Custom Fields: Quick Guide

Custom Fields in MediRecords give you the flexibility to capture additional, practice-specific information in a patient’s record. Instead of relying on notes or workarounds, you can create up to 50 unique fields within the patient’s settings and decide whether they store text, numbers, dates, or simple checkboxes.

This feature makes it easier to maintain consistent and accurate records across your practice, as you can also set fields as mandatory to ensure important data is always collected. Beyond patient records, Custom Fields can also be used in letters, helping you include personalised details quickly and reliably.

In this article, we’ll explore how Custom Fields can be used in everyday scenarios, how to enable and create them, and how they appear within a patient record once configured.

If you would like to read more on the benefits of using Custom Fields, please see Premium Features: Introducing Custom Fields.

If you're a developer using an existing MediRecords API, please refer to our Connect API documentation.

Contents:

1. Video Tutorial
2. Benefits of Custom Fields
3. What are Custom Fields Used For?
4. Enabling Custom Fields
5. How to Create a Custom Field
6. Using a Custom Field in a Patient Record

Video Tutorial

Benefits of Custom Fields

What are Custom Fields Used For?

Scenario: I need to record the patient's pharmacy

1. Where traditionally you may have had to enter this information into the patient's notes, instead, you can now create a dedicated Text field labelled "Pharmacy", allowing your staff to type in and record the name of the patient's Pharmacy.
   

    

2. Any Custom Fields you create are also available to use in the Letter Writer. This means you can create a new letter about your patient, click on the small arrow next to Patient Custom Fields, then click on the name of the field you wish to insert.
   
   
   
   This would then insert the pharmacy name into the body of the letter, where your cursor was placed.
    

Scenario: I need to record that I did something for a patient

Using a Checkbox field, your staff can tick (or un-tick) an item, to record that it was done for a patient. In the below example, if staff need to ensure they notify patients of an upcoming clinic address change, they may wish to record that they did notify the patient of the change.

Enabling Custom Fields

Initially, Custom Fields will only be available within the Patient Record. As options for customisation expand with future releases, Custom Fields will become part of a premium feature bundle for users who want to harness business-specific data capturing within MediRecords. 

Please note, a user with the Practice Owner security role will need to perform the following steps to switch Custom Fields on.
 

1. Navigate to More > Settings > Premium Features.
   
   
    
2. Click the sliding bar within the Custom Fields box to switch it to On.
   
   
    
3. Custom Fields is now activated. To begin adding fields, follow on from step 2 below.
    

How to Create a Custom Field

1. Go to More > Settings > Premium Features.
   
    
2. Under Premium Licence, click on Custom Fields
   
    
3. In the upper right corner, click on the Create New Field button.
   
    
4. Select the desired field type from the options of Text, Number, Date Picker or Checkbox. Which type you choose will determine how it presents in the patient's record, and what type of data it will allow the user to enter.
   
    

• A Text field will allow for characters and numbers and will show in the patient's record as a free text box the user can type in to. 
  
  
   
• A Number field will allow for numbers only to be entered. Up and down arrows will also appear, allowing the user to go up or down in increments of 1. 
  
  
   
• A Date Picker field will allow the user to enter a date in the format of dd/mm/yyyy. A calendar icon will also allow the user to choose the date via a calendar tool. 
  
  
   

• A Checkbox field will allow the user to tick (or untick) a box.
  
  
   

  5. In the Create New Field window, ensure you have completed any mandatory options denoted with an asterisk 
  

Option Explanations:

• Field Type - this will be pre-selected, or you can change the type if you wish.
• Entity - currently, this must be set to Patient.
• Field Name - this is the label you wish the field to display with in the patient record.
• Field Character Limit - the maximum number of characters the user can type into that field (<100).
• Default Field Value - text entered here will pre-populate in the field for the user.
• Placeholder - This text will appear in the field in grey, where nothing has yet been entered in the field e.g 
  
• Mandatory (On or Off) - will mark the field with a *, and tells the user they must complete that field, before clicking Save.

6. Click Save to save your new field.

The field will now show in the Custom Fields dashboard. Should you need to go back and make changes to a custom field, click the Pencil icon. 

Using a Custom Field in a Patient Record

1. To use a Custom Field, navigate to a patient's record.
    
2. Click the Details tab, then click Additional. Any active Custom Fields you had set up in the Configuration section will appear here.
   
   
    
3. Enter in any desired information you wish to record. Note that any fields marked with an asterisk (*), are mandatory. Click Save.
   

If you need further assistance please contact support on 1300 103 903 or email at 

support@medirecords.com