The following section outlines the admission procedure within Clinic Manager, as well as the various steps that must be followed when admitting a patient.

Admissions onto the system can be done in three different ways:

1. Normal admissions
2. Pre-admissions (capturing the patient’s information before they arrive at the facility to speed up the admission process)
3. Admitting a patient again from a previous admission

All of these admissions, as well as options and operations associated with admissions, can be found in the Patient Admission menu.

To access this menu, click on the Patient menu at the top of the Clinic Manager screen.

Next, click on Patient Administration

Finally, click on Patient Admission

Normal Patient Admission

In order to admit a patient who has not been pre-admitted or admitted to the hospital previously, click on New Patient Admission.

The first screen of the Patient Admission browse will appear.

Enter the relevant details in the spaces provided.

The mandatory fields are indicated by asterisks (*) and all relevant information must be entered into the space provided. If these fields are not filled in, the admission cannot continue.

The rest of the fields in the Patient Admission form are not mandatory, but as much information as possible should be entered for administrative purposes.

Patient information can still be entered or altered at any point after the admission has been performed.

Patient ID

The Patient ID field automatically checks the provided ID number with a blacklist to make sure that the patient in question does not owe any outstanding money to the facility.

If the account is blacklisted, an Account ID Flagged window will open warning the user that the account has been flagged for attention, as well as providing detailed notes as to why the account was blacklisted. A supervisor password is required in order override this and admit the patient.

If a patient needs to be admitted but is unable to supply an ID document or ID number – perhaps because they are admitted while unconscious, or because they are a foreigner – something will still need to be entered into the Patient ID field. Writing “NO ID”, or entering a string of numbers such as “111111”, will suffice.

Medical Aid

The medical aid field is a mandatory field and must be filled in.

A list of available medical aids to choose from is provided by clicking on the magnifying glass  button to the right of the medical aid field.

If the patient does not belong to a medical aid, then a Private option should be selected from the provided medical aid list.

If a medical aid has different plan options, a specific plan must be selected from the drop down list of available plans.

If the selected plan has any notes or rules attributed to it, a Plan Rules window will appear displaying this information.

When the Plan Rules have been read and acknowledged, click on Close.

Authorisation No.

Under normal circumstances the patient’s medical aid will provide an authorisation number prior to admission, but in the case of an emergency it may only be provided after an admission has already been performed.

Once all the information has been entered and the user is satisfied that all the details are correct, they may press the Continue button at the bottom of the form.

At this point, if MediKredit is being used for EDI claims, Clinic Manager will automatically send an eligibility request to MediKredit and the response will come back immediately.

See your MediKredit documentation for more information.

The main admission screen will now appear.

This window allows for more detailed patient information to be entered, such as the patient’s address and contact details.

The mandatory fields are indicated by asterisks (*) and relevant information must be entered into the space provided. If these fields are not filled in, the admission cannot continue until this information is entered.

Patient information can still be entered or altered at any point after the admission has been performed.

Residential/Postal Address

At least the first line of an address must be entered into both the Residential and Postal Address field/s.

Suburb/Town

The Suburb/Town field allows for a suburb or town to be manually entered by the user by typing, or by selecting a suburb or town from a drop-down list that is maintained on the system (see the guide to maintaining a suburb list).

The list can be accessed by clicking on the magnifying glass button.

Date of Birth

A Date of Birth will already be filled in, having done so automatically using the ID number supplied on the previous admission form screen.

The age is displayed next to the field where the date is entered as a quick verification of the birth date. For example, if an elderly person is admitted and supplies an ID number, yet the age is displayed as “28 Years”, the user will know that the ID number supplied is either incorrect or false.

If a facility requires proof that a patient has signed certain documents/agreements, the user may indicate such by using the tick boxes provided:

If a patient was admitted from a trauma facility, this must be indicated by placing a tick in the box provided:

The reference number that the patient received during the trauma admission can be captured in the box provided:

When all the relevant information has been entered, the user may proceed to the next tab (next to Patient Info, at the top of the window), or whichever tab they wish to select.

