Exam Templates

What Are Exam Templates?

An exam template defines which clinical fields Doctora extracts and displays for a given visit type. A comprehensive eye exam involves roughly 30 fields---patient history, anterior segment, posterior segment, refraction, tonometry, and more---while a contact lens follow-up might only need 12. Templates make sure the AI focuses on the right data and the editor only shows relevant sections, keeping your workflow fast and uncluttered.

Every encounter in Doctora is associated with a template. When you start a recording, the template determines three things:

1. What the AI listens for. Only the clinical fields defined by the template are extracted from your dictation.
2. What appears in the editor. Sections outside the template's scope are hidden so you can review findings without scrolling past irrelevant fields.
3. What syncs to the EHR. When Doctora writes data back to your EHR, it targets exactly the tests and screens your template includes.

Template Categories

Doctora groups templates into categories so you can find the right one quickly:

• Comprehensive Exam --- Full workup with all examination sections. Maps to 92004/92014 billing codes.
• Routine Exam --- Standard annual visit, typically fewer specialty tests.
• Contact Lens --- Contact lens evaluation and fitting fields.
• Follow-Up --- Abbreviated exam for returning patients with a known condition.
• Medical Visit --- Problem-focused visit (dry eye, red eye, injury).
• Pediatric --- Child-specific exam fields.
• Vision Therapy --- Binocular vision and therapy-related fields.
• Surgical Consult --- Pre- and post-operative evaluation fields.
• Emergency --- Urgent or walk-in exam.
• Testing / Dilation --- Special testing or dilation-only visits.

The category is usually inferred from the template name or set explicitly by your EHR. It determines the default color shown on the calendar and helps Doctora choose the right billing logic.

Where Templates Come From

Templates can arrive in Doctora two ways:

• Synced from your EHR (automatic). If you use RevolutionEHR or CrystalPM, Doctora imports your existing encounter templates automatically. The sync reads each template's workflow structure---screens, tests, and field mappings---and converts them into Doctora field paths. This means your Doctora templates mirror what you already use in your EHR with no manual setup. See the companion article How Template Sync Works for details.
• Created manually. You can build a template from scratch in Settings > Templates. This is useful for visit types your EHR does not model or for Doctora-only workflows like a quick screening note.

How Templates Affect an Encounter

When an encounter begins, Doctora resolves the active template and computes a set of effective fields. The formula is:

Effective Fields = Template Fields + Doctor Additions - Disabled Paths

• Template fields are the base set defined by the template (fieldPaths).
• Doctor additions are fields you have added globally through your preferences (e.g., you always want dry eye screening even though your template does not include it).
• Disabled paths are fields you have turned off (e.g., you never use confrontation visual fields).

The result is two lists the system uses throughout the encounter:

• UI fields --- everything that appears in the editor.
• AI fields --- everything the AI extracts from your dictation (UI fields minus any sections you explicitly disabled).

When your EHR is connected, each field is further classified as either syncable (it maps to an EHR test or screen) or overflow (it will be placed in your Additional Notes). Sections you added beyond the template are tagged with a "No EHR field" badge so you know they will not sync directly.

Switching Templates Mid-Encounter

If you realize the visit requires a different scope---say a routine exam turns into a medical visit---you can switch templates on the fly. The template selector appears at the top of the encounter editor. Selecting a different template re-computes the effective fields immediately: new sections appear, irrelevant ones hide, and the AI adjusts its extraction scope.

If the encounter's appointment came from the EHR with a default template, switching creates an override. You can always reset to the EHR default with one click.

Capabilities

Some templates carry fine-grained capability information beyond field paths:

• Tonometry methods --- which instruments are available (Goldmann, iCare, non-contact, etc.). The UI filters the tonometry method dropdown to match.
• Special testing types --- which imaging modalities exist (fundus photography, retina OCT, glaucoma OCT, visual field, ERG).
• Posterior segment tests --- whether the template separates optic nerve from fundus. When both are present, Doctora routes optic nerve findings to one EHR test and macula/vitreous/vessels findings to another.

Capabilities are derived automatically from the template's test list during sync, so you do not need to configure them.

Managing Templates

Go to Settings > Templates to view, edit, activate, or deactivate templates. From here you can:

• See all synced and manual templates at a glance, with field counts and source indicators.
• Toggle a template's active status (inactive templates do not appear in scheduling or the template selector).
• Edit display properties---name, color, abbreviation, duration.
• View which EHR tests mapped successfully and which were unmapped.

Templates are stored per-practice, so all providers in the same practice share the same template library. Individual doctors customize their experience through personal additions and disabled paths in their own preferences, not by editing the shared template.