Finding a patient
Search by name, hospital number or phone number from anywhere with Ctrl + K, and what to do when somebody cannot be found.
2 min read
Press Ctrl + K from any screen, or use the search box at the top. Search by:
- Name — surname or other names, in any order.
- Hospital number — with or without the prefix.
- Phone number — usually the most reliable of the three.
When somebody cannot be found
Work through these in order.
Try the phone number. Names are spelt several ways and entered as somebody heard them. A phone number usually is not.
Try less of the name. "Chid" finds Chidinma, Chidi and Chidera. Long searches with a middle name in the wrong place find nothing.
Check the banner. If this machine is stale or alone, a patient registered at another desk twenty minutes ago is genuinely not here yet. This is the commonest reason a patient "is not in the system" and is not a fault — see Reading the banner. Ask whether they were registered today, and on which desk.
Then, and only then, register them. Registering a second record for somebody who is already there is worse than a minute of searching. If it happens, it can be merged — see Two records for the same person.
The patient list
Patients in the sidebar gives the full list with filters, which is the right tool when you are looking around rather than for somebody. For one named person, search is faster.