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Extra lines get added to my quicktext in CPOE -- how do I avoid this? -- SOLVED

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Last Post by brycespitze 6 years ago

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brycespitze

(@brycespitze)

Posts: 8

Active Member

Topic starter

I have been running into an issue that I can't seem to resolve: I have quick text with multiple lines (samples below), and when I add them to the CPOE and hit "Commit Assessment", extra blank lines are added to some of them (sample also below).

I remember when I first created my quick text I ran into the issue in other parts of the chart (HPI, for instance) and was somehow able to resolve it. If I recall correctly, I ended up having to only copy my quick text over from a TXT document or a Word file or something along those lines, but for the life of me I can't figure it out.

What's even more frustrating is that the *document* that gets generated won't have the extra lines in the CPOE if you read it through the document viewer -- they only show up if you look at the assessment when you expand the problem on the problem list.

Even more bizarre is that I can make the lines go away if -- after I enter the quick text in the CPOE -- I go through each line and hit backspace to bring it to the line above it, then hit enter to bring it down to my desired format (and, no, I'm not finding any hidden spaces when I do that).

SAMPLE 1 -- displays correctly just as copied below (for the record, I don't ever use this one in the CPOE, but I did use it as a test to see if I could figure out what was going on because I originally had this same issue with this quick text when I copied it into the HPI section where I typically use it)
PHYSICAL EXAM
Gen: alert, oriented, cooperative, vital signs reviewed
HEENT: EOMI, no audible congestion
Cardiac: RRR
Pulmonary: non-labored respirations
Neuro: non-focal
Psych: mood appropriate

SAMPLE 2a (desired format)
OB Ultrasound Indication(s):

GA per LMP on day of exam =
GA per US on day of exam =
EDC per LMP =
EDC per US =

Singleton IUP, ##presentation##
Placenta ## and without e/o previa
SDP
EFW

.obusas

Limitations of ultrasound were explained, including poor sensitivity in detection of fetal anomalies.

Recommend routine follow-up including fetal survey at 20-22 weeks gestation.

SAMPLE 2b (format that appears)
OB Ultrasound Indication(s):

GA per LMP on day of exam =

GA per US on day of exam =

EDC per LMP =

EDC per US =

Singleton IUP, ##presentation##

Placenta ## and without e/o previa

SDP

EFW

.obusas

Limitations of ultrasound were explained, including poor sensitivity in detection of fetal anomalies.

Recommend routine follow-up including fetal survey at 20-22 weeks gestation.

Posted : March 19, 2019 11:11 pm

virtualHITman

(@virtualhitman)

Posts: 319

Reputable Member

Copying and pasting content when setting up quick texts can be problematic as your source content can contain hidden formatting codes. It appears that the expected hard return/line feed is being interpreted by the text translation engine as two hard returns. I would recommend manually typing the content when setting up your quick text. You can try this with just the first few lines to see if that will give you the desired formatting.

Another thing you can do is hard code the line feeds where you want them to occur by inserting the following inline MEL code: {numtoascii(10)}

Here is an example:

OB Ultrasound Indication(s):{numtoascii(10)}{numtoascii(10)}GA per LMP on day of exam ={numtoascii(10)}GA per US on day of exam ={numtoascii(10)}EDC per LMP ={numtoascii(10)}EDC per US =

You would type out this quick text as one long string and not put any hard returns at all in your quick text because you are relying on the MEL code to insert them where they need to be.

I suspect you are getting the weird formatting because you copied and pasted the text from an application which included some hidden control characters and the text translation in Centricity interprets them differently.

Let me know if that helps.

Greg

Posted : March 19, 2019 11:59 pm

brycespitze

(@brycespitze)

Posts: 8

Active Member

Topic starter

Ha! I just noticed the irony that the stuff I copied/pasted above did something similar 🙂

Thanks for your advice, Greg. I was thinking the same thing, which is why I tried copy/pasting from several sources. The issue with your solution is that it adds too many characters to the quick text, eating up the 512(?) characters that are allowed far too quickly.

I have actually found a solution: I can copy the text directly from an Excel cell (which is actually where I have all my Quicktext anyway). The only frustration from that is that when I copy from Excel, it duplicates all quotation marks that are already in the quicktext.

For instance an entry of:
{LASTOBSDATE("TD BOOSTER")}{LASTOBSDATE("TDAP #1 DAT")}{LASTOBSDATE("TDAP #2 DAT")}{LASTOBSDATE("TDAP #3 DAT")}

Shows up as:
"{LASTOBSDATE(""TD BOOSTER"")}{LASTOBSDATE(""TDAP #1 DAT"")}{LASTOBSDATE(""TDAP #2 DAT"")}{LASTOBSDATE(""TDAP #3 DAT"")}"

However, apparently this is an Excel issue and I found a workaround for it here: https://www.peelonion.com/2017/03/how-to-avoid-extra-double-quotes-excel.html

Thanks for lending a hand!

Posted : March 21, 2019 4:20 am

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