Review of Systems Template
Learn what a Review of Systems is through this guide and download our template for your practice!
Fact Checked by Nate Lacson.
What is a Review of Systems?
A Review of Systems, sometimes called ROS, is a type of clinical documentation tool that inventory a patient’s body systems. The checklist is divided into 14 sections, each specific to a particular body system. The fourteen sections are:
- Constitutional (you can think of this as the general health of the patient)
- Ears, nose, mouth, and throat
- Cardiovascular (the heart and the blood vessels)
- Respiratory (the lungs and breathing)
- Gastrointestinal (the stomach and intestines)
- Genitourinary (the kidneys and bladder)
- Muscles, bones, and joints
- Integumentary (skin, hair, breast)
- Neurologic (the brain and nerves)
- Psychiatric (mood and thinking)
- Endocrinologic (the glands)
- Hematologic (blood and lymph)
- Allergic/Immunologic
Each section has its own set of symptoms and issues, and those make up the checklist for each. Healthcare professionals who are tasked to gather preliminary information about a patient’s medical status or history will likely use this, and their goal is to gather enough information about the patient through this inventory to help their colleagues determine the necessary tests they have to conduct and what their treatment plans will contain.
Suppose the patient already has a prior Review of Systems records in the healthcare facility they go to. In that case, the healthcare professional will review and update the previous information gathered, especially if there are significant changes to the patient’s overall health.
Downloadable Review of Systems Template PDF
Enhance your medical practice operations with our free Review of Systems Template
How to use our Review of Systems Template:
We’d like to inform you that we created a Review of Systems template. Like any other, it is a checklist divided into different sections. The healthcare professional using it just needs to tick the symptoms and conditions that apply to the patient concerning each category.
You can whip out this template when a patient visits your healthcare facility for a medical check-up. You must ask the patient questions about each category to gather the necessary information for each category. Their answers should help you tick what needs to be ticked.
Our template doesn’t list a patient's possible symptoms and problems. Each category has an Others option and a corresponding checkbox. If your patient specifies symptoms and conditions that aren’t on the checklist, please use the Others options.
For example, you’re at the Constitutional portion of the template (the first one). You will ask questions like:
- Do you feel tired even if you haven’t done anything strenuous?
- Did you suddenly gain or lose significant weight rapidly?
- How’s your appetite?
- Do you feel okay while eating food?
- Are you able to sleep well? If not, why?
- Have you been diagnosed with cancer before?
Tailor your questions for each category and their respective listed symptoms and conditions.
Once you’ve fully accomplished the 14-point Review of Systems template, update any previous Review of Systems records and pass it on to the relevant healthcare professionals who will examine and treat the patient.
Review of Systems Template example:
Now that you know what a Review of Systems is and how to use it, including our Review of Systems Template, we’d like to show you what our template looks like when it’s fully accomplished. Here it is:
You can print a copy of your healthcare facility, which still prints clinical forms and other resources. If your facility has gone paperless, you can fully complete the form using the PDF file because it is interactive. You can click on or tap the checkboxes!
If you like what you see and believe this will help you gather information about your patients more efficiently, please download our free Review of Systems PDF template!
Download our Review of Systems PDF here
When is it best to use the Review of Systems Template?
Whenever a new patient visits your healthcare facility for a check-up.
As mentioned earlier, the primary function of the Review of Systems inventory is to gather information from patients, whether they’re returning patients or new ones. For new patients, it’s essential to use this tool so that you and your team can get a baseline look at your new patient’s current health status. This will guide your group when determining what tests are necessary to conduct.
Whenever a returning patient comes in for a routine check-up.
Suppose you have a returning patient undergoing treatment based on whatever medical problem they’ve been diagnosed with a while back. It’s only standard for your team to schedule routine check-ups to assess their health status. It’s best to conduct another Review of Systems when they attend their check-up so you can see if there are any significant changes to their health status and identify potential new problems that might have developed over time.
Whenever surgical operations are recommended to patients.
Patients with severe medical problems or injuries will likely need surgery. These won’t be mandatory because patients can decide whether to undergo surgery after healthcare professionals explain what a particular surgery entails and its risks.
If they choose to go through it, healthcare professionals must assess their health first. A Review of Systems can be conducted to check for potential problems that might complicate or disqualify them for surgery.
What are the benefits of using a Review of Systems?
It can give a comprehensive overview of a patient’s health status.
Since the Review of Systems encompasses the numerous organ systems of the human body, it will allow healthcare professionals to gain a good overview of a patient’s current overall health status. It doesn’t matter if they’re in the healthcare facility to get checked for a specific reason unrelated to several inventory sections.
By assessing them using this inventory, professionals can identify causes for concern that they might need to look into as soon as possible.
It can allow healthcare professionals to detect a patient’s health problems early.
Speaking of identifying causes for concern, a Review of Systems will allow healthcare professionals to detect potential health problems a patient might have. By seeing these problems early, they will have a shot at treating them before they worsen. They can educate the patient about these potential problems and suggest specific lifestyle changes that might help patients manage any issues confirmed in the early stages.
It can help shape the action plans of healthcare professionals.
Earlier, we’ve mentioned that a Review of Systems can give a comprehensive overview of a patient’s health status and help detect potential problems early. A Review of Systems can also guide healthcare teams when deciding what specific tests they should conduct based on the review's findings.
Not only that, but it can help them decide what goes into a treatment plan based on the information provided, and they can make the necessary adjustments if future reviews show improvements or declines in the patient’s health status over time.
Commonly asked questions
No. It’s not. Healthcare professionals will ask patients about their health status through a series of questions per category. Whatever physical examinations that need to be conducted will be done after.
No, but it’s highly encouraged. Patients have the right to disclose what they want about their health status to healthcare professionals or other people. Healthcare professionals must respect that right. Professionals can go the extra mile to explain what a Review of Systems is to convince patients to provide all the information needed.
If patients can answer your questions as soon as you ask them, it can be accomplished within five minutes, but it can take a little longer than that, depending on the number of questions you ask them per category.
