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Provisional Emergency Admission

buddhika edited this page Jun 5, 2026 · 1 revision

Provisional Emergency Admission

This page replaces the former "Rapid / Temp A&E Admission" article. The feature was renamed to Provisional Emergency Admission to align with standard clinical and HL7/NHS terminology for admissions where registration is incomplete at the time of admission.

Overview

A Provisional Emergency Admission allows emergency staff to get a patient into the system immediately, even when full demographic details (NIC, address, full name, date of birth) are not yet available. The admission is saved with a PROVISIONAL_EMERGENCY flag (RAPID_TEMP_AE internally), which signals to all other staff that the patient record is incomplete and needs to be followed up.

The patient's Registration Source is recorded as Walk-in (they physically arrived at the facility). The flag is at the encounter level — it describes the state of the registration, not the identity of the patient.


When to Use This

Use Provisional Emergency Admission when:

  • A patient arrives at the Emergency / A&E department and needs to be admitted immediately
  • Full patient identification is not available (e.g. unconscious patient, unaccompanied minor, unknown person)
  • Staff need a BHT number and a system record created without delay
  • Complete demographic details will be filled in once the patient is stabilised or identified

Do not use this as a routine shortcut to skip entering known patient details.


How to Create a Provisional Emergency Admission

Path: Main Menu → Inward → Admit a Patient

  1. Open the admission form as normal.
  2. Enter whatever patient details are available (even a partial name is fine; leave the rest blank).
  3. Click the amber "Provisional Emergency Admit" button — this is separate from the primary green Admit button.
  4. A confirmation dialog opens: "Confirm Provisional Emergency Admission".
  5. Click "Confirm — Provisional Emergency Admit" to proceed.

What is skipped for Provisional Emergency admissions

The following fields are not required and are skipped automatically:

Skipped field Notes
Room selection Assign a room later via Room Change
Payment method Set later when editing admission details
Referring consultant Fill in when editing admission details
Medical officer Fill in when editing admission details
Referral details Fill in when editing admission details
Guardian details Fill in later
Patient demographics Blank Name / Address are filled with placeholder values ("Unidentified Patient" / "Unknown")

A BHT number is generated and the admission is created immediately.


Completing the Registration

Once the patient is identified and demographics are available, open the Admission Profile. A prominent amber warning banner is shown:

Provisional Emergency Admission — patient demographics may be incomplete. Please add the patient data, or change to the correct patient if this is a duplicate record.

The banner offers four action buttons:

Button What it does
Add Patient Data Opens the Patient Edit page so you can fill in NIC, full name, address, date of birth, and contact details
Edit Admission Details Opens the Admission Edit page to add consultant, medical officer, payment method, room, and referral details
Change Patient Reassigns this BHT to a different (existing) patient record — use this if the temporary patient turns out to be a duplicate (see below)
Mark as Verified Clears the Provisional Emergency flag once all details have been confirmed; the warning banner disappears and the admission is marked as a standard admission

Recommended completion workflow

  1. Click Add Patient Data → fill in all available demographic details → save.
  2. Click Edit Admission Details → add consultant, medical officer, payment method, and room → save.
  3. Verify the information is correct.
  4. Click Mark as Verified → the amber banner disappears.

If the Patient Turns Out to Be a Duplicate

If, after creating a provisional registration, you find the patient already exists in the system:

  1. Click Change Patient in the warning banner.
  2. The system goes directly to the Change Patient page with this admission pre-selected — you do not need to search for the admission again.
  3. Search for the correct existing patient, select them, and confirm the change.
  4. After confirming, you are returned directly to the Admission Profile for the updated admission.
  5. Retire the temporary patient record using the standard patient management tools.
  6. Click Mark as Verified to close the banner.

See Inpatient — Change Patient for Admission for full details.


How It Appears in the System

Admission form

  • The "Provisional Emergency Admit" button is shown in the panel header (amber, with a truck-medical icon), separate from the primary Admit button.

Admission Profile page

  • An amber warning banner is displayed at the top of the page.
  • Four action buttons are available: Add Patient Data, Edit Admission Details, Change Patient, Mark as Verified.
  • A "Provisional Emergency" amber badge is shown in the patient summary panel header.

Admissions Search

  • A "Provisional Emergency" amber badge (truck-medical icon) appears next to the patient name in the search results table, making these admissions easy to identify at a glance.
  • Staff can scan the list to find all pending provisional admissions and track follow-up completion.

Patient Profile

  • The patient's Registration Source badge shows "Walk-in" (they physically arrived at the facility).
  • No special patient-level flag is set — the incomplete-demographics state is tracked at the encounter level only.

Administrator Notes

  • The encounterRegistrationFlag field on patientencounter stores RAPID_TEMP_AE for these admissions (internal enum name; the user-visible label is "Provisional Emergency").
  • The enum class is com.divudi.core.data.inward.EncounterRegistrationFlag.
  • No configuration key is required — the feature is always available.
  • patient.registrationSource is set to WALK_IN for patients created via this workflow.
  • Placeholder text for blank Name and Address is configurable via:
    • Inward Admission - Rapid Temp A&E Placeholder Name (default: "Unidentified Patient")
    • Inward Admission - Rapid Temp A&E Placeholder Address (default: "Unknown")

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