Making Custom Forms/Assessments in ICANotes
If you have a custom form or assessment you’d like to have added to your ICANotes account, you can utilize custom buttons within the Form Builder to use in any patient’s chart at any time. This guide will walk you through creating a custom form/assessment using this method.
Starting from a patient’s Chart Face, go to Form Builder
Your Form Letter will start completely blank. To create a new custom button, click
You’ll start by giving your button a name, enter your text into the ‘variation 1’ field, add patient-specific placeholders with merge fields (optional), set your sharing options for yourself and your group, then save
(1) You can name your button after your assessment or form for easy identification
(2) With custom buttons you have the option of creating additional variations of your text. When multiple variations are entered ICANotes will randomize which variation is placed into your note when you click your custom button. You do not need to enter in additional variations, and should include the entirety of your form or assessment in the first variation.
(3) Merge fields act as placeholders that pull in patient- and chart-specific data into your note. You can insert a merge field for the patient’s date of birth, and when used in your note, ICANotes will automatically replace the placeholder with the patient’s date of birth as set in Demographics.
(4) Choose who to share your button with. If kept private, only the button creator will be able to see the button. You can share with selected users, specific disciplines, or with your entire group.
(5) Don’t be afraid to use the continue button to go back and check your work as you build your form. This will help you identify any places that need extra work. If you need to, you can save your custom button, click on it to enter your form or assessment text into the note, then delete the text and click to the custom button until it is satisfactory.
Once you’ve named your button, start entering your text into the first variation by either copying/pasting from another document (such as Word) or typing out the text. If your screen size allows for it, you can resize your ICANotes window to sit beside your reference material for easier typing. For example:
If you make a mistake, you can quickly undo your last action by going to the Edit menu at the very top left of ICANotes, then choosing ‘Undo Typing’.
Note: You will only have this option available to you once. If you start typing somewhere else or make a selection with your mouse, you may not be allowed to revert text.
Once you’ve got your assessment or form text entered, you may want to test your custom button. Click 
to go back to your note, then click on your custom button to populate it in the note
The text itself looks good, and I can start to see how my customized assessment will appear in the patient’s note. To continue building the custom button, delete the text from your note and then click 
to the right of the custom button.
Using Merge Fields
Use merge fields to add more customization to your content. In this example, I want my note to automatically include the patient’s name, their chart ID number, and their date of birth
From step 2b, click in the dropdown box 
to choose from the list of merge fields
The placeholder will insert itself at the bottom of your custom text. You’ll need to use copy and paste functionality (using keyboard shortcuts, the right-click menu from your mouse, or the internal clipboard for customers on TSPlus) to move the placeholder from the bottom of the variation, to the place in your text where you want the merge field to populate.
You can do this for as many merge fields as you need in your form or assessment. To check your work, click to Continue out of the Custom Button screen and then click on the name of your custom button to populate the text into the note.
Formatting Text
Text can be formatted to change the font type, size, style, and text color to more fully customize your custom form or assessment. To find these options, select the text you wish to modify with your mouse, then right-click to open up the list of options.
To bold text, go to Style, then click Bold.
Do the same for italics, underline, and other formatting options. You’ll see your formatting choices within the Custom Button work area as you continue to build out your variation.
Similarly, you can change the size of your text.
As well as the color.
If you find typos as you go through your work, easily correct them by right-clicking with your mouse over the misspelled word, then picking from the available Suggested Spellings to correct the typo. Or you can free-text the corrected text.
Keep saving and checking your custom button until you are satisfied. When finished, click your custom button to enter it into white text box. You’ll see any formatting applied to your text, as well as the patient-specific information wherever you included merge fields as placeholders. You may continue making modifications to the note itself, then Print or Save in Chart (or Delete) when finished.
Here is what the final custom button text looks like when entered into the note.
To see this process in action, check the video below to watch how the CAGE assessment was built into a custom button
Video link: https://youtu.be/7-0Vc6X_bGs
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