Today we are going to talk about managing step-by-step commands.  A step-by-step command allows you to do a single step or many steps in order to perform a function.  The step-by-step commands are located in your file menu under the Dragon flame.  Click on the flame and select Manage Step-by-Step Commands.

You can also give the command to “Manage Step-by-Step Commands” and dragon will do it based on your voice.

On the left side you will see any step-by-step commands that have already been created in alphabetical order.  And if this is your first time adding a step-by-step command the left column will be blank.

Click the plus in the bottom left of the column.  You will see the name field, the spoken form and New Step all highlighted in Red until you populate the fields (See image above).

We will start with a basic step-by-step command.  Type or say "copy that".  Notice that dragon puts the same words in the name field and the spoken form field.  Click "New Step" and click "Press Hotkey".  For the hotkey you must put the letter in first prior to selecting a check box.  In this example we will use the letter "C".  Click the check box under control.  Click apply all to save.

Click the plus sign in the bottom left corner and type or say "paste that". Click "New Step" and click "Press Hotkey".  Type the letter "V".  Click the check box under control.  Click apply all to save.

You have now created your first step-by-step command.  The way these 2 would work, is you would say "select all" or "select this word through this word".  Give the command of "copy that".  Then place your cursor where you would like the copied text to be placed and give the command "paste that".

Step-by-step commands can be used to open applications, being an Internet URL or a program on your hard drive.  Multiple steps can be used to open a program, log you in, and execute commands inside of that program.

Any EMR that has keystrokes enabled for functionality will allow you to create a step-by-step command.  Some examples are "open Athena".  Or in NextGen, "Open Soap".

Let us see how this command works to open Athena web based EMR.

"Open Athena" is the command and the above shows how each step is added.

Notice that the built in wait times allow for the website window to open.  This is all done by manually going through the steps needed to open and application and adding a step for each step you would manually perform with your keyboard and mouse.

Now let’s look at how we can open a Soap Note in NextGen.

“Open Soap” is the command.

Notice how the step by step commands systematically follow the path to opening a soap note.

Once you master the step-by-step commands, the sky is the limit.