Assigning allergies to patients

You can assign medical conditions and allergies to patients in Health History to remind you of and to keep a record of any conditions, illnesses, or allergies your patients may suffer from. For example, you could assign a medical condition to document that a patient experiences excessive bleeding or has diabetes.

Important: The HIPAA Privacy Rule established national standards to protect an individual's medical records and other personal health information. The rule applies to health care providers and requires appropriate safeguards to protect personal health information and sets limits and conditions on the uses and disclosures that health care providers may make of such information without a patient's authorization.

To assign an allergy to a patient

1.   In any module except the Office Journal and eDex, click File, point to Switch To, and then click Health History.

The Health History window appears.

2.   If necessary, click the Select Patient toolbar button and select the patient you want to assign an allergy to.

3.   Click the Add toolbar button, and then click Allergy.

The Add Allergy dialog box appears.

4.   Click the Allergy search button.

Note: You can also type the name of the allergy in the Allergy text box.

The Select Allergy dialog box appears.

5.   Select the appropriate allergy from the list, and then click OK.

6.   If necessary, complete one or more of the following tasks in the Add Allergy dialog box:

·        Reported Date – Set the date the patient reported the allergy.

·        Start Date – Set the date you started tracking the allergy.

·        Inactivated Date – Set the date you inactivated the allergy.

·        Show as Critical – Select to flag the allergy as critical. The Health History button will be colored red.

·        Display Pop-up Alert for this Patient – Select to generate a pop-up alert each time the patient is selected.

·        Note – Type a note. To date the note, click the calendar button and select a date from the calendar. (Default is the current date.)

7.   Click OK.

The selected allergy is added to the patient's Allergies list in the Health History window.