Re: TESTS>Measurements>Item Name text and Units
EDIT: this post is similar to Post 727, 6/5/07 only more issues.
The Medical History Summary(MHS) displays the Units for every line item in a list of tests over a number of dates. This repetition of units can be avoided by not entering units in the Units field, but rather by displaying the units after the text in the Item Name field. For example, instead of entering ‘WBC’ in the Item Name field, enter ‘WBC Thou/uL’ or ‘Hemoglobin g/dL’ instead of just ‘Hemoglobin’.
Depending on the number of Item Name columns and the length of the text therein, the units may(by program design) roll over to display the column header with two lines instead of one line(g/dl is under Hemoglobin instead of on the same line). This two line presentation is preferable in many cases for clarity, but can not be created by the user.
Presently entering TESTS>Measurements>Item Name text (and Value text as well) does not permit the use of a new sentence(Enter key). Adding this capability would be very advantageous. Question – is there a keyboard key sequence that will force a new line in Item Name and Value fields, even though the Enter key is suppressed? That would be a big help right now until the new version of HFE is issued.
Going a little further with the same theme, I’ve found that even with the great data presentation in MHS I frequently am looking back at the original lab report to see the Reference Range or Reference Norm values of the tests(blood work in particular). To this end I’m experimenting with adding the Reference Range in the Item Name field as well. So, the example above becomes ‘Hemoglobin 11.5 – 15.0 g/dL’, a two line column title with (preferably) the 11.5 – 15.0 g/dL all on the second line.
EDIT - Test name with Reference Range and Units is not easy to do with the current HFE - it is time and effort consuming, but can be possible when the Only Commn, Template and/or Copy Measurements becomes available.
Please consider the above for the next version of HFE.
robert