Alternatives to Deleting a Patient
In this tutorial, you will learn alternative ways to delete, effectively delete, or remove patient(s) from your account.
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About Alternatives to Deleting Patients
We strongly suggest voiding or voiding then freezing patients over literally deleting a patient because of the impact deletion has on your case number sequence. Case numbers are important within your organization, for they help you keep track of your patients, but having a gap in your patient numbers could cause problems with your record-keeping and could potentially have legal ramifications. For this reason, WRMD only allows the actual deletion of the last admitted patient, giving you the opportunity to reuse that case number when the next animal is admitted.
Voiding a Patient
What if you realize that one of your patients who is in the middle of your case number sequence is a mistake and you want to delete it? Instead of deleting that record, you can remove that patient from your data/statistics/analytics by voiding them. Once voided, that patient will no longer be counted in any of your reporting or analytics. The record still exists; it has just been removed as a data point in your patient records. This means that if you, anyone in your organization, or even the authorities want to know what that case number was, there will be no suspicious-looking gap in the number sequence.
Step 1
Log into your account and go to the specific patient record you want to void.
Step 2
Click on either the Continued Care tab OR the Initial Care tab.
Step 3
Scroll to the bottom of the patient record until you reach the Disposition Panel.
Step 4
Under the Disposition field’s drop-down menu, change the patient’s disposition to Void.
Step 5
Click the green Update Patient button.
Step 6
There will be a green banner at the top of the record indicating the record has been updated, but to be on the safe side, confirm that it says Void in the record’s Location Panel.
Freezing a Voided Patient
Another way to ensure that the patient you voided remains permanent, is to Freeze the Patient. By performing this action, you will effectively prevent any further updates or changes to that record.
Step 1
Void the Patient Record by performing Steps 1-5 above.
Step 2
Click on the More Tab.
Then, from the drop-down menu, click on Patient Settings.
Step 3
Click on the pink Freeze this Patient to Prevent any Further Updates button to prevent any further updates to this patient record.
Step 4
A blue banner will appear at the top of the record indicating you have effectively frozen the file.
