Helpful eForm & Note Formatting Tips

eForm formatting can be useful to make your Ocean eForms and Ocean-generated clinical notes easier for the reader to efficiently interpret. The following describes a few methods you can use to format your eForms and the generated clinical notes.

Use HTML to apply formatting styles

In the eForm editor, you can use simple HTML tags in captions to make parts of the clinical note that is generated from your eForm either bold, underlined or italicized.

For Example:

This <b>word</b> will appear bold, these <i>two words</i> will appear italicized and these <u>last words</u> will appear underlined.

The above will appear in the clinical note in your EMR as:

This word will appear bold, these two words will appear italicized and these last words will appear underlined

Create a title in the clinical note

If you would like to add a title to the top of your clinical note, follow these steps:

1. Open your form in the eForm Editor.
2. Click "Add item", and drag the item to the top of the eForm, above all the other text.
3. In the "Caption" field, type the title you would like to appear at the top of your clincal note with simple HTML tags. For "Type", select "Label".

   For Example:

   • <b><u>Preventative Care Visit</u></b><br>

   • 
   • The <b></b> tags make the title bold.
   • The <u></u> tags make the title underlined.
   • The <br> tag adds a line break after the title.
4. In the "Note Formatting" tab, find the "Create a note for this item" option and select "always" from the dropdown menu.
5. In the "Scripting and More" tab, enter the value of "false" into the "Show this field if" input box. This will disable the title from being visible to the patient and only visible to the clinician reviewing the note.

Show an item's value in a caption or custom note

In order to access an item's value in the caption or custom note field you can add the special string "$$". This is particularly useful when using formula fields. If you would like to display the resulting formula so that the patient can also see it you can add a caption such as "Score: $$" to the "Caption" field. If you would like to add a custom note to an item you can also use "$$" tag in the "Custom Note" field.

Include messages or simple text as labels

Add item(s) in your eForms as "Labels" for messages, such as instructions or consent information (as opposed to section captions, which are bolded automatically and can be overwhelming to read through).

Add blank space(s) between question items within forms

Add a Blank Line Item

Add White Space to an Item

Alternatively, you can format a custom note in order to put additional white space before or after an item. To do so:

1. Open your form in the eForm Editor.
2. Click on the item that you want to surround with white space.
3. To insert a blank line before the item, copy and paste the item caption (from the General tab) into the "Custom Note" field (in the Note Formatting tab).
   • Move your cursor to the beginning of the text in the "Custom Note" field and tap the "Enter" key on your keyboard to add a blank line before the caption text.
4. To insert a blank line after the section, copy and paste the item caption (from the General tab) in the "Custom Note" field (in the Note Formatting tab).
   • Move your cursor to the end of the text in the "Custom Note" field and tap the "Enter" key on your keyboard to add a blank line after the text.

Other Customizations

There are many customizable formatting options for the Ocean-generated clinical note possible. These include changing the colour, order, spacing, etc. of eForm answers in the clinical note. These changes can be configured in the Note Formatting tab of the eForm Editor. For more on this, please refer to "Note Formatting Tab" in: "Guide to the eForm Editor - Add Item".