Search for patients
This topic is for AquilaCRS
Contents
Search demographics
Use the #Search field at the top of the Dashboard screen or click the "Find Patient" button on the toolbar.
A Search Parameters form will open.
Select the section you need to search in by clicking the circle next to the relevant item i.e Clicking "Significant Event" will search all Significant Event records, or Dependency Record will search all Dependency Records for instance.
Fill the form with as many of the patients details known and press the Search button. Note that the details typed into these fields will be remembered in the event that you have to create a new patient.
In the event that patient details are identified a list of the patients folders will appear in the results section below the search fields. Highlight the patient's name and click the "Open Folder" button, to bypass the patients demographics, click the "Open Demographics" or double click on the patient's name to open the "Patient's Demographics".
If no existing patient is found a button will appear on the Search results toolbar and below the status bar.
Search Fields
- NHS Number - If available the NHS number is the most accurate method of finding the correct patient.
- Hospital Number - If known enter the hospital number to narrow down the patient search
- Other Number - When an episode occurs patients are given a unique patient identifier or hospital number. Enter this number if known.
- Vulnerable Person - Tick this box, if this person is marked as "Vulnerable Person" in Patient Demographics.
- Given Name - Enter patients given name in to search field
- Family Name - Enter Patients Family name into the search field
- Name Search - Choose from the drop down list the values you want to search by, "Sounds Like", "Partial Match" or "Exact Match.
- Date of Birth - Enter Patient's Date of birth if known, by free typing or choose from drop down calendar
- Gender - Choose patients gender form drop down list
- Address - Enter patients address if known
- Town - Enter Town if known
- Postcode - Enter postcode if known
- Email - Enter Patients email if known
- Research Folder - Tick box if the Patient has been flagged for research
- Audit Folders - Tick box if patient has been flagged for audit
- Duplicate Folders - Tick box if patient has been flagged as duplicate
- Clear Form Button - Clears all search fields and results
- Search Button - Carries out search using values entered. If no values are entered clicking the "search" button will bring back results for all patients in the database
- Close Button - Closes Search form
- Help Button - Takes you to Aquila Help
Search Tips
- Search results match the values chosen from the drop down list as follows:- "Sounds Like", "Partial Match" ALL & "Exact Match".
- Except NHS Number that is searched for separately from the other fields. I.e. if a patient in the database has the NHS number you supply, their record will be returned regardless of whether that patient matches the rest of the values you entered in the search fields.
- Create Patient option only shown when:
- the search criteria is sufficient to identify individuals. i.e searching for Audit folders is not sufficient, but given & family name is
- the search criteria can uniquely identify an individual (e.g. NHS Number) and there are no search results
- Name fields are case insensitive and are searched using a phonetic matching algorithm. This means you stand a greater chance of finding the patient you're looking for, but may mean you get more search results that you require. It's not infallible, so Annie = Anny or Anne, but Tom <> Thomas.
- When entering multiple keywords, results are returned where all keywords, or part of, are matched.
- Keywords are matched with words entered into the Patient Folder Description field.
- Don't be too specific if looking for patients via free-text fields, like in the Address. If you can find by NHS Number or Hospital No. alone, then do so.
- When searching by name use surname only in case the pt record only has initials for instance.
- When searching by address, use town or area only & consider using part-words, e.g. "manch" or "ester"
- Postcode matches first part of or all of the postcode. For greater flexibility on postcodes use the Query functions
Search field
On the menu bar there is a search field. Into this you can enter a variety of data & press enter to perform a search for patients. The data that you enter into the search field will be automatically recognised by the software.
The results are limited to 200 records for speed. Once the results are returned, you can remove this limit to return all the results. If you need more than 200 records returning, it may be wise to consider using a query so that you can analyse the results better.
This search field is also available as the first item on the Searches drop-down menu.
Recognised Values
Text entered into the search field can be any combination of the following items, and in any order. Text is case insensitive.
- NHS Number: enter a valid nhs number. Search will find this NHS Number or the rest of the search criteria to ensure complete results.
- Gender: enter male or female
- Hospital Number: enter 'h:' followed by the hospital number. E.g. h:RM34587534
- Date of Birth: enter a valid date in the format dd/mm/yyyy, e.g. 01/04/1977
- Postcode: enter the full postcode, including space, e.g. M23 9LT. Or just enter the first part for a broader search, e.g. M23
- Research Cases: enter +research
- Audit Cases: enter +audit
- Duplicate Folders: enter +duplicate
- Vulnerable Person: enter +vulnerable
- Key words from the Folder description: prefix each word with #, e.g. #kettle #cooker #toaster
- Email address: enter any valid email address.
- Names: Text that is not recognised from any of the above are treated as names in the format given-name family-name or single words are assumed to be family-name. E.g. jane doe or doe
Example Searches
- male M23 - searches for all males in the M23 postcode area
- 4144561221 Jane Doe - searches for NHS Number 4144561221 OR Jane Doe
- 23/10/1965 female - any female born on 23rd Oct 1965.
- M23 male 03/07/1983 +audit - males in the M23 postcode district born on 3rd July 1983 that are flagged as an Audit case.
- #kettle #pan #hob #cooker #scald male - Male patients with the words kettle, pan, hob, cooker & scald anywhere in the folder description.
- +duplicates - all duplicate folders.
IBID Search
On the toolbar there is an option to search using the Trauma Network ID, both options open the same search box displayed below.
If the Trauma network ID can be copied click the and it will be pasted into the search box. Otherwise enter the Trauma Network ID and click the Arrow button, the patient Ibid record will open.
See also: Query the database | Query Results