Mail Merge Tool: Findings Variables

You can insert both the short and long descriptions of your patients' treatment findings and miscellaneous information from the Findings page of the patient folder into your mail merge documents, and print them in either list or paragraph form.

Use This Feature

1. Create or Edit a Document - You can add merge tools to new documents, or documents that you have already created. See "Create and Edit Mail Merge Documents" for details.

2. Position Your Cursor - Place your cursor in the document where you want the information to print.

3. Open Variable Menu - Open the Add-Ins menu (if needed). Choose the Select Fields option to open a window of variable categories, most of which have subcategories.

   

4. Choose Findings Tab - Select the Findings tab at the top of the window, and choose either the Treatment Findings or Misc Information findings type.

   

5. Select Description Type - Choose whether to print the short or long description, and whether to print the descriptions in a list, or one after the other in paragraph format.

   

   Short Response Comma Delimited - This option prints the short clinical responses. If a patient has multiple responses for the variable, they appear one after another, as if in a paragraph, with a comma between each response.

   Example merge code: (The Short_C indicates the format you chose) - {MERGEFIELD Initial_Findings_ARCH_DISCREPANCIES_Short_C}

   Short Response Return Delimited - This option also prints the short clinical responses. If a patient has multiple responses for the variable, a line feed (carriage return) will separate them to form a vertical list.

   Example merge code: (The Short_R indicates the format you chose) - {MERGEFIELD Initial_Findings_ARCH_DISCREPANCIES_Short_R}

   Long Response Space Delimited - This option prints the full sentence layman's responses. If a patient has multiple responses for the variable, they appear one after another, as if in a paragraph, with one space between each response.

   Example merge code: (The Long_S indicates the format you chose) - {MERGEFIELD Initial_Findings_ARCH_DISCREPANCIES_Long_S}

   Long Response Double-Space Delimited - This option prints the full sentence layman's responses. If a patient has multiple responses for the variable, they appear one after another, as if in a paragraph, with two spaces between each response.

   Example merge code: (The Long_D indicates the format you chose) - {MERGEFIELD Initial_Findings_ARCH_DISCREPANCIES_Long_D}

   Long Response Return Delimited - This option prints the full sentence layman's responses. If a patient has multiple responses for the variable, a line feed (carriage return) will separate them to form a vertical list.

   Example merge code: (The Long_R indicates the format you chose) - {MERGEFIELD Initial_Findings_ARCH_DISCREPANCIES_Long_R}

6. Select Variable - Locate the variable that you want to insert into your document. (You can also use the Search field to find the variable to use.) Then click Insert (or double-click the variable name). The variables are listed in alphabetical order, not necessarily the order you see in a patient folder. The Description Type you chose determines whether to print the short or long description, and whether to print the descriptions in a list, or one after the other in paragraph format. After inserting the variable, you will see the merge code, as described above.

   

7. Review & Edit the Variable Code - Once you have properly inserted a variable, it appears in the text of your document. (If you do not see the codes, press Alt+F9 on your keyboard.) You can manually copy, paste, and edit the code to change it into another variable, but be careful - spelling counts! This feature is particularly useful for adding a series of related variables, such as treatment findings, to a letter. See "Mail Merge Tool: Variables" for details about adding variables to mail merge documents,

   

8. Save & Exit - Click the X in the upper right corner of the Word document window. As you exit, you have the opportunity to save the document.

More Information

Toggle Merge Code Display - When creating and editing documents with mail merge codes (such as variables and conditional statements), it is helpful and sometimes necessary to be able to see the codes. During regular daily use, however, you may wish to have them off. While different versions of Word have different ways of accessing this setting, an easy way to toggle the merge code display, regardless of your version of Word, is to press Alt+F9 on your keyboard.