Test Patient
Practice Safely
You can test most elements of SystmOne and experiment with consultations using our test patient.
To load the test patient:
- Press F10 to load Quick Patient Search
- Press Advanced button (top right)
- Tick ‘Include test patients’
- Search for ‘mickey mouse’
Diagnosis Read Codes
Important
Making it easier for yourself in the future, or for other doctors seeing the same patient, requires knowing how and when to read code a diagnosis.
There are several options for entering a diagnosis in SystmOne:
- A simple ‘Read Code’
- A new patient Problem (eg: a longstanding diagnosis)
- Free text
A Simple Read Code
NOTE
Read codes are an enormous list of ‘codes’, or phrases associated with medical conditions. They can be a diagnosis, a symptom, or a numeric measurement such as blood pressure.
Why use read codes?
- Allows for searches and data extraction to check a patient’s record for specific things
- Some read codes impact how the surgery is paid
- Not entering a read code is probably worse than entering the wrong one!
How to Enter a Read Code
To enter a read code, right click the white box next to Diagnosis in the consultation window and click Insert Read Code. Search for the code that best describes a diagnosis, eg: ‘Chest infection - NOS’ (NOS: Not Otherwise Specified, meaning the term is general).
TIP
For examinations, you can usually just type what you’re measuring, followed by a space and the numbers (eg: weight 70, bp 120/60). As soon as you press the space bar again it should turn into a read code.
When to Use Read Codes
- Use read codes to keep a summary of problems a patient has
- Use numerical values (weight/bp/oxygen saturations) for historical tracking via the Numeric Results journal
- Don’t read code a symptom like “cough” - this adds nothing
Pre-Diabetes Example
A patient with an HBA1c of 44 needs a read code of pre-diabetes to make sure they are rechecked each year.
A New Patient Problem
If you’re explaining a new diagnosis to a patient, it’s important to add this to their problems list:
- Add a read code as above (eg: Polycystic Ovary Syndrome)
- Double click the diagnosis read code
- In the new box that pops up, tick Promote to Problem
- Change to Put in the Summary
Free Text Diagnosis
You can simply type in the diagnosis box if discussing something that doesn’t need a diagnosis, but there won’t be many of these.
WARNING
Try to avoid free text diagnoses too often. If the consultation doesn’t need a diagnosis, leave the diagnosis box empty instead.
Dealing with an Existing Problem
If you are seeing a patient about an existing problem (eg: Hypertension management):
- Make sure it is in the problem list on the left
- If not present, add it using the method above
- If present, press the Green flag at the top of the consultation
- Select the relevant problem
Why Flag Problems?
This makes your consultation show up whenever someone clicks on the problem in the left menu. You can still add a diagnosis if appropriate.