Module 2, Lesson 5
Prerequisites: Lesson 2.4 — ICD-10 & CPT Code Integration
Estimated time: 5 minutes
What You'll Learn
- How to find templates tailored to your medical specialty
- How the template gallery and shared templates work for specialty content
- How to customize a general template for your specialty
- Tips for building specialty-specific macros
Finding Templates for Your Specialty
DeepCura works across all medical specialties. The template system is designed so that any provider — from family medicine to cardiology to orthopedics — can create a template that matches their documentation style and encounter requirements.
Starting from the Defaults
When you open the Template Maker, the default headers cover a comprehensive general encounter (Chief Complaint through Patient Instructions). For your specialty, you likely need to:
- Remove sections you rarely use — a dermatologist might not need Imaging/Radiology, while an orthopedic surgeon might not need a detailed Social History
- Add specialty-specific sections — for example, “Gait Analysis” for orthopedics, “Skin Examination” for dermatology, or “Cardiac Risk Stratification” for cardiology
- Customize instructions — a cardiologist's Physical Examination instructions might specify “Include auscultation findings, JVP assessment, and peripheral edema grading” while a pediatrician's might specify “Include growth percentiles and developmental milestones”
Shared Templates from Your Organization
If you are part of a multi-provider organization, colleagues can share their templates with you. These appear in your template gallery with the colleague's name as the author. This is the fastest way to get started — if another provider in your specialty has already refined a template through several iterations, you can use theirs immediately.
Use the author filter in the template gallery to view templates by team member. You can generate notes with any shared template, but only the owner can edit it.
Building a Specialty Template: Recommended Approach
The fastest path to a high-quality specialty template:
- Paste a sample note — take a note you have written manually (one you consider well-structured) and paste it into the “sample note” field in the Template Maker. The AI reverse-engineers a template from it.
- Review and adjust — check the generated headers and instructions. Add custom instructions for sections where you have strong formatting preferences.
- Add specialty macros — create macros for findings and phrases you use frequently. For example, a cardiologist might add a “normal cardiac exam” macro that inserts a complete normal cardiac examination paragraph.
- Set your Physical Exam Template — write out (or paste) your standard normal physical exam findings. The AI inserts this block verbatim when a physical exam is documented.
- Test and iterate — generate a few notes with real or sample transcripts. Use the Prompt Healer or Talk to Template to refine until the output matches your style.
Encounter-Type Templates
Many providers create multiple templates for different encounter types within their specialty:
- New Patient vs. Follow-Up — new patient templates tend to be more comprehensive (full history), while follow-up templates focus on interval changes and plan updates
- Procedure Notes — separate templates for procedures with pre-op, intra-op, and post-op sections
- Consult Notes — templates for referral consultations with a “Reason for Referral” header
- Telehealth — templates that account for the limitations of remote examination
Having 3-5 templates per specialty is common. The template gallery lets you organize them in your preferred order so the ones you use most often appear first.
Specialty Macro Libraries
Macros are especially valuable for specialties with repetitive examination findings. Build a macro library for:
- Normal exam findings by system (cardiac, pulmonary, neurological, musculoskeletal)
- Common medication instructions
- Standard follow-up plans
- Procedure descriptions you perform regularly
You can bulk-upload macros from a CSV file if you have a large set to add at once. The CSV format requires columns for the trigger phrase (title) and display name (nickname).
Global Instructions
In addition to per-template settings, the Template Maker includes a Global Instructions option. These are instructions that apply to every note you generate, regardless of which template is selected. Use global instructions for universal preferences like “Always use past tense” or “Never abbreviate medication names.”
Next Steps
You have completed Module 2. Continue to Module 3 — Patients & Scheduling to learn how to manage patient records, navigate the AI Schedule, and sync EHR appointments.