Patient Record Management: Quick Guide

Managing patient records efficiently is essential for ensuring accurate clinical care and smooth practice operations. MediRecords provides a range of tools that make it easy to search, create, update, and manage patient records throughout their lifecycle.

Each section includes step-by-step instructions to help you carry out these actions confidently and correctly within MediRecords, whether you're handling day-to-day updates or managing more complex changes to a patient's record.

Contents:

1. Searching for Patients
2. Opening a Patient Record
3. Creating a Patient Record
4. Adding a Usual Practice
5. Adding a Usual Provider
6. Setting a Patient Type
7. Verifying Patient Identity
8. Deactivating/Reactivating a Patient Record
9. Deleting a Patient Record
10. Restoring a Deleted Patient Record from the Audit
11. Marking a Patient as Deceased
12. Troubleshooting
    • Can't Find a Patient Record
    • A Duplicate Patient Record was Created
    • A Deactivated Patient Record Needs to be Restored
    • A Deleted Patient Record Needs to be Restored

Searching for Patients

There are two ways to search for a patient:

Box A is available in any MediRecords view, while Box B is only found in the Patients section.

1. From the Patients homepage, click the Search box.

2. Type the first few letters of the patient's First or Last Name, or enter their Mobile, Home, or Work phone number.

3. Press Enter to search.
   
    

4. The system will generate a list of the closest matches.

5. Click the Name of the patient you are looking for.

6. The patient record will now open.

Opening a Patient Record

There are several different ways to open a patient record in MediRecords:

From the Patients Grid

1. Click the patient's Name (hyperlinked).

2. Alternatively, select the tick-box next to the patient's name and click Edit.

3. Alternatively, click the Tick-box next to the name of the patient, and click Edit.

Search Bar

1. Find the search bar named Find Patient at the top right of the screen.
   Type in one of the Patient's Names separated by a comma, or Date of Birth formatted Day/Month/Year (DD/MM/YYYY).

Chat

1. Whilst viewing a chat related to a specific patient, click the Patient Name.

Shortcuts Toolbar

1. Navigate to Shortcuts Toolbar at the top of the page.

2. Click +Patient to open the new patient form.
 

Creating a Patient Record

Creating a new patient in MediRecords is a quick and straightforward process. Follow the steps below to ensure the patient is added correctly.

Note: To create a new patient, only the mandatory fields in the Demographic section need to be completed. If you prefer not to enter additional information, click Next to skip the remaining sections until the Save button appears. Then click Save to complete the creation of the patient record.

1. From within the Patients home page, click New Patient.

 

2. In the Demographics section of Patient Details, you can add or update Addresses (Primary and Secondary), Emergency contacts, Referral names and Family members. As well as updating or adding additional Contact Details.

 

To Add a Secondary Address, click Secondary and type in the details of the address in the form below.

Click Save to apply the changes.



To Add an Emergency Contact or Next of Kin, click Emergency and type in the details in the form below.

Click Save to apply the changes.

To Add a Referral, click Referral, and then click the + icon to open the referral form.



Complete the referral form with all the required details and click Save.



The referral will now be visible in the referrals list.



To Add a Family Member, click Family, and then click the + icon to reveal a drop-down form.



Click Search Patient and type in the first few letters of the patient's name. Click to select the patient from the list.
Click Relationship to reveal a drop-down list of relationships. Click the select the relationship.

If the family member is head of the family, click the Head of Family tick-box. Click OK to complete.

Adding a Usual Practice

1. Open the Patient Record
2. From the Demographics section scroll down to Patient Preferences
3. Select the new Usual Practice
4. Click Save to apply the changes
5. The Usual Practice has now been updated

Adding a Usual Provider

1. Open the Patient Record
2. From the Demographics section scroll down to Patient Preferences
3. Select the new Usual Provider
4. Click Save to apply the changes
5. The Usual Provider has now been updated

NOTE: Make sure that the provider has their Provider Number added to their Identifiers so you can add them to the patient record.

