How to Create Intake Questionnaires and/or Treatment Notes

This guide covers the various tools you have at your disposal for creating and editing questionnaires and/or treatment notes within the IntakeQ system.

Questionnaires are forms that you send to clients, while treatment notes are forms you use internally to make notes on a client's timeline. Each of these follow the same basic creation/editing template; take note that some sections will not apply to treatment notes.

To watch a video version of this guide, press play below! Otherwise follow the written guide below.

1. Get Started

When you begin a new intake form, you typically begin by asking the client's personal details. Most want this information to populate into the client profile, so we offer a pre-made question to save you time! In the initial screen you see when creating a new form, click the green Add Contact Information Section button to add the initial block of client questions.

The initial block of Mixed Controls questions will populate; customize these as needed.

2. Add Questions

To add a question to your form, click the Add New Question button on the top right corner of the screen. You will be given several Question Type options. Hover over the example link to see what each question type can do.

Below is more information on each of the various questions types:

Mixed Controls: This question type gives you the ability to add numerous questions into one block. You can arrange the questions as you wish, setting their size and layout. You can make individual questions required, and map them to the client profile as well. The options for the question types you have are: Text box, check boxes, radio buttons, date, email, address, phone, numeric, dropdown, multi-select dropdown, large text box, and paragraph. For more information read the following article: Mixed Controls for a Better Layout
Open Answer: This would be a simple text box for clients to type information into. It defaults to a one line text box, but you can enable a larger text box by checking "Provide multiple lines for answer".
Multiple Choice - Single Answer: This is a simple radio button question where clients are presented with numerous selections and can only choose one of them.
Multiple Choice - Multiple Answer: This is a simple check box question where clients can choose multiple selections (as many as needed), not just a single one.
Matrix - Single Answer per Line: This question allows you to setup table style questions, where your clients can select one response per line. You are able to "Enable Score Calculation" as well, which gives you the ability to assign a score to each response, and display the total score at the end of the question.
Matrix: This is a more robust version of the single line matrix question. Here you are still using the table style questions, but can set each column to have a different input type (i.e. text box, date, numeric, radio button, etc.). Clients would be able to provide a response in each of the columns (except if using radio buttons).
Section Title / Note: This option isn't a question, but is used to create section titles or notes throughout your intake form. Entering text in the "Section Title" box will present it on your form in a larger font, this would be used to denote sections of an intake. Adding text into the "Section Text (Optional)" box will display this as normal text on your form, stylized in a grey background to make it stand out.
File Attachment: This question type allows your clients to attach files to your forms. They will be presented with a button that will open up their computer's file finder, where they can select the file to attach. If you want to allow clients to attach multiple files, check off the "Allow multiple files" setting. Here is a guide on using this question type: Using File Attachments
Smart Editor: This question type allows for more advanced functionality, such as adding HTML and other code (take note that not all code will work).
e-Signature: This question adds an e-signature field to your form for clients to sign. You can add multiple signatures to a form, and describe what they are for in the "Text" section. if you want the date that the client signed on to display on PDF printouts, check the "Display Date field on printed forms" setting. Here is more information on this question type: Things You Can Do With the E-Signature Question Type
Growth Chart: This is for treatment notes only, see the following article for more details: Child Growth Charting (WHO Standard)
Body Map / Drawing: This question type available in intake questionnaires and treatment notes allows you to add certain body map and other images to your forms that clients can draw on. This is typically used to denote specific ailments on the body, but any image can be used so it can be used in varying use-cases. Learn more here: Body Map / Drawing Questions
Current Diagnosis: This is for treatment notes only, see the following article for more details: Displaying Current Diagnosis Codes within Treatment Notes
Appointment Details: This is for treatment notes only, see the following article for more details: Displaying Appointment Details within Treatment Notes

If you do not wish to create questions from scratch, check out the options below:

3. Rearrange Questions

During the form creation or editing process, you may wish to move your questions up or down. This is explained below:

Main Questions: Click the three line icon and drag the question up or down.

Items Within Questions: Click the three line icon on the top right of the question item. Drag the item to its new location.

4. Use Question Options

Each question type has various question options that can be set. Click the Question Options button to view these options. The settings will vary based on the type of question you are editing.

Here is a complete list of all the options you will see across various question types:

For Office Use Only: If you check off this option, the question will not be visible to the client who is completing the intake form. Use this when you want to add questions to forms that only you or your staff will complete after the client has submitted their completed intake form. Find more information on this process here: Questions "For Office Use Only"
Pin To Client Profile: This option will make it so that when a client submits the intake form, that specific question and its response will be added to the client timeline as a "pinned note". Learn more about how pinned notes work here: Pinned Notes
Start on a New Page (PDF): This option will force the question to start on a new PDF page, which means that in the PDF printout, a page break will be added just before the question. Some practices use this to ensure that a certain section of their intake form can be printed and stand on its own, apart from the other questions on the form.
Start on a New Page (Web): On longer forms, you may want to break up some questions and force the client to hit the Next button to view the next set of questions. By default, we break up long forms into multiple pages to avoid loading issues, but this option allows you to force a page break where needed.
Columns: For both of the Multiple Choice question types, you have the ability to set how many columns you would like the option selection to appear on. The default is 3, but you can manually set it to 1 or 2 as well. Changing this setting can improve the layout of questions with longer option names.
Display Score to Client: This option is used on a Matrix - Single Answer per Line question in conjunction with the Enable Score Calculation setting. Checking this will display the score total at the bottom of the question (i.e. Score: 10 out of 30). Read more on this here: Rating Scales
Show Grand Total: This option is used on a Matrix - Single Answer per Line question in conjunction with the Enable Score Calculation setting. Checking this will display the grand total score at the bottom of the question (i.e. Grand Total: 30 out of 50). The grand total adds up all score totals of any matrix questions before it as long as you do not set to display the grand total on a previous question. Each time you display the grand total, it resets and starts counting a new grand total again for the next set of matrix questions with score calculation enabled.
Duplicate Columns: This option is available on Matrix questions only. Use it to save space on PDF printouts by allowing the system to show the numerous rows in side-by-side columns. For more details and to view how this looks, see the following article: Duplicate Matrix Columns

