1. Halaxy Help Guide
  2. Account and Settings
  3. Templates and Tools

Guide to clinical questions

Clinical questions are saved questions that you can reuse in areas of Halaxy where you can gather information on your patients. This includes clinical tools, intake forms, social history forms, and even patient profiles.

With clinical questions, you can:

Tip

Run a clinical questions report to track patients and their answers to clinical questions, including the date they answered.

Note

All users in your practice group with access to Clinical Settings can view, edit and use clinical questions.

Add a new clinical question

You can create new clinical questions in two areas.

  • In a template

    You can add a new question while creating or editing a clinical tool, intake form or social history form.

    Questions-02.png

    1. Click Add question.

    2. In the field, type the question, then click Add as a new template question.

  • From the Questions page

    Questions-01.png

    1. Click Settings > Clinical then click the Questions tab.

    2. In the top right, click Add Question.

Set up your clinical question

When you add a new clinical question, you need to configure the way it is answered, such as the type of input (numeric, date/time, multiple choice), any answer options, and if applicable, corresponding scores (or points) for answers.

To set up your clinical question, follow the steps below.

  1. Add a new clinical question through any of the methods above.

  2. Configure the following:

    • Question / Title: Enter the question that appears on the template. (Tip: Questions do not have to be in question format. These can simply be data fields such as Weight or Relationship Status.)

    • Answer Type: Select the type of data input for the answer.

      • Free text: The patient types out the answer. Display options include: Textbox, inline text editor (allows text formatting) and small textbox.

      • Single choice: The patient can select only 1 answer from a set of options. Display type options include: radio buttons, dropdown, slider and magic lookup.

      • Multiple choice: The patient can select 1 or multiple answers from a set of options. Display type options include: checkboxes and dropdown.

      • Annotatable drawing / image: You can upload an image or select one from Halaxy's preset library that the patient can write or draw on. Accepted file types include .jpg, .png, .gif or .jpeg.

      • Numeric value: The patient enters a number as an answer. the patient can enter a numeric value. Display options include: number and decimal. Optional: You can add a unit of measurement, such as cm or kg. For numeric value questions, a timestamp appears when the clinical tool is completed so that you can record when the measurement is taken.

      • Date / Time: The patient enters a date and/or time.

    • Display Type: Select the way you want to display the data input, based on the answer type you select.

    • Data Set (optional): A predefined set of answer options for single choice and multiple choice answer types. Similar to clinical questions, data sets are saved answer templates that can be reused for different questions. Examples include: A scale of 1 to 10, yes or no, frequency options (daily, weekly). You can select from Halaxy's preset library, create your own data set, or manually add your own answer options. (For more details, see related article: Guide to data sets

    • Add answer option: If you are not using a data set, click to add your own answer option with or without a corresponding score. This option is for single choice and multiple choice answer types only.

    • Question Type: Select the behaviour of the question when it is answered.

      • Standard: No additional questions.

      • Conditional: Display follow-up conditional questions based on the answer to the main question. (See detailed instructions below.)

  3. Click Save.

Your new question has been added to your clinical questions list, ready to be added to any template.

Tip

If the question is used in any template, click the question in the clinical questions list to find the list of templates that currently use the question.

Use your clinical question

Clinical questions can be used in different areas of Halaxy that gather information on your patient.

Select the tabs to learn how to use your clinical question in these areas.

  • Templates

    Use clinical questions in form templates, such as clinical tools, intake forms or the social history form.

    1. Open the template.

      • Clinical tool: Click Settings > Clinical. Create a new clinical tool or edit an existing one.

      • Patient intake form: Click Settings > General. Under the Clinical Settings section, next to Patient intake form, click the Icon-Edit.svg pencil icon.

      • Social history form: Click Settings > General. Under the Clinical Settings section, next to Social history form, click the Icon-Edit.svg pencil icon.

    2. On the right, under the section you want the question to appear, click Add question.

    3. Start typing the title of your question you created earlier and select it from the list.

    4. Click Save.

  • Custom fields for patient profiles

    Use clinical questions to create custom fields for patient profiles.

    1. Click Settings > General.

    2. Under the Patient Settings section, next to Customised patient profiles, click the Icon-Edit.svg pencil icon.

      Patient-Profile-Customise-01.png

    3. Click Add question.

    4. Start typing the title of your question you created earlier and select it from the list.

      The page to add custom data/questions to profiles. The user is adding Marital Status.

    5. Click Save.

    Your clinical question now appears as a new field in patient profiles.

Set up conditional questions

A conditional question is a question that can be configured to display one or more additional questions based on a patient's answer in a clinical tool or other forms. Only questions with Answer Types single choice, multiple choice and numeric can be configured to be conditional questions.

Examples:

  • Are you taking any medication? - If patient answers Yes, display additional question: "Please list your medication"

  • Is English your first language? - If the patient answers No, display additional question: "Do you require an interpreter?"

To set up a conditional question, follow the steps below.

Questions-03.png

  1. When creating a question:

    • From the Questions page: For Question Type, select Conditional, then click Add Conditional Question.

    • From a template: Next to the question, click the Icon-Arrows-Split.svg split arrows icon. (To add multiple follow-up questions, click this icon again.)

  2. Configure your condition (the answer to the main question) and configure the additional question/s to display if the patient's answer matches the condition. You can enter multiple additional questions and set any of them to be optional.

  3. (Optional) You can enter multiple additional questions, all of which display only if the patient's answer matches the condition. Additional questions can also be set as optional.

  4. Click Save.

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