Add/ Edit Patient Findings

Use the editing mode of your patients' Findings tab to add your initial findings to the patient record, record the results of patient progress evaluations, and update findings as needed whenever a patient advances to a new phase of treatment.

Get Started

Set Up Findings Categories & Responses - Use the Findings table to set up the categories and standard responses to enter into your patients' treatment findings records. You can select the categories that you want to import into the patient's Insurance detail page, and specify which categories allow you to type custom responses into patient records. (See "Treatment Findings Table" for details.)

Set Up Start Origin Descriptions - Use the Start Origin table to create your list of reasons patients decided to start treatment at your office (i.e. Exam, Insurance Approved, Medical Necessity). The data is collected by treatment phase on the Findings tab of the patient folder. You can optionally add standard Gaidge descriptions to this list. See "Start Origin Descriptions" for details.

How to Get Here

Open Treatment Findings Editing Window - Patient folder > Findings tab > Tx. Findings or Patient Etc. > Tx. Phase > Edit. (You can alternately press Alt+E on your keyboard to open the editing window.) When editing treatment findings, be sure you select the appropriate treatment phase to work with before opening the editing window: Only phases that are currently or were previously assigned to the patient are available. Also note that you edit the start origin, treatment dates, and notes of your treatment findings from the viewing mode, not the editing mode, of the Findings tab. See "Patient Treatment Findings" for details about these fields.)

Use This Feature

Change Viewing Size - Click Size to toggle between large and small display of the responses. The large display is useful for entering data with a touchscreen.

Review Categories & Responses - The left side of the editing window lists your headings and categories. You can expand and collapse individual heading folders as needed, or use the Collapse and Expand buttons to show / hide all categories. After you select a category, the available responses appear in the center panel, with the patient's currently selected response(s) selected. (See "Treatment Findings Table" for details about creating your treatment categories and response lists.)

Select / Deselect Responses - Click an available response to select it for the patient. Certain treatment categories (set up in your Findings table) allow you to select multiple responses, while other categories allow only one response per patient. Responses that are preceded by a square allow multiple responses: Responses that are preceded by a circle allow only one response.

Create a Custom Response - (Available only if the Findings table allows it for the selected category.) If the listed responses do not fit this patient, you can use the New button, type a unique answer in the box, then click Save to add that response to the patient's findings. You then choose "yes" to the copy to layman's description prompt to copy your text to the layman's response. Or choose "no" to the copy prompt, and enter another (perhaps longer) response for the layman's response for this patient. Custom responses are not available to any other patient.

Edit a Response - (Available only if the Findings table allows it for the selected category.) Select the response you want to edit. Make your changes in the text box, then click Save. You can then choose "yes" to the copy to layman's description prompt, and overwrite any existing layman's response with your changes. Or, choose "no" to the copy prompt, and edit the existing lay response as needed. Edited responses are unique to this patient.

Remove All Responses - To clear all of the patient's answers for a specific category, click the category name, then click Unselect.

Change Phase - (Use sparingly!) On rare occasions, if you have entered Findings information into an incorrect treatment phase, you may need to click Change Phase to transfer the findings responses from the current phase to a new phase. You also have the opportunity to copy the treatment dates and notes. The new phase you select cannot have any information assigned to it. When you change the phase, all findings information, and all notes for the original phase are MOVED to your newly selected phase, and ERASED from the original phase. The Patient Etc. data type is not affected.

Save Your Changes - Click Ok to save the changes you have made and close the editing window.

More Information

Edit Tooth Chart - The tooth chart appears on the Findings editing window and the Treatment Chart window. You may review and edit the patient's tooth chart records from either location. See "Patient Tooth Chart" for details.

Import Findings Into Treatment plan - The data you enter into the Findings tab of the patient folder can be imported directly into the treatment plan. See "Add Findings to Treatment Plan" for details.

Copy Findings to New Phase - When you update a patient's treatment phase from the Patient tab of the patient folder, you have the opportunity to copy the previous findings, as well as the findings notes, start origin, start date, expected appliance removal date, and actual appliance removal date, to the new treatment phase on the Findings page of the patient folder.