This is a guide as to what they’ll look like on your template, as well as different uses for them. There are 6 different kinds of controls when making or editing an examination template:

There are two different types of controls: text field and value. We’ll start with the text fields and move on from there.

The Short Text control is a shorthand text field. These work well for both subjective and objective parts of an assessment. Subjectively, they work best with things that don’t require a lot of explanation. Objectively, they do well when there’s a short, definitive answer (like pulse or respiratory rate).

Here’s what the 'Short Text' field will look like when you’re adding it to the template:

A Textarea is similar to an Input, but it allows you to have more room to go into more detail. Again, these work best in more subjective parts of an examination, and work well as a field for taking notes for parts of exams.

Here’s how the 'Textarea' field will look when you’re adding it to the template:

The Text Editor is the most robust of the freeform fields. Not only does it allow you to write as much text as you need, you’re also able to format that text. This is a field for things like intricate, bespoke discharge instructions or highly detailed observations within specific parts of your examination.

Here’s how the 'Text Editor' field will look when you’re adding it to the template:

The Select control appears as a dropdown and allows you to add 2 or more options for selection. It only permits one value to be selected. This is useful in objective parts of an examination, such as measuring capillary refill rate or mucus membrane color.

Here’s how the 'Select' field will look when you’re adding it to the template:

The Multiselect control allows you to make multiple selections for different, albeit usually objective, values. This is useful for things like selecting multiple medications, different chronic diseases, or even coloration.

Here’s what the 'Multiselect' field looks like when you add it to an exam template:

The Radio selector acts similarly to the Value selector in that it only allows you to make one selection per value. However, the Radio selector works better with values with fewer characters, whereas, the Value selector works better with answers with more characters (phrases, etc.).

Here’s what the Radio selector looks like when you add it to an exam template: