The Patient Chart is a visual tool you can use to document a patient’s oral health. Within the chart, certain colors are used to document conditions and diagnoses, previously completed procedures, and treatment-planned procedures.
To make this visual tool effective for your team, you can customize the colors that are used within the Patient Chart—both the paint colors (those used to represent treatment plans, completed work, existing work, and conditions) as well as the overall theme (background color options for graphic tooth chart).
You can find both paint colors and themes settings in the Patient Chart by clicking Setup and then Chart Display Setup.
Paint Colors
It’s important to discuss the color scheme you want to use for Paint Colors with your entire team. Because Patient Chart colors are workstation-specific, meaning that different computers on the network can have their own color scheme, the colors you select for the different Paint Colors options should be consistent office-wide. You don’t want treatment-planned procedures to be shown in red on one workstation and blue on another, as that can get confusing as you move to different workstations around the office. You may also want to ask around your office about color blindness and, depending on feedback, avoid colors (such as red and green) that may be difficult for some users to distinguish. Decide which Paint Colors your practice wants to use for each option and stick to it.
For specifics on how to change Paint Colors, see the Customizing Patient Chart Colors topic in Dentrix Help.
Themes
The background color(s) in the Patient Chart are determined by a list of options under Themes. There are several pre-designed themes available to select in the drop-down list. Depending on the colors you have decided to use as Paint Colors, some of the themes might contain colors that make it difficult to see or distinguish those colors.
For example, having Conditions/Diagnoses that paint in black may be difficult to see against the dark blue background of the Blue Haven [Default] Theme. Try a different Themes option for a more distinct contrast.
From the Themes drop-down list, select one of the pre-defined themes and see a preview of what it will look like in the Chart window.
You can further manipulate the colors with the drop-down options under Screen Colors. If you make changes to any of the Screen Colors options, when you are finished, click Save Theme and assign it a name. Your new theme will be available to select in the themes pull-down menu on all of the other computers in the office.
For more specifics on how to change themes in the Patient Chart, see the Customizing Patient Chart Colors topic in Dentrix Help.
Related Information
Did you know you can assign the same Paint Colors visible in the graphic Chart to coordinate with your progress notes? To learn how, read our previous tip titled, Make Progress Notes Match Your Chart Colors.
