The key to interactive charting is to pay attention to the colour of the text font in reports, sidebars and documentation. Anything dark blue can be selected (clicked, tapped, etc.) to interact with the prose. The lack of underlining (a common way of signifying links) or other text decorations keeps the text compatible with external health information systems.
Typical interaction behaviours include rapid access to:
- help, with pop-up links to definitions, explanations or additional instructions about the meaning of a section of documentation or how it is meant to be used;
- information, with pop-up reports giving more detail or other information related to what appears in the source text;
- editing, with pop-up editing tools (e.g., SmartForms, Flowsheets) that allow immediate modification of the data that shapes the source text; and
- chart actions, with navigation to and opening of the part of the chart (e.g., activity, navigator, synopsis) containing the data informing the source text.
If in doubt... click. Activating a link or tool can do no harm. The best way to quickly habituate to the efficiencies of interactive charting is to select any (dark blue) text of interest. Remember to use the refresh icon if the source text does not immediately update after an interaction.
By not having to remember the diverse places where information is to be found or modified in a patient chart, interactive charting keeps the clinician in-the-flow while speeding up documentation tasks. It also promotes the use of structured data, with many resulting benefits.
ALERT: Once a note or document is signed, interactive charting links may still be active (e.g., to open sections of the chart) but the associated note text will not update, and no refresh tool is available to force an update. This is intentional! Signing a document locks in all its data, reflecting the state of the chart at the time of signing.