To enter patient information, you need to be on the patient screen in palCentre. It can be accessed by clicking on the 'Patient' option in the navigation menu bar.
When you open the screen, all patient current patients can be seen. Each patient is represented by a row in the patient screen.
Creating a new patient
To create a new patient, click on the purple 'Add a new patient' button in the top right hand corner of the screen.
The patient details form will appear.
The following information needs to be entered into this screen:
| Item to be entered | Additional information |
|---|---|
| Patient identifier | The unique identifier assigned to the patient by your service. This is a mandatory item - you cannot submit this screen without this information. |
| Date of birth | |
| Family name | This data is not submitted to PCOC but is required to generate the statistical linkage key. |
| Given name | This data is not submitted to PCOC but is required to generate the statistical linkage key. |
| Sex | |
| State | |
| Postcode | |
| Country of birth | If the country of birth is Australia, select this from the drop down menu. Otherwise select ‘other’ from the drop down menu and start typing the country of birth into the please specify field. Once you start typing a drop down list of counties will appear, select the appropriate country. If the country of birth is not stated, select this from the drop down menu. |
| Preferred language | If the country of birth is Australia, select this from the drop down menu. Otherwise select ‘other’ from the drop down menu and start typing the country of birth into the please specify field. Once you start typing a drop down list of counties will appear, select the appropriate country. If the country of birth is not stated, select this from the drop down menu. |
| Indigenous status | |
| Diagnosis | This is the principal life limiting illness for the patient |
Once all the information has been entered, click on submit.
Before the patient details are saved, palCentre will check to see if the patient name and/or MRN already exists. This functionality avoids duplicate patients being entered. If this warning does appear, please check that the MRN and patients name is correct. If they are correct, you will need to exit from this form and search for the patient.
If the country of birth, preferred language, Indigenous status or diagnosis is not entered into the form at time of creation, you will be prompted to enter this information in the episode form. This ensures that your data entry is as complete as possible.
To avoid having blank data items appear on your data quality report, select the 'Not stated' or 'Unknown' option in instances where the patient has not provided this information.
Once the patient has been saved, they will now appear in the list on the patient screen.
Changing a patients details
To change any of the patient details, click on the pencil icon to the right of the Patients view screen. 
This will take you to the patient form window to add or change any details.
Searching for a patient
To search for a patient, type their unique Patient identifer or their name in the seach bar in the top left hand side of the screen. Then click on the magnifying glass icon.
(update!!)
If the patient does not appear below, you may need to do an advanced search. Click on the 'Advanced search' link. This will open a pop-up window that will allow you to search for:
- Birthdate date range
- first name
- last name
- Patient identifier
- If the patient is active, inactive or all patients
If the patient exists, they will appear on the screen.
To remove any search parameters, click on the 'Reset' button in the Advanced Patient Search. This will allow you to see you to see the full list of current patients that appeared when opening palCentre.