Information will only be saved when the OK button is pressed at the bottom of the New Patient Admission window. Information can be changed at any time when moving between tabs.

Tips and Tricks   The first letter of all words are automatically capitalised when the SPACEBAR is hit between words. If the date to be entered is within the current month of the current year, the user may simply type in the day and pushing the TAB key will automatically fill in the rest. If the date to be entered is within the current year but within a different month, just type in the current day and the current month and it will automatically fill in the current year. If the date to be entered is within a different month and a different year, but after 1931, only two digits need to be entered as a year. For example: “270832” would be the 27th of August 1932. The TAB key can be used to move to the next field within a window. If the user is on the last field within a window, pressing the TAB key will move to the next screen. The plus (+) key on the keyboard also acts as a TAB button. This makes life easier when entering many numbers, as the + key is near the numeric keypad.

 Admission Time

The Admission Time can be found under the Other Info tab.

This must be checked to make sure it is correct (especially if admissions are being caught up), as a time will automatically be inserted when the admission is started.

For example, if a patient is admitted to the hospital at 9.05, but for some reason the admission is interrupted for an extended period of time, the Admission Time will still reflect 9.05 (even though the patient was in fact admitted at a later time).

Original Referrer

This option indicates how the patient got to the referring doctor and is purely used for stats and marketing purposes.

For example, if an employee has a breakdown while at work and is sent to the doctor, the employee’s work will be listed as the Original Referrer.

Billing Code

A billing code must be selected from the drop-down listed provided.

Only billing codes attributed to the specific medical aid selected previously (see Medical Aid, above) will be displayed.

Select a Bed

This option is only used if the patient needs to be placed in a bed.

The Ward Rate will act as a guide on whether or not a patient needs to be placed in a bed, as certain admissions do not require a bed.

Clicking on Select a Bed will cause a list of beds to appear.

• If a bed is highlighted in blue, it indicates that a boy is occupying that specific bed.
• If a bed is highlighted in pink, it indicates that a girl is occupying that specific bed.
• If a bed is not highlighted, it indicates that the specific bed is available.

This colour system becomes useful when organising wards according to gender. For example, if a ward has six beds and five of them are occupied by females, the user may wish to assign the sixth bed to another female and place a male patient in another ward.

Ward Rates

The Ward Rate is displayed according to the medical aid that has been selected previously (see Medical Aid, above).

Ward/Unit

The Ward/Unit is the physical location in the hospital where the patient will be placed. It is used to keep track of where the patient is in the hospital and is completely independent of the Bed or the Ward Rate.

A ward/unit must be selected from the drop-down list provided.

Patient Status

This option is used for stats purposes and is important for pharmacy codes.

When a patient is billed for pharmacy items, the system needs to know the Patient Status.

Gift Received

This option is only used if gifts were given to the patient on admission.

If no gifts were given to the patient, this option may be ignored.

Permanent Patient Reference

This option is primarily designed for psychiatric clinics to track recurring visits by a patient.

A permanent overriding reference number is assigned to keep track of a patient who is admitted repeatedly.

Consult with your vendor before using this option.

Diagnosis Tab

• CPT Codes

CPT (Common Procedural Terminology) codes are a description of the operations to be performed in a theatre.

This section is only used when a patient goes into a theatre.

The codes can be selected by clicking the Insert button. A list of codes will appear:

• ICD Codes

ICD (International Classification of Diseases) codes offer a description and cause of various illnesses.

The codes can be selected by clicking the Insert button. A list of codes will appear:

• Diagnosis Codes

Diagnosis codes are specific to each patient. They offer a detailed description of the patient’s medical diagnosis.

The codes can be selected by clicking the Insert button. A list of codes will appear:

Comments Tab

Comments are not usually entered upon admissions, but can be entered at any time.

Comments can range from anything between general comments, dietary requirements, or confidential patient information.

