Questionnaires are created within Cloud 9 to capture information from a patient. While this is usually done early in the practice's relationship with the patient, it does not have to be. The information the office obtains from the patient on a questionnaire can be used to populate documents for the remainder of their treatment by merging it with different letters. These letters can be created to extract specific pieces of information from the questionnaire through the use of merge fields. This article will walk you through the steps needed to capture the information and then use it where you deem necessary.
Permissions: In order to create and edit the questionnaire, you will need the permission titled Edit Library Items. To use the questionnaire, you go to Edit>Setup>Questionnaires.
Questionnaire Setup
Navigate through Edit>Setup>Questionnaires. Select the Blue "+" button at the top left of the screen.
You will be at the Add Questionnaire screen shown below.
Name: Choose a name for this questionnaire.
Number of Columns: How many columns of text do you want on your questionnaire? Normally a single column works best.
Show on Patient Portal: If your office uses the Patient Portal and you are making this questionnaire to be viewed on the Patient Portal, then this box needs to be checked. As the questionnaire on the Patient Portal is viewed as more of a document with fillable fields, use this link to go to a separate article for building a questionnaire specifically for Patient Portal use: Creating a Questionnaire specifically for use on the Patient Portal
Type: To select which type of Questionnaire you need, let's review what each type does.
There are three types of Questionnaires. They are Case Review, Clinical Notes, and Patient.
Case Review is seldom used but is available if a Doctor wants to oversee the treatments of associate providers. An applicable questionnaire for that purpose can be created.
Clinical Notes is used to link a Questionnaire to the Treatment Plan Notes section of the Orthodontic Treatment Card. Steps for that setup can be found at this link: ADD LINK HERE
Patient is used for most of the questionnaires that you will make. A questionnaire of this type cannot show in the Treatment notes section of the Treatment Card. It will be stored in the View Questionnaires Section under the Edit Patient for which it was specifically completed.
In the screenshot below is the section where the bulk of setup will happen. While on this screen, take note of the Order column. Notice that while they are sequential, they are not consecutive. Meaning that while they are in order from lowest to highest, there are gaps in the space of the numbers, so they are not consecutive. This is recommended, as it allows for other fields to be added later on without having to renumber every option to create space for another number. There are also Columns for the Question, and the Category.
In order to add a question, select the blue "+".
That will take you to the following screen. First, select the order of the question. Make them sequential, but not consecutive. Start with one, and the next one should be five, ten, fifteen, etc.
The Type field will display a dropdown of options. These are the types of fields that can be selected. The most commonly used types are Multi Select List and Single Select list, but others are available. Multi Select List will allow you to select multiple answers to the same question, while Single Select list only allows for one of the options in the available list of options to be selected.
Date Picker and Text Narrative are also options. You can always create a test Questionnaire, run it on a test patient, and make adjustments based on whether or not you like the results you get from the options you have selected.
The next list of options are for the Category of the question. Within the Questionnaire, there can be different categories of questions and answers. Categories are not mandatory, but if you wish to use them, this is where they are selected.
Below the Category field is the field for the actual question that we would like to ask. The Width and Height fields below that are only used if this questionnaire is destined to be used on the Patient Portal. Specifics related to that use will be explained in a separate document: ADD LINK TO PT PORTAL QUESTIONNAIRE CREATION HERE.
When asking a question, there is normally a group of options that we expect for answers. Select the white plus in the blue field to take you to the following screen. Add one answer option in the Answer field. If that answer does not need to be quantified, then skip that section and go to the Technical Text and the Layman's Text lines. When a letter is sent to a recipient that is a Doctor (Profession is listed as a Doctor), the Technical Text verbiage will be included on the letter. When the letter is sent to anyone else, the Layman's Text verbiage will be used.
If that answer will need to be quantified, the Quantify Answers section will need to be completed, again with every possible option of answers.
For each possible response (answer) that could occur from the question, you will have to add that on the add answers screen. Also, if there are any Procedures that you want linked to this answer, they can be added, also by checking the white plus in the blue field. When you do, the list of procedures already created within your url should be available to be selected. If you do not see the one on the list that you need, you will have to go to Edit>Setup>Transaction Types to add the needed Procedure Code to the Transaction Type. More information on how to do that can be found in this article: Transaction Type Setup
NOTE: At the bottom of this screen, the options are OK and Cancel. There is not a save button until you OK or cancel your way back out to the questionnaire. We recommend that you save your work by going all the way back out to the questionnaire and selecting the save button often.
Conclusion
Building a questionnaire needs to be well thought out, and it is a time-consuming endeavor to make it correct. But when done correctly, it only needs to be accomplished once.
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.