Daisy Chaining Text Macros

A prototype is now working in Beta 12 client and R83B4 server.

This is how it is works.

I wish to create a macro regarding adverse drug effects.  Now sure we can have some text like

The patient has experienced *some* side effects from their current treatment. 

where we can substitute "no" or "severe" for the *some* as we can do now, but we are going to create three new macros that allow us to expand upon this.

First off, in Settings/Macros let's create a new macro called "DrugAdverseEffects", and the choices will be "!NoAdverseDrugEffects" and "!AdverseDrugEffects".

So the data looks like this:

Word: *DrugAdverseEffects*
Choices: !NoAdverseDrugEffects !AdverseDrugEffects

and click on the [Add] button.

Now the use of the ! infront of the word indicates that this refers to another macro.  So, we now need to create these two new macros.

Bring up the consult editor for any patient, click on the [Macros] tab, and select any existing Macro.

Now we wish to add our two new macros.

Use the drop-down list and change class to "meds", in the search field, put in "NoAdverseDrugEffects" without the quotes, and in the text area type in something like:

He reports no adverse reactions to any of his *current* medications.

and then click on the [Save As] button.  We now have a new macro under the "meds" class called "NoAdverseDrugEffects".

We now create the other one called "AdverseDrugEffects" and use the following text or similar:

He reports *some* side effects from *medications*

and save it as well.

Now  that we have defined these new macros, we can use them in a macro template.

To do this just place *DrugAdverseEffects* in an existing template.  When you click on the [Replace] button, the list will now show the two choices of

• !NoAdverseDrugEffects
• !AdverseDrugEffects

Select the one you want, and then click again on the [Replace] button, and the defined macro will be inserted into the template area.  Use the [Restart] button if you wish to do substitutions on this inserted template now as otherwise it will continue after the insertion point.

One other thing that inserted macros can do is pull in results from the numeric results table.

So, if we had this inside a macro

Hb @718-7
WBC @6690-2
Platelets @26515-7
ESR @4537-7
CRP @1988-5
ALT @1742-6
AST @1920-8

This  would result in the @718-7 being replaced by the result that corresponds to the LOINC code of 718-7 which is the hemoglobin.  The date and laboratory are also provided.  The Hb that appears before the @718-7 is just to help you remember what the code means!

You can also invoke a GUI template by using a "$" instead of the "!" above, and you must use the full name of the template.

eg: "$Allergies: drugs"

A video showing the system in use is available.