# How to write an EHR tip sheet people actually use > A good EHR tip sheet covers one task, starts from where the user already is, and names every button exactly as it appears on screen. Here is a structure that works and the mistakes that make staff stop reading. By Harrison Oakes. Published 2026-10-27. Source: https://howluma.com/blog/how-to-write-an-ehr-tip-sheet A useful EHR tip sheet does one job: it gets someone through **one task** while they are in the middle of doing it. Keep it to a single task, start from the screen they are already on, number the steps, and use the exact words they will see on the screen. Everything else is optional. Most tip sheets fail for the opposite reason. They try to teach a whole module, they are written by someone who already knows where everything is, and they are saved somewhere nobody looks when they are stuck. ## Start with the question, not the module Write the title as the question a person would actually ask. "Ordering a one-time lab for a future date" is better than "Lab Orders Overview." The first matches what someone types into a search box or asks the person at the next workstation. The second only makes sense to whoever built the training curriculum. A quick test: if you can't say who would look for this sheet and at what moment, it is probably covering too much. Split it. ## The structure that works Every tip sheet can follow the same five parts: 1. **Title as a task.** A verb and an object: "Change your default printer," "Cosign a verbal order." 2. **One line on when to use it.** "Use this when the patient is already discharged and the order needs to go to their outpatient pharmacy." 3. **Starting point.** Where the user should be before step 1: "From the patient's chart, Orders tab." 4. **Numbered steps.** One action per step. Bold the exact label of each button or field. 5. **What done looks like.** How the user knows it worked: the order shows as *Signed*, the banner turns green, the item moves to the other list. The last part is the one most often left out, and it is the one that stops people from doing the task twice. ## Write the steps the way the screen reads - **Use the label on the screen, word for word.** If the button says **Accept**, don't write "confirm" or "submit." - **One click or one entry per step.** "Select **Orders**, search for the lab, choose the panel, and sign" is four steps. - **Say where things are.** "**Sign** is at the bottom right of the order panel" saves more time than any other sentence on the page. - **Put the reason in a note, not the step.** If a field must be filled a certain way for billing or for your unit, add it as a short note under that step. - **Add a screenshot only where people get lost.** A screenshot per step makes the sheet long and goes out of date with every upgrade. One image of the confusing screen, with the right button marked, is usually enough. ## Write for your unit, not the vendor's default Two hospitals on the same EHR rarely use it the same way. Order sets, preference lists, naming conventions and workarounds differ by organization and often by unit. Vendor training materials can't cover that, so the most valuable tip sheets are the ones that capture **how your team does it**: the field you always skip, the filter you always set, the reason the usual way doesn't work on your floor. That knowledge usually lives with a few experienced people. A good tip sheet is how it gets out of their heads and stops landing on them as interruptions. ## Keep them where people already look A perfect tip sheet that nobody can find doesn't help. Common places they get lost: - A shared drive folder that only the educator knows about - A PDF attached to a go-live email from two years ago - A binder at the nurses' station with an older version of the workflow Whatever you use, staff should be able to find a sheet by searching for the question they have, in their own words. Name files and titles after tasks, and keep one current version of each. ## Keep them current EHR upgrades and build changes break tip sheets quietly. A few habits help: - **Put an owner and a review date on every sheet.** Someone should be responsible for each one. - **Re-check sheets after every upgrade** that touches the screens they describe. - **Track the questions that have no sheet yet.** The questions people keep asking are the best list of what to write next. ## A short checklist Before you publish a tip sheet, check that: - The title is a task someone would search for - It covers one task from a stated starting point - Every step is one action, with the exact on-screen label in bold - It ends with what success looks like - It has an owner and a date - Someone who has never done the task can follow it without help ## Where howluma fits We built [howluma](/) for this problem. Your team records a task once by typing or talking through it, reviews the steps, adds screenshots where they help, and publishes it. When staff ask a question in their own words, howluma answers from your published guides and links to the source. Questions it can't answer are logged, so you know which sheet to write next.