Concepts/Patient: Difference between revisions

(5 intermediate revisions by the same user not shown)

Line 3:

|domain=clinical

|title=Patient

|summary=A person who receives care through your facility or program — the ~~longitudinal~~ ~~anchor~~ ~~for~~ clinical documentation.

|summary=A person who receives care through your facility or program — the record holds demographic and contact details and anchors all clinical documentation.

|order=1

|introduced=3.0

|fhir=Patient

|reference=References/Patient

|flow=Flows/~~Create~~ a patient

|flow=Flows/Register a patient

}}

== Definition ==

⚫

A '''patient''' in Care is a person who receives care through your facility or program. It is the ~~longitudinal~~ ~~anchor~~ ~~for~~ ~~clinical~~ ~~documentation~~ — every encounter, ~~observation~~, ~~order~~, and ~~care plan links~~ ~~back~~ to a patient record.

⚫

A '''patient''' in Care is a person who receives care through your facility or program. The patient record holds the demographic and contact details of that person. Care ties every encounter, condition, note, appointment, and clinical record to a patient record.

== What it represents ==

== Key Attributes ==

In Care's FHIR-aligned model, a patient maps to the '''Patient''' resource. It holds:

* '''Identity''' — name, date of birth, sex, photo, and government or facility identifiers

* '''Contact''' — phone, address, and emergency contacts

* '''Administrative context''' — registration status, facility association, and tags used by your deployment

* '''Clinical linkage''' — references to encounters, conditions, allergies, and other resources in the record

A patient is not the same as a single visit. One patient can have many encounters over time; the patient record is the container that makes that history coherent.

== Identifiers ==

Patients are located using one or more identifiers, depending on how your deployment is configured:

{| class="wikitable"

! Identifier type !! Typical use

|-

! Components !! What it captures

| Facility MRN || Primary key inside a hospital or clinic

|-

| Name || The full name of the person. Care stores the name as a single free-text entry.

| National health ID || ABDM, ABHA, or other national rails

|-

| Gender || The gender of the person: Male, Female, Non-binary, or Transgender.

| Program ID || Public health or campaign-specific registries

|-

| Phone Number || The primary contact number of the person.

|-

| Emergency Phone Number || The number to call in an emergency.

|-

| Date of Birth || The date the person was born.

|-

| Age || The age of the person in years. Care converts the age to a year of birth.

|-

| Address || The current address of the person, as free text.

|-

| Permanent Address || The permanent address of the person. You can mark it the same as the current address.

|-

| PIN Code || The postal code of the address.

|-

| Blood Group || The blood group of the person. Staff collect this value at registration.

|-

| Geo Organization || The government administrative area that the person belongs to.

|-

| Patient Identifiers || The identifiers that your deployment configures, for example a national ID or a facility ID.

|-

| Patient Tags || The labels that administrators attach to the patient record.

|-

| Deceased Status || Whether the person is deceased, with the date and time of death.

|-

| Volunteer Contact || The users that a facility assigns to the patient for field support.

|}

Identifiers must be unique within the scope your administrator defines. Duplicate detection during registration uses these fields.

== ~~Lifecycle~~ ==

== Patient Identifiers ==

Your deployment configures the identifier types that Care shows. A facility can define its own identifier types, or the instance can define identifier types for all facilities. Each identifier type is required or optional. An identifier type can also check the format of the value that you enter.

Register → Active → (optional) Inactive / Deceased

</syntaxhighlight>

* '''Register''' — a patient record is created with minimum demographics

* '''Active''' — the record is used for encounters and orders

* '''Inactive''' — retained for history but hidden from routine search (configurable)

* '''Deceased''' — administrative closure; clinical history remains auditable

== Permissions ==

{| class="wikitable"

Who can view or edit patient demographics is controlled by role-based access. Clinical staff typically can read full records; registration staff can create and update demographics; some fields may be restricted by facility or ward.

|-

! Permission !! What it allows

|-

| Can Create Patient || Register a new patient.

|-

| Can Update a Patient's data || Edit the details of an existing patient.

|-

| Can list patients || See patients in search results and lists.

|-

| Can view clinical data about patients || View the clinical information of a patient.

|-

| Can view questionnaire responses on patient || View the questionnaire responses of a patient.

|-

| Can submit questionnaire about patients || Submit a questionnaire about a patient.

|}

{{Note|1=Only a system administrator can permanently delete a patient record. Regular staff roles cannot delete a patient record.}}