When you create an Ocean eForm of your own, by default, it is included in our shared public directory of forms. Therefore, any Ocean community will have access to your form and will be able to import the eForm into their own Ocean site to customize and/or use themselves. If you want to hide your eForm from the Ocean library, follow the steps below:
Using eForms
Learn how to use Ocean eForms most effectively, including setting up easy access to commonly-used forms and storing previous form values.
eForms in Ocean's Core Library
There are over 2000 Ocean eForms in our core eForm library, available for all Ocean users to use. You can view the forms in our Clinical Resource Library or the eForms area of the Ocean Portal.
You can browse through Ocean's core library of eForms in our Clinical Resource Library. There, PS Suite users can also search for specific custom forms.
You can also search within the Ocean Portal in the eForms view for our core library of forms and any forms that you have created and/or customized.
To view a list of all eForms available to your site, click "More" and then "Export All Forms Accessible to This Site".
To see forms developed and/or edited by other Ocean sites, click "More", followed by "View Shared Forms".
Search & Import eForms into an Ocean site
The Ocean eForm Library contains core library eforms and customized eforms listed by other Ocean users. If an eForm is listed in the directory, it can be searched and imported into your own Ocean Library.
Search and Import eForms
- Log in to the Ocean Portal. Click the "Menu" button in the top left corner and select eForms.
- Click on the "More" button and select "View Shared Forms" from the dropdown menu of options.
- Search for your desired eForm, based on the site who created the form or the name of the form. Once you find the eForm, click it, and select the "Import" button
Once the form has been imported into your site, you have the option to edit, duplicate, sever, or sync the form.
- Edit
- Opens the eForm editor where you can make changes to the form.
- Duplicate
- Creates a copy of the form.
- Sever
- Breaks the linkage between the eForm on your Ocean site and the original source site.
- Sync
- If the original source site makes changes to the eForm, you can update your form with those changes.
Keeping Track of eForm Changes with eForm History
eForm History is a powerful feature in the eForm Editor that allows you to review changes made to a form and/or restore the form to any earlier saved versions.
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- eForm History can be found within any eForm in the “Action” menu located in the top right corner of the eForm Editor.
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- You can view your form's eForm History by selecting “View EForm History” from the dropdown “Action” menu.
- From the dialogue box that appears, you’ll be presented with a list displaying the entire revision history of the eForm, from its initial creation to the latest edit.
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- Note: A new entry is added every time the “Save Changes” button is clicked.
- Each entry lists a creation timestamp, the user who made the changes, and two buttons: “Preview” and “Revert” (as described below).
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Preview
- This will open a new window showing a preview of what the eForm looked like at the selected version. You can walk through and test the eForm from the perspective of a patient, as well as see what the resulting clinical notes will look like in your EMR (in the floating blue box).
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Revert
Adding eForm(s) to a Website
You can add eForms to your website for patients to complete using Website Forms.
To learn how to set up a Website form, please refer to our Website Forms Set-Up Guide.
Using eForms to Obtain Informed Consent
Ocean eForms cannot be used to obtaining physical signatures; however, many sites use eForms for obtaining informed consent.
Here are a few examples that you may customize as needed:
- Opioid Treatment Agreement
- Variant of Sunnybrook's Email Consent Form
- Joint Injection Consent Form
- General Procedure Consent Form
- AI Scribe Consent
These above agreements are consistent with the CMPA's guidelines on obtaining informed patient consent.
Note that the CMPA's policy does not in fact require a physical or "wet" signature from the patient when obtaining consent. A signature is neither necessary nor sufficient for obtaining informed consent. Instead, the CMPA policy expects clear documented evidence that all of the risks, benefits, and alternative treatments have been explained to the patient, and that the patient has had a chance to ask questions regarding the procedure.
Sending eForms to patients ahead of their appointment creates an ideal environment for the patient to review this information in advance, without feeling rushed to comply with the physician waiting in the room.
As with any eForm, the generated note associated with these consent forms is completely customizable using the eForm Editor.
If a physical signature is nonetheless felt to be necessary for your clinic, the old-fashioned pen and paper approach is tough to improve upon. In this case, it may be more helpful to let your EMR vendor set your clinic up with a streamlined paper scanning workflow.
Identifying eForms Configured for Ocean Studies
Ocean eForms that are available for use with Ocean Studies are identified by the presence of an icon next to the name of the eForm.
- The half-filled circle icon indicates that the data is both encrypted for the chart and separated for anonymous 'decision support' (i.e., 'Hybrid' mode).
- The human icon indicates that the data is not encrypted (except SSL) before being sent to Ocean but is not associated with the rest of the patient's data (i.e., Anonymous Study Data mode).
If an eForm that has been made available for use in an Ocean Study is sent to and completed by patient, but no corresponding Ocean Study has first been created in your Ocean Site, a new Ocean Study will be automatically created and ad-hoc study fees will be incurred by your Ocean Site.
If you wish to use an eForm that has been made available for use in an Ocean study without automatically creating a new Ocean Study and incurring subsequent ad-hoc study fees, follow the steps below:
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Access your form's eForm Properties.
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Access the Data Security Mode settings.
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Save the eForm.