Instructions for Using RCA Templates

DOD Patient Safety Course

Main Steps:

Saving RCA templates from a diskette

Saving RCA templates form an e-mail attachment

Opening "blank" RCA templates

Filling out RCA templates

Other features of the RCA templates (inserting text, un-"protecting")

I. Saving RCA templates from a diskette (RCA Charter Memo & RCA Form)

1) Double click on the "My Computer" icon on your desk top

2) Double click on the "A" drive icon to view contents of the diskette

3) Highlight, but do not open, the icon of the template to be saved

4) Go to the "Edit" menu and choose "Copy." CAUTION: saving/opening this template using another process will not work.

5) Go back to the "My Computer" window (you can close the "A" drive window)

- Double click on the "C" drive icon

- Open the "Program Files" folder

- Then to the "Microsoft Office" folder

- Then to the "Templates" folder

6) Go to the "Edit" menu and choose "Paste," this will save the template file to this folder for future usage when using MS Word

2. Saving RCA templates from an e-mail attachment

1) Open the e-mail message so it fills your screen (double click on message listing)

2) Open the attached file by double clicking, this should open up MS Word

3) A Warning window might pop up asking if you want to "Enable Macros"--you do. Click "Enable Macros" box

4) DO NOT execute the instructions in this word document at this time, instead do this:

5) Go to the "File " menu and choose "Save As…," this will bring up the "Save As' dialogue box

6) Navigate through the "Save In" line at the top of this dialogue box to get to save this template in the proper place on your computer. This is done as follows:

- In "Save In," go to C drive, then to the "Program Files" folder, then to the "Microsoft Office" folder, then to the "Templates" folder (Note: At the bottom of the "Save As" dialogue box, make sure the "Save as Type" says "Document Template")

7) Click on the "Save" button in the upper right hand corner of the "Save As" dialogue box, this will save the template file to this folder for future usage when using MS Word

8) You are finished and can close Outlook and MS Word

3. Opening "blank" RCA templates

1) Open Microsoft Word. CAUTION: opening the template directly will not work.

2) Go to the "File" menu and choose "New…" CAUTION: choosing "New" from tool bar (icon) will not work properly.

3) Double click on the "RCA Form" icon or the "RCA Charter Memo" icon. In the "New" dialogue box, make sure you are under the "General" tab.

4. Using the Templates

1) Once you have opened the MS Word file as described above, immediately go to the "File Menu" and choose "Save As"

2) Name and place the file in a convenient place (folder) on your computer (e.g., a file called JG-1234-RCA Form in a "folder" called RCA).

3) In items or questions with gray boxes next to them, use your "mouse" to move around

- You will automatically be placed at the answer to Item #1 (i.e., Case Number)

- The dull gray boxes turn a darker gray when you are located there

- Note: you will not be able to click on many areas, since this is a template

- You can use your "Tab" key to navigate most times

- Most text boxes are unlimited in how much you can type.

- CAUTION: Checking the "Yes" box, does not disallow checking "No" box.

4) In the section with flow charts

- Create the flow chart in a NEW Microsoft Word document, and then:

-- Go to "Edit" menu and choose "Select All." CAUTION: The drawing in this document will not look like it has been highlighted.

-- Go again to "Edit" menu and choose "Copy"

-- Come back to your original RCA Form file (under "Window" menu)

-- Position cursor below the instructions

-- Go to the "Edit" menu and choose "Paste Special"

-- Click to highlight "Picture" among the choices and click on "OK"

5) In the sections with tables:

- It is best to go to the "View" menu and choose "Page Layout"

- To add more rows to the table, go to the bottom right "cell" and hit "Tab" button

- You can apply and use the typical rules for MS Word and tables

- As your table grows, new column headings will automatically be placed at the top of each new page

Features

1) Using on-line layout for easy navigation

- Go to the "View" menu and choose "Online Layout"

- Your screen will now be split with the table of contents on the left

-When you click on the items on the left, your cursor and view will change within the document you see on the right

- Once you have found your place, go to the "View" and choose "Page Layout"

2) Including text from other documents or e-mails. This may be useful in creating long strings of text and use spell checking and other tools.

- Highlight the text in some other document or e-mail

- Go to the "Edit" menu and choose "Copy"

- Go to the "Window" menu and choose the name of your RCA template file

- Find the proper item or question using on-line navigation above and position the cursor

- Go to the "Edit" menu and choose "Paste"

3) Un-"protecting" and re- "protecting"

Unprotecting the templates:

- Go to the "Tools" menu and select "Unprotect Document"

- You will see a pop-up window that has a blank line for a password

- Enter the password "mercury" (all lower case) and press the "OK" button

Note 1: you can delete and edit as a normal MS Word file…you cannot use the automated features

Note 2: it is fairly easy to accidentally change or delete some of the template-automated features and have trouble replacing them. If this happens, it may be best to keep the file unprotected and put in remaining data the usual way for MS Word

Instructions for protecting RCA templates:

- Go to the "Tools menu and select "Protect Document…"

- You will see a "pop-up" window called "Protect Document"

- Under the option called "Protect document for" you select the choice called "Forms"

Protect Document for:

-Tracked Changes

- Comments

- Forms

- At the bottom of this pop-up window, type in a password

- Another pop-up window called "Confirm Password" will appear

- Type your password again and press the "OK" button

Note: If you somehow change or add section breaks to the unprotected document, then reprotection might do some strange things; again, only unprotecting at the end to do "clean-up" and final editing will avoid this.