Admit, transfer and discharge a patient

Available to

Admit: nurses, registration officers, clinicians. Discharge: clinicians and nurses.

An inpatient stay is one encounter. It starts with an admission to a bed, may include transfers between wards or beds, and ends with a discharge. Every move is recorded in the encounter's movement ledger.

Admit to a bed  →  Care in progress  →  (Transfer between wards or beds)  →  (Leave)
        →  Sign discharge summary  →  Discharge  →  Bed goes to Cleaning

Admit a patient

Open Wards and select Admit Patient, or select Admit on an available bed in the bed board.
Choose the Patient, Facility, Ward and Bed. Only beds that are available in the selected ward are offered.
Tick Requires Isolation if the patient needs an isolation-capable bed.
Check Encounter Type (it defaults to Inpatient), choose the Attending Clinician, and confirm Admission At.
Enter the Chief Complaint.
Select Admit. The encounter opens in progress and the bed becomes Occupied.

The Admit Patient form. All of Patient, Facility, Ward, Bed and Chief Complaint must be filled in.

Admission checks

The ward may admit only one sex, or only an age range. The system refuses an admission that breaks the ward rule, and asks for a date of birth when the ward is age-restricted.
A bed restricted to one sex refuses patients of the other.
An isolation requirement needs an isolation-capable bed.
A bed that is not available, or that already has an active encounter, cannot be chosen.

Transfer a patient

Open the patient's encounter (Patients → Encounters).
Select Transfer. The encounter must be arrived, in progress or on leave.
Choose the To Ward, To Department and To Bed, tick Requires Isolation if needed, and give the Reason.
Select Confirm Transfer. The old bed moves to Cleaning, the new bed becomes Occupied, and the move is added to the Movement Ledger tab.

The Transfer Encounter form, opened from the encounter.

Discharge a patient

Open the encounter and review the Nursing tab for overdue tasks and the fluid balance.
A clinician writes and signs the discharge summary (select Discharge Summary on the encounter). See Write and sign a discharge summary.
Select Discharge. The encounter closes, Discharge At is recorded and the bed moves to Cleaning.

An inpatient encounter. Action buttons at the top follow the encounter's state.

Encounter states

Encounter state	What you can do
`Scheduled`	Arrive, or cancel.
`Arrived`	Start care, transfer, or cancel.
`In Progress`	Transfer, start leave, or discharge.
`On Leave`	Return from leave, transfer, or discharge.
`Discharged`, `Cancelled`	Read only. No further movement.

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