Merge Duplicate Patients Feature in Noah ES
- Ann Monnens
- Scott Peterson
The merge duplicate patient records feature in Noah provides an easy-to-use solution to search for or select patient records in the Noah database that are duplicates and merge the information into one patient record.
Search for Duplicate patients can be found in the Noah ES Portal under Patient Duplicates.
The interface in the portal allows you to narrow the range of patients you are searching for even faster searching results. Options include First Name, Last Name and Serial number. You can limit the number of possible duplicates if the database is very large.
Additional options to access Merge Duplicate Patients :
While working in Noah ES.
If duplicates are discovered while working in Noah, the professional can select the duplicate records directly in the Noah Patient Browser. Then right click and select “Merge Patients” or select the Merge Patients icon from the tool bar. Finally review and merge the records.
2. Search for Duplicates in the Noah Console
In Noah ES you will launch the Noah Console outside of Noah by clicking on the Windows icon, in Search type Noah Console.
Select ‘Search for Duplicate Patients' to search the entire Noah database and return a list of all patients that are possible duplicates.
The professional can then select ‘Compare’ to review records and merge.
If you have multiple databases to migrate into Noah ES, HIMSA suggests that you first migrate all of your databases to Noah ES and then begin the process of merging. Following this order is the most efficient method.
Merge Process
From the tool the professional can review demographic data and action data for two or more patient records to determine if they are duplicates.
Demographic data: The tool displays the demographic information that has been entered for each patient. The professional can then select the patient record with the best set of demographic data, and the new merged record will use this ‘best’ demographic data. By default, the tool will use demographic data from the patient that has the most recent action.
Session and Action data: In the same manner as Noah’s import Merge process, all the action data (e.g. audiograms, fittings, etc.) are merged, keeping the exact same session and action date and time.
By default, all patient records in the tool will be included in the merge. If one of the presented records is not a duplicate, then the professional can uncheck the “include” box. Once the professional finds two or more patients to be merged, they can click on the Merge button and the records will be merged.
There is no undo on the merging duplicate patients process. It is therefore recommended to have a current backup in place in case patient records are merged in error.
After the Merge is complete, only the newly merged patient will be present in Noah and the other patient record(s) will be deleted.
Merge process is documented in the patient record
Noah will create a Journal entry for the merged patient that provides details about the merge. The action description is ‘Patient Record Merged’. The journal entry will include the patient name(s) and actions that were merged.
Merge process is documented in the Noah ES Activity log
The Merge history will be recorded in the security audit trail found in the Activity log.
In Noah ES, by default the Business Decision Maker and Technical Administrators have rights to merge patient records. Noah ES Users are managed in the Noah ES Portal.
Noah 4.15 in Noah ES allows for searching smaller groups of patients for checking duplicates
The Search for Duplicate tool when used in Noah ES now allows for delimiting the query based on first name or last name:
It is primarily useful for hearing care businesses after combining databases, and particularly useful for larger chains. It’s probably most useful to rely on a few letters, for example, if you have a large database you could use From: “a” To: “ak” or similar to cut it into tiny sizes.