How to Search for Patients

Introduction

The patient search feature helps you quickly find existing patients in the CAREFUL system using their name, date of birth, national ID (NHS number), medical record number, or other identifying information. You can search across your entire organization or within specific teams to locate patient records before adding them to your team or viewing their care details.

Before You Start

• You must be logged in as a Clinical User, Team Owner, or Administrator
• No special permissions required to search for patients
• Patients must already exist in the system to appear in search results

Steps

To search for a patient:

1. Open the patient search dialog by clicking the Find a Patient option from the main navigation or when prompted to select a patient

2. The "Find a Patient" dialog appears with an empty search form

3. Enter at least one search criterion:

   • Nat.ID (NHS number or Medicare number) - enter at least 2 characters
   • Medical Record Number (hospital number/MRN) - enter at least 2 characters
   • First Name - enter at least 2 characters
   • Last Name - enter at least 2 characters
   • Date of birth - select from the date picker (format: dd-MM-yyyy)
   • Gender - select Male, Female, or Other from the dropdown

4. As you type, the system automatically searches after a brief pause (300ms) and displays matching results in a dropdown below the form

5. Each search result shows:

   • Gender icon
   • Patient's full name with date of birth in parentheses
   • "Nat.ID" label with the NHS/Medicare number
   • "MRN" label with the medical record number
   • "External" tag if the patient is from an external system

6. Click on a patient from the dropdown results to select them

7. The selected patient's details populate in the form, and the "Confirm" button becomes available

8. Click "Confirm" to proceed with adding the patient to your team or viewing their details

If no matching patients are found:

1. The message "No patients found" appears below the search form

2. Click the "Create Patient" button to add a new patient record to the system

3. The dialog title changes to "Create a Patient" and displays the patient creation form

To clear your search:

• Click the "Clear All" button to reset all search fields and start a new search

Using the table view (when available):

1. Some screens display search results in a table format with columns: Name, Status, Cell/Mobile Number, Email, and Nat.ID

2. Click on a patient row to highlight it

3. Click the green "Select" button that appears to choose that patient

4. If no patients match your criteria, you'll see "No results to show" in the table

Tips

• Combine search criteria for more precise results - for example, search by both first name and date of birth
• Minimum 2 characters required - you won't see results until you've typed at least 2 characters in text fields
• Auto-complete search - results appear automatically as you type, no need to press Enter or click a search button
• External patients - patients marked with the "External" tag come from integrated systems like Leecare and may have limited information
• Regional variations - in Australia, the "Nat.ID" field displays as "Medicare #" instead
• Duplicate detection - when creating a new patient, the system automatically checks for potential duplicates and warns you if matching records exist

Related Features

• How to Create a New Patient - Learn how to add new patient records to the system
• How to Add Patients to Your Team - Add existing patients to your clinical team
• How to View Patient Details - Access complete patient information and care history