How to Use Patient Alerts

How to Use Patient Alerts

Patient alerts are high-visibility notices that appear at the top of a patient's record. Use them to flag critical safety information that every clinician and staff member should see.

When to Use Alerts

Alerts are designed for important safety and clinical information, such as:

• Drug allergies or adverse reactions
• Safeguarding concerns
• Infection control requirements
• Communication needs (e.g. hearing impairment)
• Violent or aggressive behaviour warnings

Creating an Alert

1. Open the patient's record
2. Click the Add Alert button in the alert banner area (or from the patient actions menu)
3. Enter the alert message
4. Click Save

The alert appears immediately as a coloured banner at the top of the patient's record.

Critical Alert Popup

When a patient has active alerts, a popup modal appears the first time any user opens that patient's record in a session. This ensures critical information is not missed.

Ending an Alert

When an alert is no longer relevant:

1. Open the patient's record
2. Find the alert in the banner
3. Click End on the alert
4. The alert is marked as ended with a timestamp but remains in the patient's history

Ended alerts are not deleted - they are retained for audit purposes and can be viewed in the alert history.

Important: Alerts are visible to all staff who can access the patient record. Only use them for information that genuinely needs to be seen by everyone.