To be honest, I can?t understand why everyone doesn?t use Shortkeys. Its cost is negligible, and it saves so much time and so many keystrokes. I am sure that there are many ways to use it; I would like to hear ideas from others.
Looking at my list, here is how they break down:
1. Regular abbreviations. More of a deal for a specialist since others read our notes, but for anyone- why have abbreviations in your notes? From now on, you type fu, r/o, wu, tx, or rx, but instead you see follow-up, rule-out, work-up, treatment, and prescription. These take no extra thought whatsoever; they are abbreviations you already know.
2. Created abbreviations. Why type the same words over and over? Make up your own abbreviations for commonly used words. You do have to remember them, but they are sort of common sense. Type tft, col, mus, mal, or djd and get thyroid function tests, colonoscopy, musculoskeletal, malignancy, and arthritis. This works great for drugs like pan, meto, and metro (pantoprazole, metoprolol, and metronidazole) as well as many more.
3. Names. People, pharmacies, hospitals. First and last initials usually work fine (mmj, ps, and univ become Michelle Martin-Jones, M.D.,Paul Sabundayo, M.D., and University of Maryland).
4. Longer sentences or phrases. Here is where you have to decide if you prefer a template or a Shortkey. It uses fewer keystrokes and hand movements (back and forth to the mouse) to use many shortkeys. For that reason, I like to have at least one for each section of the note. So shneg is ?The patient does not smoke, drink, or use illicit drugs?, and fh is ?Negative for colon cancer, and other GI illnesses such as inflammatory bowel disease, or liver disease or malignancy?. It is quicker to do this than to right click, find the template, and move it to the note. Pick your other commonly used sentences and note elements (nlmPE prints out a full normal male physical; various ROS sentences; risk= ?The risks and benefits of the procedure were discussed and it will be scheduled?. Whatever you use a lot.
The process for this is much like the ones for templates; anything you notice that you type repeatedly, think of creating a Shortkey.
Don't forget uses of Shortkeys outside of the EMR. For example, ever get tired of typing your email address? Make a two or three letter Shortkey for your email, for your home address, phone number, etc.
