Patient Demographics: Quick Guide

Understanding and managing patient demographics is an important part of maintaining accurate and complete records in MediRecords. Demographics include details such as a patient’s name, gender, date of birth, Medicare or DVA number, and other key information that helps ensure safe and effective care.

MediRecords makes it simple to record, update, and manage demographic information, as well as additional details like preferred pronouns, emergency contacts, Indigenous status, and family relationships. These features support inclusive, comprehensive record-keeping while also streamlining communication between healthcare providers, patients, and their families.

This article explains how to add and update patient demographic information, manage contacts and family members, and export patient details when needed.

Contents:

1. What are Patient Demographics?

2. Adding Preferred Pronouns

3. Enabling One Name Only for a Patient with a Single Name

4. Updating Contact Information

5. Adding a Secondary Address

6. Adding Emergency Contact Information

7. Recording a Patient’s Indigenous Status

8. Adding a Patient Note

9. Adding a Referral to the Patient Record

10. Adding a Family Member to a Patient Record

11. Marking a Patient Record as Head of Family

12. Can’t Assign a Head of Family

13. Exporting Patient Details

What are Patient Demographics?

Patient demographics typically relate to the patient’s age, gender, nationality, habits, lifestyle choices, and family medical history. In MediRecords, patient demographics are divided into six categories: Demographics, Social, Tobacco, Alcohol, Family History, and Settings. These sections are stored within the Details tab of a patient’s file.
 

Within the Demographics section, the five core fields are First Name, Last Name, Date of Birth, and Gender. You can also manage Primary Address, Secondary Address, Emergency contacts, and Referral details so that clinical investigations can be shared across a care plan or with interested parties.

Adding Preferred Pronouns

Some clinics choose to record preferred pronouns to support inclusivity and respect gender identity. In MediRecords, you can find this field near the Gender field in a patient record.
 

The selectable options are He/Him, She/Her, They/Them, or Different Pronouns (use Notes). The field is optional, and if it is populated, the value is displayed in the patient header and tooltip information.

Enabling One Name Only for a Patient with a Single Name

In cases where a patient has only one name, you can enable the One Name Only option to ensure Medicare card verification works correctly. To do this, open the patient record from the Patients tab and select the file you want to edit. Go to Details > Demographics and tick the box labelled One Name Only. Once done, click Save.

Updating Contact Information

To update contact details, open the patient record from the Patients tab by searching for the patient and selecting their name.

Within the record, you can update fields such as Title, First Name, Middle Name, Last Name, Preferred Name, Previously Known As, One Name Only status, Date of Birth, Estimated status, Gender, Preferred Pronouns, Ethnicity, ESL status, Torres Strait Islander Origin, Notes, Date of Death, Patient Preferences, and other demographic information.
 

You can also update Primary Address, Home Phone, Mobile Phone, Work Phone, Contact Method, and Email Address.

Secondary Address, Emergency Contacts, Referral, and Family can also be edited. After making changes, click Save to apply them.

Adding a Secondary Address

To add a secondary address, open the patient record and navigate to the Details tab > Demographics > Secondary tab. Complete the form with the secondary address details, then click Save.

Adding Emergency Contact Information

To add emergency contact information, open the patient record and go to the Emergency tab. Enter the emergency contact details, and update the Next of Kin information if required. Click Save to confirm the changes.

Recording a Patient’s Indigenous Status

If a patient is of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander origin, you can record this in the demographics section. Open the patient record, go to the Details tab, and select the option in the “Is the Patient of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander Origin?” field. Once you make the relevant selection, click Save.

Adding a Patient Note

To add a note to the patient record, open the patient record, select Demographics, and enter your note in the Notes field. Click Save to confirm.

Adding a Referral to the Patient Record

To add a referral, open the patient record and select the Referral tab. Click the blue plus button to create a new referral form, then complete it with all required details, including relevant clinical information, the referral date, and the referring practitioner’s name. Once complete, click Save.

• Date - when the referral was created.
• First Use Date - when the first service was done (leave blank if none).
• Referred By - name of the referring doctor (must be in Contacts).
  Please refer to How to Add a Health Professional for further guidance.
• Referred To - chooses from active users.
• Type + First Use Date - sets expiry (no date if blank).
• Confidential - makes the referral private and marked "CONFIDENTIAL".

Adding a Family Member to a Patient Record

To add a family member, open the patient record, click Family, and then select the plus icon. Search for the patient by name, choose the relationship, and click OK. The family member will now appear in the record.

Marking a Patient Record as Head of Family

If a Medicare claim is being made on behalf of a patient under 16, a Head of Family must be assigned. To do this, open the child’s patient record, go to Details >Demographics > Family, and add the parent or carer as a family member if they are not already listed. Tick the Is Head of Family box, then click OK and Save. The nominated patient will now appear as Head of Family in the record.

Can’t Assign a Head of Family

If you cannot assign a Head of Family, it may be because the child has already been set as the Head of Family. To correct this, open the patient record, go to Details > Demographics > Family, and remove the incorrect family member by ticking their name and clicking the hyphen icon. Confirm by selecting OK, then click Save. After this, you will be able to assign a Head of Family correctly.

Exporting Patient Details

To export patient details, open the Patients screen and tick the box next to the name or names of the patients you wish to export. From the More drop-down menu, select Export.