iGene has complete patient demographics built into the application. This allows all the information relating to the patient to be stored. It is the choice of the site as to how much information is stored in this section and in which fields they wish to record these details.
There are 4 main ways patients will get into the application:
The majority of locations have an interface to get patient details into the application. This is via a few methods:
Interface - The ADT interface takes messages sent from other systems of patient creations and updates. These are then processed by the application and stored. Typically, the update messages come from a larger hospital system where that system is considered the master record of patients. This interface type is considered an active interface, in the sense that something forces the interface to run without any interaction from the user. It is also possible for order messages to create new patients in the system. This is configured on a per-site basis.
Search Interfaces - Some locations have an interface type which is a search request of the main system. This involves using search area under Patients > Patient Add. Typically, this asks for an ID number to search from and will produce one result from iGene and/or a result from the external system. Clicking the result from the external system will import it and the patient will then be within iGene.
If the location has purchased Pedigree Draw with iGene then it is possible to enter patients directly from the pedigree diagram. When a patient is created within the diagram it becomes a ‘ghost’ patient within the application. This means that it exists, but it is not a full patient. They can be converted to a full patient if the user requires.
When the application is first commissioned, some locations purchase a data migration as part of the initial installation. Genial will take the data from their old system and migrate it into iGene so the history of the patients can be seen within one application.
Typically for the Search Interface type, there is still an update procedure that happens in the background. This takes the form of messages being dropped in a location to be pulled into the application.
It is also possible for iGene to send out update messages when patients are changed within the application to external systems. This does depend on local policies regarding if they want this to take place.