Creating your own template

Describing what you want

Create a template and describe the document. Rhazes drafts the structure from your description.

"A clinic letter" gets you something generic. Saying who it is addressed to, what sections it needs, how long it should be and what it must always include gets you something usable immediately.

You can also start from a document you already have, which is often faster than describing one: the structure you want is already in it.

Starting blank

Write the structure yourself. This is the right route when you already know the format, particularly when you are reproducing something your organisation has agreed. Describing it to Rhazes and correcting the draft is slower than typing what you already know.

Name and description

Give it a name and a description you will recognise later. The description matters more than it looks, because it is what tells Rhazes when this template is the right one to reach for.

Headings do the work

The headings are the structure. Rhazes writes into them, so the set of headings is most of what decides the shape of the output.

A heading on its own leaves Rhazes to guess what belongs under it. A line saying what the section is for, and what it should not contain, gets a far more predictable document.

Say what must always appear

If a document must always carry a safety-netting paragraph, a follow-up interval, or a specific closing line, put it in the template. Anything left to be remembered per document will eventually be forgotten.

Keep it to one document

A template that tries to cover a referral letter and a discharge summary produces a compromise of both. Two templates are better than one flexible one.