Best Practice

Reuse existing questions/answers wherever possible

The more times a question/answer can be reused, the more you can get out of reporting if using Atmolytics, and the more you can make use of copy forward functionality across forms within your Imosphere data entry solution. Always start by searching to see if your question already exists before creating a new one.

Tip

Use the Ontology search if you think a question/answer group may already exist, but are unsure of how it is named.

Make use of term override

Use the change terms button if there is an existing question with the same meaning, but worded differently.

Form override should only be used if the context of the question remains the same (e.g. you must not change ‘History of heart disease’ to ‘History of stroke’, but may change it to ‘Does the patient have a history of heart disease?’).

Think about answer types

Take care in deciding which answer type to best represent your data:

  • If using Atmolytics, try to use drop-down or numeric fields rather than text fields where possible. Text fields are the least useful when reporting.
  • Use a radio-button if all the answer options would fit in one horizontal row - this looks cleaner and requires fewer clicks in your Imosphere data entry solution.