Practice operations
Common problems when digitising a clinic
1 min read
Old records never get imported
The clinic signs up, and the existing patient list stays in the old register because nobody wants to retype hundreds of names. Reception ends up running both systems, checking the old book for anyone not yet in the new one. The fix is to import the old list before go-live, not after — as an Excel or CSV export the vendor's team reviews and loads, not a manual re-entry job.
The specialty presets are never reviewed
A starter kit ships with generic templates for the specialty, and the clinic starts using them exactly as they are instead of editing them to match its own letterhead, consent wording and usual medicines. Weeks later the doctor is still typing around a template that does not quite fit, because nobody spent the first day adjusting it.
Staff are trained on the wrong screens
Reception and doctors are shown the whole system in one session, most of which neither will use day to day. Reception needs booking, check-in and billing; doctors need the consultation and prescription screens. Training everyone on everything wastes the session on screens they will not touch.
There is no real cut-off date
Paper and software are kept running side by side “just in case”, with no date set for the paper register to stop. Six months later the clinic still trusts neither system fully, because neither one has the complete picture.
Go-live happens without a rehearsal
The first time the new system is used on a real patient is also the first time anyone tests it under pressure. Running one full day — booking, consultation, prescription, billing, follow-up — on real patients before the cut-off, with paper still available as a backup, surfaces the gaps a demo never shows.
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