Making Macros (Dr. Barker)

In basic computer speak a Macro is a series of steps that are done together, and the series is identified by a title or a short-cut command.   In Cerner PowerNotes you can create blocks of text that you use frequently and store that as a Macro.

So lets say that I see a lot of new patients referred from the STD Clinic and I want to be able to document that referral source.  I go to the “Referral Source Section” and click on “Other”

When the text box opens up I type my text… “CORE STD Clinic” and click OK

The text is inserted in this note, but what if I know I need to be able to use it in future notes on other patients. 

Place your pointer over the text you want to be able to reuse- and click the right mouse button.  A pop-up menu appears and you can choose “Save Macro As”

Left clicking “Save Macro As” should get you here. 

You should rename this Macro, names that are highlighted in Dark Blue the way OTHER is here are set to be replaced when you type – I am going to call mine “CORE STD” – so I just type that as a name.   Then click the “Create New” button at the lower left. 

You should now have a new Macro denoted by the blue M.  You will notice that the “OTHER” free text section reappeared to the right after I used it to type in the CORE STD Clinic text – this is so that I could make additional free text entries if I needed to – because my Macro is associated with the OTHER item the Macro M appears there as well. 

What if I have alternative referral sources I want to be able to document?  There is no limit to the number of Macros that can co-exist in one item.  So I can make as many additional one as I need.   Here I am making one that says “CCH Emergency Room” – the M you see is the CORE STD Clinic Macro. 

If I create multiple Macros in the same item only one M appears but when I click on the M I get a list of the possible Macro choices – just click on the one you want. 

Multiple choice Macros seem to get alphabetized by title – so if you have a particular favorite you might want to call “aaWhatever” so it is at the top of the list.    Macros can be much longer than these simple ones – they can be whole paragraphs.   

The downside of Macros – they are very specific.  They are tied to that element, in that paragraph, of that Note Type.   So a Note type could have hundreds of Macros associated with specific elements but they generally will not show up in any other Note. They are useful because they can free us from having to do repetitive documentation. 

When is it worth creating a Macro – when there is something you need to document repeatedly at a specific point and there is one, or just a handful of choices.   Unusual occurrences that will not happen again aren’t worth it.  

For something more widely useful we need to talk about AutoText – next time.