Tracking Progress with Measures

A measure is one thing a client rates, such as pain or sleep, or that you measure, such as weight or body temperature. Add it to an intake form or a consultation template, or add a reading by hand, and every number lines up, visit by visit, in a Progress table on the client's case and profile. You can send the client their numbers in a letter too.

Step 1: Open your measures

Go to Settings, open the Notifications & Templates tab and click "Measures" (clinic owners and admins). Every practice starts with eight: five ratings, Pain, Sleep, Energy, Stress and Anxiety, and three measurements, Weight, Hours slept and Cycle length. Each says which way is better: less pain is better, more sleep is better, and a cycle of 24 to 38 days is within its band.

Settings, Notifications & Templates tab, Measures: Pain, Sleep, Energy, Stress and Anxiety with their ranges and end words, then Weight in kg, Hours slept within 7–9 and Cycle length within 24–38, and Main symptom, each saying which way is better, and a New measure button

Step 2: Add one of your own

Click "New measure". For a common one, such as body temperature or blood pressure, click it under Start from a common measure and the form fills itself in. Otherwise give it a Name, keep Rating scale as the kind, give it a Range and a label for each end, choose Which way is better, and click "Create measure".

The New measure form: Start from a common measure with chips such as Body temperature and Blood pressure above it, then the form filled in as Digestion, Rating scale ticked, 1 to 10, Very poor to Excellent, Higher is better, with Create measure at the foot

Step 3: Add it to an intake form

Open a form in the form builder (Settings → Notifications & Templates → Intake Forms). Under Measures on the left, click a measure. It goes into the form as a rating question, or a number box with its unit for a measurement such as weight, ready to reword.

Already have a rating question? Click it, then choose a measure under Measure on the right. Answers clients have already given come in too.

The form builder for a Progress check-in form: the Measures group on the left, the question How have you been sleeping this week? picked on the form, and its Measure set to Sleep on the right

Step 4: Or rate it in your notes

Open one of your own consultation templates (Customising Your Consultation Templates). Click a measure under Measures on the left, then "Save Template".

The template editor for Migraine Follow-up with a Pain row picked on the note, its numbers 1 to 10, and Rating scale with Measure set to Pain on the right

In the note it's a row of numbers. Tap one and it saves with the rest of the note. A measurement, such as a weight, is one box instead: type the number, its unit beside it, and your client's last reading shows in grey until you do.

A Pain row in a consultation note: the numbers 1 to 10 with 4 picked, No pain under the 1 and Worst imaginable under the 10

Step 5: See Progress on the case

Open the client's profile, click Cases and open the case. Progress has a row for each measure and a column for each visit. Change shows the first answer → the latest.

The Progress table on a case: Sleep 4, 6, 7 and Main symptom 8, 5, 3 across Visit 1, Visit 2 and Visit 3, with Change reading 4 → 7 and 8 → 3, and Send to client beside the title

Step 6: Or on the profile

Click Progress in the client's menu. It shows every answer across all their cases, by the day it was given.

Step 7: Add a reading by hand

A weight or a temperature taken in the room, with no form or note field for it: click "Add reading" at the top of Progress, on the profile or on a case. Pick the measure, type the value and click "Add reading". It lines up on Progress with the rest.

The Add reading window over a client's Progress: Measure set to Body temperature, Value 36.8 °C, today's date, an optional note, and Cancel and Add reading at the foot

The window lists the last five readings you added by hand, each with "Delete".

Step 8: Send it to the client

Click "Send to client" beside Progress, on the case or the profile. The letter composer opens with a short letter around the numbers, ready to change.

The New letter composer for Priya: the subject Your progress at Willow Lane Chinese Medicine, and the body with a greeting, one line, her Sleep and Main symptom numbers by date in a green block, and a sign-off

Click "Preview" to see it as the client will, then "Send Email", or "Download PDF" to print it.

The preview: Dear Priya, a line about her recent visits, then Sleep (1 = Very poor, 10 = Excellent) 24 Sep: 4, 28 Sep: 6, 1 Oct: 7, and Main symptom (0 = None, 10 = Severe) 24 Sep: 8, 28 Sep: 5, 1 Oct: 3

Tips:

To get a number before every visit, attach a short check-in form to your follow-up appointment type (Setting Up Intake Forms, Step 6).
Forms made from Daobook's templates come with their measures already set, such as Pain, Energy and Stress on the TCM Comprehensive New Patient Intake.
To put the numbers in a letter template of your own, choose Progress (measures) under Insert Variable in the template editor.