, or any text you want to save for reuse. It functions like a canned response, improving the efficiency and speed of charting.

  • In some sections, Smart Lists are tied to a specific Heading (e.g., “Headaches” vs. “Infertility” in Chief Concerns). So each Heading will have it’s own unique Smart List.
  • In other sections, Smart Lists are linked to the section as a whole (e.g., Acupuncture section).
  • Not all sections support Smart Lists (e.g., Free Form sections, Subjective questionnaire sections).

How to Add an Item to a Smart List

Steps to add an item:

  • Type text into the section’s blue text field.
  • Highlight the text with your cursor. (Click and drag to select text)
  • A toolbar will appear. Click the +S option to save the text to your Smart List. (S = Smart List).

How to Retrieve a Smart List Item

There are two ways to retrieve a Smart List item from your overall Smart List for that section or heading. Inline, or from the Smart List Manager.

Steps to retrieve saved text inline:

  • Type the @ symbol in the text field.
  • If Smart List items are available, they will display in a drop down menu.
  • Keep typing to filter the list. For example, ‘@headaches’.
  • Use arrow keys to find the item and press Enter to insert the text, or click with your mouse.

To open the Smart List Manager for that section:

  • Look for the button labelled “Smart List Manager’ located at the top right of the blue text field, and click on that.
  • This will open a list of all your entries for that section or heading.
  • Select one or more to add, or click the ‘x’ to delete items you no longer need.

How to Delete a Smart List Item

To delete a Smart List item:

  • Look for the button labelled “Smart List Manager’ located at the top right of the blue text field, and click on that.
  • This will open a list of all your entries for that section or heading.
  • Find the item you want to delete and click on the ‘x’ to the left of the item to delete it.

Best Practices & Considerations

  • Use headings consistently: Enables summary views and more meaningful Smart Lists.
  • Build reusable content: Save frequently used text into Smart Lists for speed.
  • Keep it organized: Use different Smart Lists for different headings to avoid clutter.
  • Create custom headings sparingly: Only add new ones when needed for clarity.
  • Shortcut efficiency: Use the @ symbol to quickly access Smart Lists without leaving the text field.