Setup
Outcome instruments
Define the rating scales and checklists your clinic scores over time, with subscales, totals and interpretation bands, and keep every version.
An outcome instrument is a questionnaire, rating scale or checklist your clinic gives patients again and again to measure change, such as a weekly communication check-in answered by a parent. You write the items, choose how they add up, and name the score ranges. Therapists then give the instrument from the chart or inside a document, and each result is charted over time.
Open Setup > Clinical libraries > Outcome Instruments. Anyone with access to Setup can see the list; people whose role can manage clinical libraries can add and change instruments.
Add an instrument#
- Click New Instrument.
- Under Details, enter a Name, an optional Abbreviation and Description, and the Discipline it is for, or leave it for all disciplines.
- Under Items and scores, add the items and scores. A new instrument starts with one rating item and a Total.
- Under Charted score and bands, pick the Charted score and add any bands.
- Click Create Instrument.
Items#
An instrument holds these kinds of items:
| Item | Use it for |
|---|---|
| Rating scale | A rating between a lowest and a highest whole number, such as 0 (never) to 4 (almost always) |
| Single select | One choice from a list; give each choice a Score |
| Number | A count or a measurement, such as minutes to finish a task |
| Yes or no | A yes or no question; yes counts as 1 and no as 0 |
| Static text | Instructions for the person answering; nothing to answer |
Mark an item Required when every result must answer it. Items always show; an instrument has no conditional items, so every result can be compared with the next.
Scores, subscales and totals#
A Calculated score adds up or averages the items you pick. Empty items are skipped, so an average covers only the items that were answered. A score can also add up other scores: make one score per subscale, then a Total over the subscales.
Charted score and bands#
The Charted score is the one the chart's trend and the progress report follow, usually the total. A band names a range of one score, such as 0 to 5 Emerging and 6 to 11 Developing. Leave the lowest or the highest score empty for an open range. When a score falls in two bands, the first one wins. Bands are optional.
Leave Higher score is better on for most scales. Turn it off for one where a lower score means progress, such as a stress or symptom rating; the outcome score change report then counts a falling score as improvement. Changing it does not add a version.
Scores-only instruments#
Turn on Scores only (licensed instrument) for an instrument you score on its publisher's own protocol, such as a licensed developmental or adaptive behavior assessment. It holds no items to rate: add Number fields for the totals, levels and domain scores the clinician enters, Single select fields for levels, instructions, and calculated totals. Each number is a score, so it can be the charted score or carry bands. Keep the protocol itself outside NeatPractice.
Clinics with the ABA module get scores-only instruments for common licensed ABA assessments the first time anyone starts an ABA assessment; edit or turn them off like any other instrument.
Versions#
NeatPractice keeps every version of an instrument. When you change its items, scores, charted score, bands or Scores only and click Save Changes, the instrument moves to the next version. Results already recorded keep the version they were scored with, including their scores and bands, and are never scored again. Changing only the name, abbreviation, description, discipline or status does not add a version.
The Version column shows the current version. Someone giving the instrument while you save is asked to reopen it, so a result is always scored with the version the person saw.
Turn off or delete an instrument#
Turn off Active to stop new results while keeping the instrument and its results. You can delete an instrument only while no patient has a result for it.
Use an instrument in a template#
Add the Outcome measure block to a template component to give an instrument inside a note, evaluation or progress report. Pick an Instrument in the block's settings, or leave it empty so the author picks one in the document. See Templates and Progress.