Setting a Patient Type

1. Open the Patient record.
2. Navigate to the Details tab.
3. Click Demographics.
4. Scroll down to the Patient Preferences section.
5. Click the Patient Type drop-down menu arrow (The Patient Type 'Standard' shows by default).
6. Select the Patient Type (Standard, VIP, Blacklisted, Family).
7. Click Save to apply the changes.

Verifying Patient Identity

1. From within the Patients homepage, click the Tick-box next to the name of the patient
2. Click More to reveal a drop-down list of Quick Actions
3. Click OPV (Online Patient Verification)
4. MediRecords will connect to Medicare Online and validate the patient's details
5. The patient's identity has now been verified

Deactivating/Reactivating a Patient Record

1. Navigate to the patient grid by selecting Patients at the top of your MediRecords screen.
2. The Patient grid displays all Active Patients by default.
3. Select the tick-box to the left of the patient's name.
4. Click Status to reveal a drop-down list.
5. Click Deactivate/Activate

Deleting a Patient Record

1. Navigate to the patient grid by selecting 'Patients' at the top of your MediRecords Screen
2. The Patient grid displays all 'Active Patients' by default
3. Select the tick-box to the left of the patient's name
4. The Delete option will appear
   
5. Pop-up will appear asking you to confirm Patient Delete
6. Click Yes
7. The patient has now been Deleted'

Restoring a Deleted Patient Record from the Audit

1. Go to More > Audit.
2. Click on System Audit. 
   
   
   
    
3. Look for the Patient Record that you're trying to restore. Click the hyperlinked word (here) to restore the Patient record.
    
4. Click Yes
   
   
   Once you click yes you will receive a prompt.

In most instances, we highly recommend you make the account inactive instead of deleting the patient record.

Marking a Patient as Deceased

Before marking a patient record as deceased, it is important to understand that the majority of clinical functionality will be disabled when you do. As such, please instead refer to this article for further instructions: Adding & Managing Records for Deceased Patients.

Troubleshooting

The following issues cover the most common problems Reception and Administrative staff run into across the patient record lifecycle described above.

Can't Find a Patient Record

Problem: A search in the Patients section doesn't return the patient you're looking for.

Cause: The default Patient grid only displays Active Patients, so a patient who has been deactivated (see Deactivating/Reactivating a Patient Record) will not appear in a standard search or in the grid. A mismatched spelling of the patient's name can also return no results.

Resolution: Try searching by Mobile, Home, or Work phone number instead of name (see Searching for Patients), and check whether the patient's status has been set to inactive.

Escalate: If the patient still can't be found and you suspect the record was deleted rather than deactivated, check Restoring a Deleted Patient Record from the Audit below. If it isn't listed there either, contact MediRecords Support.

A Duplicate Patient Record was Created

Problem: Two patient records exist for the same person.

Cause: A new record was created (see Creating a Patient Record) without first searching for an existing one, or the patient was searched under a different name spelling, phone number, or Date of Birth than the one already on file.

Resolution: Always search by both name and phone number (see Searching for Patients) before clicking New Patient or +Patient, to confirm a record doesn't already exist.

Escalate: This article doesn't describe a merge workflow for consolidating two duplicate records. Contact MediRecords Support for guidance before deleting either record.

A Deactivated Patient Record Needs to be Restored

Problem: A patient record that was previously made inactive needs to be used again, for example, to book an appointment or add a consultation note.

Cause: The record was deactivated rather than deleted, most often following the recommendation under Deleting a Patient Record to deactivate instead of delete.

Resolution: Follow the steps in Deactivating/Reactivating a Patient Record to reactivate the record from the Status drop-down.

Escalate: If the patient doesn't appear in the grid at all to reactivate, follow the search guidance under Can't Find a Patient Record above before contacting Support.

A Deleted Patient Record Needs to be Restored

Problem: A patient record was deleted (see Deleting a Patient Record) and is needed again.

Cause: The delete was confirmed in error, or the record is later found to still be needed.

Resolution: Follow Restoring a Deleted Patient Record from the Audit to locate the record under More > Audit > System Audit and restore it via the hyperlinked here link.

Escalate: If the record can't be located in the System Audit, contact MediRecords Support.

Further Reading

• Patient Demographics: Quick Guide