The basic process for building a template is simple — open a new form and name it, add orders, and save the completed template. But because the purpose of templates goes beyond providing a checklist of orders, the process is actually more complex than that.
Orders on a template, like those in an order set, are those recommended or preferred for handling a given situation, be it a procedure, diagnosis, complaint, or circumstance such as admission to a selected care unit. Besides cutting down on the amount of time it takes a provider to write a set of appropriate orders, templates make it more difficult — by cutting down on accessibility — to write inappropriate orders, without actually ever prohibiting any orders.
Unlike order sets, however, templates do more than group together orders to give providers quick access. Because the template builder allows you to lay out the orders in a number of different ways, you can effectively guide the ordering provider. For example, you can set up an order to be pre-selected so that unless the ordering provider "unselects" it, the order is added to the record automatically.
In addition, you can fill out an order in advance to guide the ordering provider to use the most common parameters — for example, specific dosing and frequency on medications, or fluids and additives on IVs. You can use varying degrees of "force" depending on the need. The point is to make it easy to do the right thing in ordinary circumstances without making it too hard to do the right thing in extraordinary circumstances.
Another difference between templates and simple order sets is the control that you as the builder have over the presentation. By arranging the layout of orders on pages and within framed sections, and using the free-text labels available in templates, you can make it easier for ordering providers to find and write what they need quickly.
With this in mind, you can build an effective template that best serves the needs of patient and provider alike.