For example, if confidential information is added about a specific patient, a window will appear on certain screens informing the user of any instructions or notes that were inserted into the comment field.

Photo Tab

If a webcam is installed, a photo of the patient may be taken and stored in Clinic Manager.

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When all the details have been entered and you are finished with the New Patient Admission, click the OK button at the bottom of the window.

A window will appear asking for the next reference number:

The system will automatically assign the next available reference number based on the list of patients currently on the system (it will assign one number higher than the last patient admitted).

Select the number of admission forms and/or labels to print:

NOTE: Defaults for printing admission forms and labels can be set up in System Parameters.

Click on the System menu at the top of the Clinic Manager screen.

Click on Edit System Parameters

Pre-Admissions

Patient information can be captured before the patient actually arrives at the facility. This is done in order to save time, and allow the patient to avoid having to sit for an extended period, answering questions when they arrive.

The patient may call ahead and supply this information, but most often it is supplied by a referring doctor’s surgery.

Another advantage of pre-admissions is that it allows the facility to receive a deposit from a patient before they arrive at the hospital. For example, if a woman is going to have a baby, she can submit a deposit months before she arrives.

In order to admit a patient who has been pre-admitted, click on the Patient menu at the top of the Clinic Manager screen.

On the menu that drops down, click on Patient Administration and then Patient Admission. Finally, click on Admit a Pre-Admission.

A window will appear displaying a list of patients who have been pre-admitted.

By clicking on any of the heading tabs above each column (Ref. No., Surname, Title, First Names, Expected, Balance) the user can choose to display the listing in either an ascending or descending order. This makes it easier to find a specific patient.

Below this list are various options:

• INSERT: Clicking the Insert button brings up a pre-admission form. This looks like a normal admission form (as outlined above) but with some slight differences. For example, the Other Info tab will only allow the user to capture certain information relating to doctors, because any other information is dependent on the day and time that the patient is actually admitted.

The COMMENTS/SMS tab allows for any special comments related to the selected patient’s admission to be entered, as well as for SMSes to be sent to a pre-admitted patient to notify of co-payments or to remind them to bring something. For example: “Please remember to bring your ID book on the day of admission.”

Please contact us in order to set up the SMS service at your facility.

• PRINT DETAILS: This will display the selected patient’s admission form (containing only the patient details that have been captured so far).

• PRINT LIST: This will display a printable list of all the pre-admitted patients.

• ADMIT PRE-ADMISSION: Clicking this option will bring up the normal admission screen and the patient can be admitted.

Previous Admission

In order to admit a patient who has previously been admitted into the hospital, click on the Patient menu at the top of the Clinic Manager screen.

On the menu that drops down, click on Patient Administration and then Patient Admission. Finally, click on Admit from a Previous Admission.

A window will appear displaying a list of current, active patients. These are patients that have already been admitted into the hospital.

By clicking on any of the heading tabs above each column (Ref. No., Surname, Title, First Names, Expected, Balance) the user can choose to display the listing in either an ascending or descending order. This makes it easier to find a specific patient.

If the desired patient is not displayed in the list, the user may also click on Search Archive in order to search through all previously admitted patients in the archive.

When the desired patient has been found (either in the initial Previous Admission list or in the archive), select them from the list and click on Re-admit Patient.

At this point, the plan rules associated with the specific patient’s medical aid will pop up.

When closed, the normal admission form will appear (see Normal Admission, above).

Most of the patient information has already been filled in, as the patient has previously been admitted to the hospital and the information would already have been captured.

Even though some information will automatically be filled in, the user should still go through all the information and make sure that it has been filled in correctly and does not need to be updated before moving on.

Information under the Other Info, Diagnosis and Comments tabs will not be filled in and information will need to be entered in these sections, as certain information may have changed from when the patient was previously admitted. For example, the referring and attending doctors may be different, the patient’s diagnosis may be different, etc.

The user may now go through the subsequent Normal Admission steps.

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You have now successfully admitted a patient in Clinic Manager.