5. Attach Consent Forms

When you send a client a questionnaire, you may also have documents that you want them to sign, such as company policies, payment agreements, or consent for treatment forms. Attaching consent forms to a questionnaire creates an Intake Package. When you send the questionnaire to your client, they will be presented with not only the form questions, but also links to view and sign off on the consent forms. Below are the steps for creating an intake package:

Open the questionnaire for editing.
Click Consent Forms from the menu bar.
A pop-up will display all of the consent forms created within your account. Select the consent forms you wish to include in your intake package.
Click Save to complete the attachment of the consent forms, and you now have an intake package.

IMPORTANT: Check off the consent forms in the order you want them to appear on your intake form.

By default, consent forms show at the top of your intake questionnaire, but you can move them to the bottom if needed: How Do I Place Consent Forms at the Bottom of an Intake Package?

6. Use Conditional Skip Logic/Rules

Sometimes there are sections of a questionnaire that are conditional based on previous responses from the client. For example, if you have a questionnaire with questions that only pertain to female clients. In such cases, use the Rules feature to only show the questions if the client selected female as their gender.

Add, Edit, or Delete a Rule

Open the questionnaire for editing.
Click the three dot icon and select Rules.
Click Add New Rule and enter the parameters of the rule. Edit an existing rule by clicking the blue pencil button to the right of the rule, or delete a rule by clicking on the red X button.

Below is an example of a rule that will display Question #3 only if the client has selected female as their gender:

For more information on conditional questions and skip logic, read the following articles:

7. Enter Form Settings

We offer several form settings to adjust how a form looks and functions. To access these settings, open the form for editing and click the three dot icon, then select Settings.

These are the available options and what they will do:

Form Name: This is the name of your form, you can change it if you'd like.
When form is submitted, redirect client to: This would be used if you want to redirect clients to a specific website after they submit your form. By default after they submit a form they'll be prompted to sign out and can then simply close down the browser tab/window.
Enable Interactive Mode: This is an alternative way to display your intake forms, showing only one question at a time in the browser window. It's especially useful on mobile as it drastically reduces the amount of scrolling your clients would have to do. For more information, read the following article: Interactive Form Mode
Show consent forms at the bottom, instead of top: By default your attached consent forms display at the top of your intake form, if you check this option they will display at the bottom instead.
Hide progress indicator: This will hide the progress indicator that tells clients what percentage of the form they have completed.
Hide default instructions: By default we add instructions to the top of intake forms. If you'd prefer to add your own instructions or remove them completely, check this option.
Can be completed by responsible party: Checking this option will add a prompt before a client completes a form. This prompt will ask them if they are completing the form themselves, or if they are completing it for someone else (I'm the parent, guardian, or power of attorney).
Hide Print button: This option will disable the ability for clients to fill out the form by hand as it removed the print button entirely. For more information on the option to allow clients to complete forms by hand, read the following article: Offline Response Notification (Fill Form by Hand)
Make this form available as a Note Template: Enable this option if you want the form to be available for use as both an intake questionnaire and a treatment note. For more information on treatment notes, read the following article: Treatment Notes and Patient Timeline
Don't share this form with other practitioners in my organization: This is used to stop other practitioners on your team from accessing the form. By default if you're the administrator of a multi-practitioner account, your forms are shared with all other practitioners. This option disables that sharing on a per-form basis.
Prevent other practitioners from changing this form: Similar to the option above, this is used in a multi-practitioner account to prevent others on your team from editing the form. They'll still be able to send it to their clients, but they won't be able to edit the questions unless they were to create a duplicate copy to edit on their own account.
Allow client to download intake after submission: This option will give your clients the ability to download the completed intake form as a PDF once they submit it.
Invitation Email: This section is used to customize the invitation email that clients will receive when you send them an intake form manually via email. This setting applies to the one form only, you can set a standard in your main account settings if you'd like.
Confirmation Email: This section is used to send clients a custom confirmation email after they submit an intake form. This setting applies to the one form only, you can set a standard in your main account settings if you'd like.
Custom Header: If you'd like a specific header to display at the top of your intake for, you can set this here. You have the tools available to add your logo, contact information, social media accounts, etc. This setting applies to the one form only, you can set a standard header for all forms in your main account settings if you'd like.
Mappings: This screen shows you all of the client profile mappings setup on your form. A mapped field is a question that is set to populate a specific part of a client's profile when the form is submitted (i.e. Name, Birth Date, Gender, etc.). You can adjust the mappings as you'd like on this screen, or also from the individual items that are part of any Mixed Controls questions. For more details, read the following article: Mapping Intake Form Fields to the Client Profile
Advanced: This section gives you various other more advanced options. If you have any questions in regards to these settings, feel free to contact us and we'll be happy to help!

8. Send Intakes to Your Clients

Now that you have created and edited your intake form/package, let's get it to your clients! This article will show you all of the ways this is possible: Get Your Intake Forms to Your Clients

We can make edits on your behalf, or even convert your paper forms into digital ones for small fee. Contact us at hello@intakeq.com for more information!