Moving Your Clinic from Paper Records

Typing in every old folder takes months and is rarely read again. Most clinics do better bringing across a short summary for each active patient and leaving the full history in the paper folder.

For each patient seen in the last year or two, the summary that matters at the next visit is:

• name, date of birth, sex, phone number and hospital number;
• allergies;
• long-term conditions, such as hypertension, diabetes or sickle cell disease;
• medicines they take regularly.

Older and inactive patients can be added the day they next walk in.

Patients carry hospital cards, and staff know the numbering. Keep the numbers you already use so a card from last year still finds the right record, and so the paper folder and the electronic record share one number.

Switching every desk on the same morning means every problem arrives at once. A calmer order is:

• Front desk: register and find patients, and book visits.
• Consulting rooms: notes, diagnoses and prescriptions.
• Lab: requests and results.
• Dispensary: what was prescribed and what was given.

Give each desk a few days before adding the next. Pick one person on each shift who is comfortable with the system and can help colleagues.

For the first week or two, keep paper forms within reach in case the network or power fails. Set a date when the electronic record becomes the one that counts, and tell every desk. Records kept in two places for months drift apart.

Old folders are still patient records. Keep them stored safely and locked, for as long as your regulator and your own policy say, and decide who may take a folder out and how that is recorded.

Patients notice when the front desk changes. A short explanation helps: their records are now kept electronically, only staff who need them can see them, and every time someone opens a record it is logged. With Medly, patients can also link the patient app to your clinic at the front desk and see the results you share with them.

For founding clinics, we set up your clinic’s address and staff accounts with your team and bring in your patient list. Staff can find any patient by name, phone number or hospital number from the first day.