Smart Phrases and Dot Phrases Outside Epic for SLPs and OTs
Bring dot phrases beyond Epic. Build ten reusable phrases, add placeholders for changing details, and compare text expansion options for SLPs and OTs.
Speech-language pathologists and occupational therapists type the same sentences again and again, from the first line of a session note to the no-show email. Dot phrases save that retyping in Epic. Outside Epic, you're often copying them from a saved document or typing them from scratch.
What are Epic dot phrases?
Dot phrases are short codes, usually starting with a period, that insert saved text, often with blanks for the details that change. In Epic, they're called SmartPhrases. A text expander like Text Blaze, a free Chrome extension and desktop app, gives SLPs and OTs similar shortcuts in email, spreadsheets, reports, and supported portals, so you can reuse familiar wording without finding and copying it from another document.
Epic's SmartPhrases can hold saved wording, lists to choose from (SmartLists), and links that pull in information from the record. SmartTexts are text templates for charting. Other systems call these shortcuts macros or auto-text. A shortcut outside Epic can bring your wording with it, but not Epic's links to the record.
One OT described an Epic phrase that sets up a treatment grid. Their assessment phrase pulls in selected barriers and leaves space for how the patient did that day. A travel OT found that dot phrases in Epic made documenting manageable.
How to create Epic SmartPhrases
Use your organization's Epic personalization or SmartPhrase tools to create a phrase, give it a shortcut, and save the wording you reuse. You can add blanks and lists to choose from. The steps, features, and permissions vary, so follow your organization's Epic training.
Bring familiar wording into the other places you write
Your Epic shortcuts don't automatically follow you to the other places you write.
You finish entering progress data in a district Google Sheet, open Gmail to write to a teacher, and need the line you use to introduce your classroom strategies. You know you saved it in a Google Doc. You find the document, copy the line, go back to the email, and add the strategies you discussed.
For a school SLP, that trip between documents can happen several times in an afternoon. The sentence is ready. Getting to it is the extra work.
In pediatric practice, you might switch between a session note in the Medicaid portal, an evaluation report in Word, and a parent email. In a medical setting, you may type into the narrative boxes of an EMR like Net Health. Some wording keeps coming back: home-practice notes, cueing descriptions, records requests, and your signature.
Those systems may already have useful templates and prompts. Keep using what works.
Without shortcuts, one inpatient OT kept the lines they reuse in OneNote, but searching and pasting sometimes took more effort than it saved. Watch for the sentences that send you looking through another document. Those are the ones worth saving as shortcuts.
Dot phrases with placeholders: leave room for what changes
A placeholder marks where the student's or patient's details go. Save only the wording that stays the same, with a blank for each detail that changes. When you write the note, fill in names, scores, and today's observations.
For a school SLP's accuracy line, in Text Blaze you could save:
School SLP accuracy line
{formtext: name=Student} produced {formtext: name=target from IEP goal} during {formtext: name=task} with {formtext: name=accuracy}% accuracy across {formtext: name=number} opportunities, with {formtext: name=cue type and level}.
_
The frame keeps the task and cue level next to the percentage. Eighty percent with frequent models tells a different story from eighty percent in conversation with one reminder.
For an outpatient OT's activity line, you could save:
Outpatient OT activity line
During {formtext: name=functional activity}, {formtext: name=patient} required {formtext: name=assist level/type} for {formtext: name=task component}. Skilled input included {formtext: name=adaptation, instruction, or grading}, with {formtext: name=observed response}.
_
This frame ties the activity, the assist level, and your skilled input to how the patient responded. What you did and what you saw still come from that session.
Instead of manual placeholders, where the text goes in first and you find and fill in each blank yourself, Text Blaze's interactive fields use a popup to ask for the details or choices first. Then the finished sentence goes in, just like the two examples above.
Want to stop retyping the same visit note lines?
Join 800,000+ who are using Text Blaze templates.
Build your first ten dot phrases
Start with the ten sentences you typed three times today. A school SLP described using a single shortcut for a whole SOAP frame. You can begin smaller, with one sentence or phrase per shortcut.
