Keywords: questionnaire, questionnaire setup, clinical notes, case review, patient questionnaire, edit library items, treatment card, patient portal, merge fields, transaction types
Summary
This article reviews the process of creating a questionnaire in Cloud 9, from initial setup through adding questions, answer options, and categories. It also explains the difference between the three questionnaire types and when to use each one.
Overview
Questionnaires in Cloud 9 are used to capture information from a patient. While this is typically done early in the practice’s relationship with a patient, it does not have to be. The information collected through a questionnaire can be used to populate documents throughout the patient’s treatment by merging it with different letters. Those letters use merge fields to pull specific pieces of information from the questionnaire wherever it is needed.
Building a questionnaire takes some planning and time to get right, but once it is done correctly it only needs to be set up once.
Permission Required
To create and edit questionnaires you will need the Edit Library Items permission.
Questionnaire Setup
Navigate to Edit > Setup > Questionnaires and click the blue + button in the upper left to begin.
On the Add Questionnaire screen, complete the following fields:
Name
Choose a name for this questionnaire.
Number of Columns
Select how many columns of text you want on the questionnaire. A single column works best in most cases.
Show on Patient Portal
If your office uses the Patient Portal and this questionnaire is intended to be viewed there, check this box. Questionnaires built for the Patient Portal are set up differently. See the Cloud 9: Creating a Questionnaire for the Patient Portal article here for those specific steps.
Type
Select the type of questionnaire you need. There are three options and each one behaves differently. See the Questionnaire Types section below for a full explanation before making your selection.
Questionnaire Types
Case Review
This type is seldom used but is available for practices where a doctor needs to oversee the treatments of associate providers. A questionnaire for that purpose can be created using this type.
Clinical Notes
This type is used to link a questionnaire to the Treatment Plan Notes section of the Orthodontic Treatment Card. If this is your goal, additional setup steps are required after creating the questionnaire. See the Cloud 9: Linking a Questionnaire to the Ortho Treatment Plan Notes article for those steps.
Patient
This is the most commonly used type and should be selected for most questionnaires your practice creates. A Patient type questionnaire cannot appear in the Treatment Plan Notes section of the Treatment Card. Completed questionnaires of this type are stored in the View Questionnaires section under Edit Patient for the specific patient it was completed for.
Adding Questions
Once the questionnaire details are filled in, the lower section of the screen is where questions are added. Before adding questions, take note of the Order column.
Note: Order numbers should be sequential but not consecutive. For example, start with 1, then use 5, 10, 15, and so on. This leaves room to insert additional questions later without having to renumber everything. This is strongly recommended.
Click the blue + to add a new question. On the question screen, complete the following:
Order
Set the order number for this question following the sequential but not consecutive approach described above.
Type
Select the type of field for this question. The most commonly used options are:
- Multi Select List: Allows the patient or staff to select multiple answers from a list.
- Single Select List: Allows only one answer to be selected from the available options.
- Date Picker: Used for date-based questions.
-
Text Narrative: Used for open-ended text responses.
Tip: If you are unsure which type works best for your needs, create a test questionnaire, run it on a test patient, and adjust based on the results.
Category
Categories are optional but can be used to group questions within the questionnaire. If your questionnaire uses categories, select the appropriate one here.
Question
Enter the actual question text in this field.
Width and Height
These fields are only used if the questionnaire is being built for use on the Patient Portal. See the Creating a Questionnaire for the Patient Portal article for details.
Adding Answer Options
For each question, you will need to add the possible answer options. Click the white + in the blue field to open the Add Answer screen. For each answer option, complete the following:
- Answer: Enter the answer text.
- Technical Text: When a letter is sent to a recipient whose profession is listed as a Doctor, this text will appear on the letter.
- Layman’s Text: When a letter is sent to anyone other than a Doctor, this text will be used instead.
- Quantify Answers: If the answer needs to be quantified, complete this section with every possible answer option.
- Procedures: If any procedures should be linked to this answer, click the blue + to add them. Available procedures are pulled from your existing setup. If the procedure you need is not listed, navigate to Edit > Setup > Transaction Types to add it. See the Cloud 9: Transaction Type Setup article here for instructions.
Repeat this process for every possible answer option for each question.
Important: There is no Save button on the answer screen. To save your work, click OK or Cancel to return to the questionnaire screen and then click Save. It is strongly recommended to save frequently as you build the questionnaire.
As always, if you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to reach out to Cloud 9 Support by emailing us at cloud9support@planetdds.com, or chatting us online using the chat bubble on the lower right at https://cloud9support.planetdds.com/hc/en-us, or giving us a call during our business hours of 8:00 AM EST to 8:00 PM EST at the 1.800.394.6050 option 2.