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Inpatient Dynamic Forms

Dr M H B Ariyaratne edited this page Jun 4, 2026 · 1 revision

Inpatient Dynamic Forms

Dynamic forms let a hospital design its own structured data-entry forms — admission forms, medical-fitness forms, insurance/consent forms, and so on — and let ward staff fill, edit and delete those forms against a patient's admission.

There are two parts:

  1. An administrator designs a form template (the questions/fields) — once.
  2. Ward staff fill that template for individual patients — as often as needed.

This page covers the navigation for both, end to end.


Before you start: privileges

Two privileges control access. Grant them under Administration → Users → (Role or User) → Privileges, in the privilege tree at Inward → Forms:

Privilege What it unlocks
Form Template Admin (InwardFormTemplateAdmin) The form-builder screens where templates are created and edited.
Fill / Edit Forms (InwardFormFill) The Forms button on the inpatient dashboard, where staff fill forms for a patient.

If a button or menu described below is missing, the logged-in user is almost always missing one of these privileges.


Part A — Create and manage form templates (Administrator)

Open the form builder

  1. From the top menu bar, open Administration (the wrench icon).
  2. Click Manage Metadata.
  3. On the left, open the Manage Data Entry Forms tab. (This tab only appears if you have the Form Template Admin privilege.)
  4. You will see two buttons:
    • Add Data Entry Form — start a new form.
    • List Data Entry Forms — see and edit existing forms.

Navigation summary: Administration → Manage Metadata → Manage Data Entry Forms

Create a new form

  1. Click Add Data Entry Form.
  2. Enter a Name (this is what staff will pick from the dropdown later, e.g. "Admission Consent Form") and an optional Description.
  3. Click Save. The form must be saved once before you can add fields to it.

Add fields to the form

After saving, a Fields section appears under the form.

  1. Click Add Field.
  2. Fill in the field:
    • Field Label — the question/prompt the staff member sees (e.g. "Allergy history").
    • Code (optional) — a short internal code; leave blank if unsure.
    • Help Text / Description (optional).
    • Input Type — how the field is entered. The fully supported types for the patient fill screen are:
      Input Type Shown to staff as
      Input_text A single-line text box
      Input_text_Area A multi-line text box
      Input_Number A number box
      SelectBooleanCheckBox A yes/no tick box
      Calendar A date picker
    • Data Type — the kind of value stored (text, number, date, etc.).
    • Order — the position of this field on the form (1, 2, 3 …). Lower numbers appear first.
    • Mandatory — tick if the field must be filled.
  3. Click Save. Repeat Add Field for each question.

Edit, reorder, or remove fields

  • Open List Data Entry Forms → Edit on the form (or use List Data Entry Forms then the form's Edit button).
  • In the Fields table you can:
    • Edit a field — change its label, type, order or mandatory flag.
    • Remove a field — removes it from the form (it is hidden, not permanently erased).
    • Reorder — change the Order number on each field; the list re-sorts by Order.

Tip: Changing a template affects every new form filled from it. Forms already filled for patients keep the answers as they were captured.


Part B — Fill a form for a patient (Ward staff)

Forms are filled from a specific admission, so you first open that admission's dashboard.

Open the patient's dashboard

  1. Open the Inpatient Admission Profile (Dashboard) for the patient — reach it the usual way, e.g. Inward → Room → Room Occupancy and select the patient, or via Inward → Admissions patient lookup. (See Inpatient Admission Profile (Dashboard).)
  2. Find the Clinical Data panel.
  3. Click Forms. (This button only appears if you have the Fill / Edit Forms privilege.)

Navigation summary: Inpatient Dashboard → Clinical Data panel → Forms

Fill a new form

On the Inpatient Forms page:

  1. In Fill a Form, pick the form from the Select Form dropdown (these are the templates an administrator created in Part A).
  2. Click Load Form. The form's fields appear, each with the correct input box for its type.
  3. Enter the answers. Optionally add a note in Comments.
  4. Click Save. The completed form now appears in the list at the top of the page.

View, edit, or delete a filled form

The top of the page lists every form already filled for this admission, showing the Form name, Filled At date/time, Filled By staff member, and Comments.

  • Edit — reopens the form with the saved answers so you can change them, then Save.
  • Delete — removes the form from the list (you are asked to confirm first). It is soft-deleted, so the record is retained internally for audit but no longer shown.
  • Back to Dashboard — returns to the inpatient admission profile.

Quick reference — navigation

Task Navigation
Create / edit a form template Administration → Manage Metadata → Manage Data Entry Forms
Fill / edit / delete a patient's form Inpatient Dashboard → Clinical Data → Forms
Grant access Administration → Users → Privileges → Inward → Forms

See also

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