Setup

Smart phrases

Save text you write often and insert it into notes by typing a shortcut, with merge fields that fill in from the note.

A smart phrase is text you type often, saved under a short name. Type a period and the shortcut, such as .intro, and pick the phrase to insert it: click it, or use the arrow keys and press Enter or Tab. If the phrases cannot load, the list says so; click Try again and keep typing, since your text is never changed.

In a note's formatted text boxes you can also type {{ to pick a merge field, the same list as Insert field in the box's toolbar. Keep typing to narrow it by name, then press Enter or Tab, or Escape to close it. A field the note already knows goes in as its value; any other goes in as its placeholder.

Open Setup > Clinical libraries > Smart Phrases. The page has three tabs:

Clinic phrases are shared with everyone in your clinic. Only people whose role can manage clinical libraries can add or change them.
My phrases are yours alone. Anyone with access to Setup can keep their own.
Try it is a practice box where you can type a shortcut and see the phrase go in. Nothing there is saved.

The starter phrases#

A new clinic starts with a few clinic phrases, such as .intro, .tol, .hep and .plan, already filed in folders (Session openers, Home program, Plan and Interventions). Edit, refile or delete them as you like.

Add a phrase#

Open the Clinic phrases or My phrases tab and click New Phrase.
Enter the Shortcut: 2 to 30 letters, digits, hyphens or underscores, starting with a letter or digit. NeatPractice stores it in lower case without the period, so .Intro and intro are the same shortcut. A shortcut starts with a letter, so a period that ends a sentence or starts a number such as .5 never opens the list.
Choose the Discipline the phrase is for, or All disciplines. A phrase for one discipline shows only in that discipline's notes.
Optionally pick a Folder: choose one already in use, or type a new name to start one. Leave it empty for no folder.
Write the Phrase. Use Insert field, or type {{, to add a value that fills in from the note; the list shows what each one means.
Click Create Phrase.

Each shortcut is used once among the clinic phrases, and once among each person's own phrases. You can give one of your phrases the same shortcut as a clinic phrase; when you type it, yours is offered instead.

Folders#

Folders keep a long list of phrases in order. The clinic phrases and each person's own phrases have their own folders. Both lists show phrases in folders first, sorted by folder and then shortcut, and the Folder column filters the list to one or more folders. When you type a shortcut in a note, each phrase in the list shows its folder on the right.

To move a phrase, edit it and pick another folder. A folder goes away once no phrase uses it.

Merge fields#

Merge fields are names in double braces that NeatPractice replaces with details from the note when you insert the phrase:

Merge field	Fills with
`{{patient_first_name}}`	The patient's first name
`{{patient_last_name}}`	The patient's last name
`{{patient_preferred_name}}`	The name the patient goes by
`{{patient_age}}`	The patient's age
`{{pronoun_subject}}`	he, she or they
`{{pronoun_object}}`	him, her or them
`{{pronoun_possessive}}`	his, her or their
`{{provider_name}}`	The provider of the note
`{{provider_credentials}}`	That provider's credentials
`{{date_of_service}}`	The visit date
`{{location_name}}`	The visit location
`{{discipline_name}}`	The note's discipline
`{{clinic_name}}`	Your clinic's name
`{{active_medications}}`	The patient's active medications with dose, route and frequency
`{{allergies}}`	Active allergies with their reactions, or "No known allergies"
`{{next_visit}}`	The next appointment booked in the note's discipline, with its providers
`{{active_goals}}`	The active goals of the plan of care the note works toward

For example: {{patient_first_name}} tolerated today's session well and reported no pain or discomfort.

A field with no value yet stays in the text as written, so you can see what is left to fill: the pronouns when the chart has none NeatPractice can read (he, she or they), the date of service on a document written without a visit, and the visit location. Medications fill only for people who can open the full chart, and allergies for people who can see the chart summary; for anyone else those fields stay as written. NeatPractice rejects a merge field name it does not know when you save.

Turn off or delete a phrase#

Turn off Active to keep a phrase without offering it when you type a shortcut. Delete a phrase you no longer need; text it already put into notes stays as it is.

Export and print#

On the Clinic phrases tab, the More actions menu exports or prints the clinic's shared phrases, with each phrase's folder. Personal phrases are never included. See Import, export and print.