Archive or merge patients

Update the status of deceased patients and those who have not visited the practice in some time. This provides more appropriate search results and accurate information.

Patients whose records have been marked as Archived or Deceased will not be selected to appear on the Patient Selector screen unless you tick the Search Archived and Deceased box. This option can be permanently switched on through Practice Setup > Practice > Practice Details and selecting the Find arch'd/deceased checkbox.

Archived patients

Patients can be archived if they have not visited the practice within a specified period of time.

As it is not possible to delete patients with financial data, this function can also be used to set the patients' Status (in Patient Details) from Current to Archived automatically. Patients who are archived will not appear in Patient Search results (unless the Search Archived/Deceased field is ticked).

To archive a patient:

Go to Zedmed's Utilities tab.
Select Archive then Archive Patients.
The Archive Patients screen will open.
Select the parameters for archiving.
Before you proceed with the Archive, it is recommended that you Print a list of Patients that would be archived if you proceeded. This can be used to pull files and as a hard copy reference later. Alternatively, you can print a list of Archived patients through the Reports/Patients Report using the Status criteria of "Archived".
Select Archive.

Deceased patients

A patient's status will need to be updated if the patient has passed away. This will ensure the patient is removed from any generated reminders reliant on a patient's status.

To update the patient:

Go to Zedmed's Reception tab.
Select Patients then locate the patient and open their record.
To learn more, see the find a patient's record article.
Update the patient's Status to Deceased.
Important: Please also cancel any future appointments for the patient, as they are not automatically removed.

Merge patient records

The Patient Merge feature allows you to consolidate and merge duplicate patient records.

To merge a duplicated record:

Go to Zedmed's Utilities tab.
Select Patient Merge.
The Merge Welcome screen will open.
Select Merge Patients.The Merge Patients screen will open.
Select Select Patient(s).
Enter the duplicated patient's information and select Search.The records of matching patients will appear.
Tick the boxes next to the duplicated records you want to merge.
Select Add Patients to add the selected patients to the Choose Preferred Patient screen.
Select the Patient that you want to be the primary record.
If you want to specify the fields you would like to keep, select Advanced.
If you chose Advanced, a granular view of the patient will display.
Use the radio buttons to select the fields you wish to use in the final patient record. In the below example, Patient 1 has been selected as the preferred/primary record; however, Patient 2's Home and postal address details have been selected for the final record. You will often find that one record is more complete than the other, and a more complete record can indicate what should be the primary source of information.
After the desired fields have been chosen, select Close. This will take you back to the Merge Patients window.
Once you have selected the primary patient record and made any Advanced selections, select Next.
The confirmation screen will appear.
Review the settings and select Next.
The merge will start and display a notification once it has been successfully completed.

Bulk merge patient records

If you identify a large number of duplicate records, the Bulk Merge tool allows you to review and process multiple duplicate records at the same time.