Outside Epic, shortcuts don't have to start with a dot. The suggestions below use a slash, as in /myacc. They're frames for you to adapt, not wording from a kit.
| Purpose | Suggested shortcut | Sentence frame to adapt |
|---|---|---|
| Note opener | /myopen | [Student/patient/caregiver] reported [relevant update]. |
| Accuracy with cues | /myacc | [Target] during [task]: [accuracy]% across [number] opportunities, with [cue type and level]. |
| Goals not targeted | /mygnt | [Goal/area] was not addressed this session. [Context, if relevant]. |
| Skilled input | /mysk | Skilled input included [adaptation/instruction] to [purpose]. |
| Session tolerance | /mytol | [Name] [observed response] during [activity]. [Adjustment, if any]. |
| Plan for next session | /myplan | Next session will focus on [target/activity], based on [today's findings]. |
| No-show note | /myns | [Name] did not attend the scheduled session. [Notice received or no notice]. [Follow-up, if any]. |
| Late cancel | /mylc | Session canceled [timing] before the scheduled time. [Policy wording]. |
| Home practice | /myhp | Please practice [activity] [frequency]: [instructions]. |
| Signature | /mysig | [Your name], [credentials], [role] |
Use your organization's cancellation wording for /mylc and your usual signature for /mysig.
Pick shortcuts you won't type by accident. Keep them easy to remember, try them on a normal day, and rewrite any line you keep editing.
Share a team phrase library and keep your own wording
Share a small set of report templates, home-practice notes, and email and letter sign-offs with your team. A new colleague can open the team's evaluation template on their first day and fill it with their own findings. SLPAs and COTAs can use the same format for the notes they write within their roles.
Keep your own phrases alongside the shared set: an SLP's cueing descriptions, an OT's activity wording, or a sign-off you use in parent emails.
Agree on who will update the shared wording and clear out old phrases. Check whether editing a phrase changes it for everyone or only for you, and keep your local policy wording up to date. Each person is still responsible for their own notes. Sharing a phrase library does not change anyone's credentials, role, or supervision requirements.
Choose shortcuts for every place you write
What are the best alternatives to dot phrases?
Text expanders that run in your browser or on your computer let you insert saved wording outside the EMR. Built-in text replacement and a Google Docs or OneNote cheat sheet also work for simple phrases. All of them can hold manual blanks, and tools with interactive forms can also ask for details or choices in a popup first.
| Category | Works outside the EMR | Placeholders and drop-downs | Sharing with a team | Cost to start |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| EMR smart phrases | Within the EMR | Blanks and lists, depending on the system | Within your organization | Existing EMR access |
| Built-in text replacement | Mac/iPhone: many apps. Windows: Office options such as Word AutoCorrect | Manual blanks, no interactive forms | Personal device sync where supported, manual team sharing | Built in, or in apps you already have |
| Google Docs or OneNote cheat sheet | Yes, by copying and pasting | Manual blanks, no popup form | Shared document or notebook | Free, or part of your work account |
| Browser text expanders | Supported fields in your browser | Plain text, forms in some tools | Shared libraries, where offered | Free plans available |
| Desktop text expanders | Supported programs on your computer | Plain text, forms in some tools | Shared libraries, where offered | Free plans or trials available |
What is the best text expander for speech therapists and OTs?
Text Blaze is the best choice for SLPs and OTs who want custom dot phrases with placeholders outside the EMR. It works in Chrome and in Windows and Mac apps, adds fill-in fields for the details that change, lets your team share one phrase library, and has a free plan to start. You don't need anything fancy: a few well-chosen shortcuts with blanks can save more time than a complicated setup.
Once you've added the SLP & OT Starter Kit to Text Blaze, type /mincue in a supported Medicaid portal field in Chrome to add a minimal-cues phrase to the performance details you've written. With /asst, a popup asks you to pick the assist level you observed, and then the phrase goes in. The same shortcuts work in Google Docs and Sheets, Gmail, and supported web-based EMRs and portals in Chrome. The Windows and Mac desktop apps let you use them in Word and other programs on your computer.
The free starter kit installs in one click and includes about twenty short snippets: note openers, cue and assist phrases, no-show and late-cancel notes, and parent messages. Edit them into your own words and add blanks where details change. The free plan has a limit on active snippets and lets you use form fields a limited number of times a day. Unlimited use of interactive forms needs a paid plan.
