Manage note section templates

Note

This feature is only available for Dragon Copilot (physicians).

Note section templates define how AI‑generated note content is structured for specific sections of the note, such as Allergies, Physical Exam, and Assessment and Plan. By embedding organization‑specific instructions, placeholders, and formatting guidance, templates help standardize documentation, reflect clinical preferences, and increase trust in AI‑generated output.

In Dragon admin center, you can create and edit note section templates and share them with organizational units and user accounts.

In Dragon Copilot, users can create their own templates and edit note section templates provided out of the box. Users then apply templates to a note section on demand or apply them automatically every time a note is generated.

For general information on working with lists of library items in Dragon admin center, see: Library overview.

Plan your template library

When designing your library of note section templates, consider the following:

• Review the default AI‑generated note: Understand the baseline behavior of the AI before you customize its output. Apply templates only where additional structure or control is required.

• Identify the stakeholders: Include clinical leads, documentation or compliance stakeholders, and operational leaders to make sure the templates reflect both care workflows and organizational requirements.

• Prioritize high-impact scenarios: Start with encounter types, conditions, and workflows that are most common, most inconsistent across teams, or most likely to cause documentation, compliance, or billing issues if details are missed.

• Establish naming and spoken form conventions: Use clear, consistent names and spoken forms so users can easily find and apply templates.

Prerequisites

• You must be a User administrator, Dragon administrator, or Global administrator in your Microsoft 365 organization.

• You created an environment and provisioned Dragon Copilot (physicians).

For more information on setting up your organization in Dragon admin center, see: Get started with Dragon admin center.

Add a note section template

To create a new note section template and add it to an organizational unit, do the following:

1. In the Environment configuration section of the navigation pane, select Library.

2. Open the Note section templates tab.

3. By default, you can see templates that have been added to the root organizational unit in your environment. To select a different unit, select Change view.

4. Select Add.

5. Enter the new template's name, the note section it should be applied to, its spoken form, language, description, and content. For an explanation of these terms, see the table below.

6. Select Save.

Information you enter when you add or edit a note section template

Property	Required	Description
Name	Yes	The name identifies the template in lists of library items in Dragon admin center and in users' libraries in Dragon Copilot. Make sure you enter a name that's unique, unambiguous and easy for your users to remember.
Note section	Yes	The note section that the template is intended for. The following note sections are currently supported: History of Present Illness, Allergies, Physical Exam, Results, Procedure, Assessment and Plan.
Spoken form	Yes	Together with the keyword Dragon, the spoken form is what Dragon Copilot listens out for when users are speaking. When the user says Dragon followed by a template's spoken form, Dragon Copilot applies the template to the note section. The name and the spoken form are usually the same; however, if the name doesn't have an intuitive pronunciation, enter a spoken form that represents phonetically what users will say to apply the template.
Language	Yes	The language of the template. If the user is recording in a different language, the template won't show up in the libary and won't be recognized when the user is speaking.
Description	No	Any additional information that might be useful for administrators in Dragon admin center or for users seeing the template in the library.
Content	Yes	This is what Dragon Copilot's AI will apply to the note section, inserting the text verbatim and acting on the instructions given to the AI.

Define the template content - structure, syntax, and authoring guidance

A note section template can contain the following elements:

• Plain text: Used for section titles, subheadings, or labels (for example, General appearance:). Plain text is inserted verbatim into the note and is not interpreted as an AI instruction.

• Fixed text: Text enclosed in quotation marks (for example, "Risks and benefits have been discussed with the patient.") is always included in the generated note. This is typically used for boilerplate or standardized narrative content.

• Placeholders: Text enclosed in square brackets (for example, Follow-up: [next scheduled visit]) marks locations where Dragon Copilot generates and inserts content based on the transcript and/or AI‑generated note. Placeholders can include detailed guidance to influence structure, scope, or exclusions.

• Instructions: Text enclosed in curly brackets (for example, Food allergies: {If none specified, then delete this entire row and its heading.}) provides conditional rules that control how content is modified after placeholders are filled. Instructions are commonly written as "if – then" statements and can delete sections, replace content, or apply default text when information is missing.

• Looping commands: Special instructions placed in curly brackets (for example, {Repeat for each diagnosis}) instruct the system to repeat a defined block of template content for multiple instances of the same data type. Place looping commands at the top of the relevant section.

{Repeat for each diagnosis}

[Diagnosis] {Do not number the diagnoses}

-Monitoring: [Briefly describe symptoms, signs, or testing to be followed as evidence of disease progression or evidence of disease regression] {if none specified, then delete this entire row and its header}

-Evaluation: [Briefly describe any analysis and interpretation regarding the patient's condition to determine how well the current treatment plan is working and to identify any necessary adjustments. This could include reviewing medical test results or describing the patient's response to treatment] {if none specified, then delete this entire row and its header}

-Assessment: [Briefly describe any clinical judgments and decisions based on the evaluation to address the patient's needs by planning and implementing appropriate interventions. This could include ordering new tests or procedures, discussing the patient's treatment options, or reviewing previous treatments]  {if none specified, then delete this entire row and its header}

​​​​​​​-Treatment: [Briefly describe any related treatments like lifestyle counseling, medications, or referrals. Do not include the name and location of the pharmacy]  {if none specified, then delete this entire row and its header}

Best practices for writing effective instructions

• Use clear, explicit conditional logic (if - then).

• Place instructions as close as possible to the content they control.

• Avoid including general AI instructions (for example, {do not hallucinate}); these are already built into the system.

Controlling content sources

By default, note section templates use both the transcript and the AI‑generated note as source material. You can override this by adding one of the following instructions at the top of the template:

• {Transcript only}: Generate content exclusively from the transcript.
• {Disable transcript}: Generate content exclusively from the AI‑generated note.

Handling empty sections

To force inclusion of standard text even when a body system or topic is not discussed, add {empty section} at the top of the template. Fixed text and instructions within the section are then applied regardless of transcript content. For example:

{empty section}

General appearance: [List findings] {if not mentioned put "Normal"}. Vital signs: [List findings] {if not mentioned put "Within normal limits"}.

Best practices for the spoken form

Make sure you specify a spoken form that's unique, unambiguous, and easy for your users to remember and pronounce.

The name and the spoken form should usually be the same. The exception to this rule is when the name is pronounced very differently from how it's spelled. This difference can happen with proper nouns, abbreviations, or words from other languages. If you find the system struggles to recognize a library item, consider entering a phonetic spoken form to improve recognition.

When you enter the spoken form, follow these guidelines:

• Use alphabetic characters and single spaces only. Don't use:

  Digits (for example, use 'twelve' instead of '12') unless they're part of common words (for example, use '3D' instead of 'three D').

  Punctuation marks (for example, ., ", !, or ?).

  Symbols (for example, +, &, or $) except for hyphens used in compound words (for example, 'C-spine').

  Double spaces.

• Follow standard capitalization rules (for example, use capital letters for proper nouns).

• Avoid using capital letters (except for acronyms or if the standard capitalization rules require them, see above).

• For acronyms that are spelled out, use capital letters (for example, CIA); if they're not recognized, separate the capital letters by spaces (for example, C I A).

• For acronyms that are pronounced as words, use lowercase (for example, use 'pet CT' for 'PETCT' or 'pick' for 'PICC').

• Don't use very short spoken forms that are acoustically difficult to capture (such as one syllable only). Very short spoken forms can lead to false positives.

• Use full words instead of abbreviations (for example, use 'without' instead of 'wo').

• Check for typos.

See also

Library overview