Article section links:

Creating a New Custom Field

Using the "Manage Patient Custom Fields" Table

Using Custom Fields

Importing Custom Fields From Athena

ThoroughCare has come out with a new feature that allows admin users to create custom patient fields, in order for users to document additional patient information within the patient's chart. To learn how to create and use customizable patient fields continue through the following article.

An admin user can view the Custom Fields page by clicking the "Patient Custom Fields" menu option located underneath the "Management" menu option, as shown below.

Take a look at the "Manage Patient Custom Fields" table.

Note: This table will most likely be empty the first time you visit this page because no custom fields have been created.

To create a new custom field click the " + Add Custom Field " button in the upper right hand corner of the screen.

Once the "Add Custom Field" pop-up appears. Take a look at the available options.

First begin by adding the name of the field within the "Name" text box. Click within this box to add the name of the new field.

Once the name of the field has been added, select the data type of the custom field under the "Type" section. For this example we will be using the "Date" data type, click to select the target data type.

Once the custom field options are selected click the "Save" button in the bottom right hand corner of the pop-up.

Note: If the "Picklist" data type is chosen, the user will be asked to record the "Picklist Items" at the bottom of the pop-up. Click within a picklist item and begin typing to add that item as an option to be listed within the field on the patient page.

For example: below we are adding a custom field that records the best day of the week to contact the patient. We did this by individually adding a picklist item for each day in the week. When the custom field is saved a user can go into a patient's chart and select from the dropdown labeled "Best day to call patient" which day of the week works best for the patient.

Once a custom field is created it will be added to "Manage Patient Custom Fields" table. Take a look and make sure the name and type of the field that was just created is showing correctly in the table

If a custom field's name/type needs to be updated select the blue "Edit" button to the right of the target custom field under the "actions" column.

If a custom field needs deleted from the table click the red "Remove" button also located underneath the "Actions" column.

Note: Only remove a custom field if it absolutely will NEVER be needed again. All data added to the custom field across all patients' charts will be erased upon deletion of the custom field.

For our group admin users, custom fields can also be copied across all practices. Click the "Copy To All" button underneath the "Group Actions" column to add the custom field to all practices.

In order to use a custom field, a user must navigate to a patient's view page. On the patient view page one will see an additional "Custom Fields" section located on the right side of the page directly under the "Insurance" section, as highlighted below.

Note: All Care Manager and Physician roles have the ability to use the custom fields after they have been created by a site admin.

To update a patient's recorded custom field, click the pencil icon as shown.

To record an answer to a custom field click within the field's empty box to type or select the option that is to be documented within the field.

Once all fields have been populated make sure to click the "Save" button in the right hand corner of the "Custom Fields" section.

Note: If a user leaves the page before the custom fields section is saved, all data entered will be lost.

Note: For these fields to be able to be added to ThoroughCare, they will first need to be populated in Athena under "Additional Information".
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These custom fields will be able to be imported into ThoroughCare from the "Patient Custom Fields" page. While on this screen, you can select the "Import From EHR" button located in the top right of the screen which will import all custom fields currently created in Athena.

Note: After these custom fields have been imported, you will need to manually update any patients individually which you wish these to be populated.

You are able to update these fields for a patient from the "Edit Patient" button located at the top right of the patient's page. Once the "Update From EHR" button is clicked, any custom fields information will be updated for this patient.

For more information on adding or using custom fields, not discussed in this article, chat with a ThoroughCare professional by clicking the blue chat bubble in the bottom right hand corner of every ThoroughCare screen!