Dr. Rakesh Kumar
CHART 04 / APP-BASED REGISTRATION

App-Based Patient Registration

A unified app- or web-based symptom-intake system that supports both online and offline OPD registration. The same structured form can be completed by the patient or attendant before arrival, or by the registration-counter operator during an in-person visit.

Online Offline In development

Overview

Conventional OPD registration primarily captures administrative information such as name, age, and department. The patient's presenting complaint is often recorded in an unstructured manner and may need to be elicited again when the patient reaches the doctor.

This project introduces a standardised symptom-intake form at the first point of contact.

The same form is available to:

The information collected through either pathway generates a structured symptom record and SOAP summary along with the patient's registration details.

The objective is to ensure that the patient's presenting complaints are captured once, consistently, and at the beginning of the healthcare journey.

How it works

Online

  1. The patient or attendant opens the hospital's intake form before or during the visit.
  2. The presenting symptoms are selected in the available language.
  3. The system generates a SOAP summary and registration record.
  4. Relevant departments and available consultation slots are presented based on the selected symptoms.
  5. The patient can compare waiting periods and choose a preferred consultation date and time.

Offline

  1. The patient arrives at the registration counter without having completed the online form.
  2. The operator communicates with the patient and identifies the presenting symptoms.
  3. The operator enters the information into the same structured symptom-intake form.
  4. The registration record and SOAP summary are generated.

Thus, both online and offline registration follow one standardised process and generate the same structured clinical record.

Symptom-based department selection

A patient should not necessarily need to know which department to visit before describing their problem.

The system uses the patient's selected symptoms to identify relevant departments and allows the available options to be compared.

For example, a patient presenting with:

Knee Pain + Swelling + Difficulty in Walking

may be offered consultation options in:

The system can display the expected waiting period and available consultation slots for each relevant department.

This allows the patient to make an informed choice before booking.

The principle

One symptom set → relevant departments → waiting-period comparison → informed appointment selection.

This transforms registration from a purely administrative process into the first structured step of the patient's clinical journey.

Who can perform online and offline registration?

The effectiveness of the offline pathway depends on the capabilities of the registration-counter operator.

Three abilities are particularly important:

1. English Literacy

The operator should be able to read and understand English clearly, as the registration interface and department names are presented in English.

2. Local-Dialect Communication

The operator should be able to communicate effectively with patients in their local dialect, particularly when patients describe symptoms in their native language.

3. English Typing Skills

The operator should be able to type confidently in English using a mobile, tablet, or desktop computer.

These abilities work together to ensure that symptoms are accurately understood and entered into the structured system.

Try the intake form

Working prototypes of the patient-facing symptom-intake system are available in English and Hindi.

The complaints are organised by body region rather than hospital department, so that patients can describe what they are experiencing without first having to determine which department they should visit.

English

  1. Open the English version →

Hindi

  1. Open the Hindi version →

Aim

The aim is to create a continuously evolving database of presenting symptoms across hospital departments.

Unlike conventional diagnosis-based databases, this system captures the patient's initial reason for seeking care, before the final diagnosis is established.

Over time, this information can help identify:

From Diagnosis to the Reason for Seeking Care

The fundamental objective is to move from a system that records what the patient was ultimately diagnosed with to one that also captures why the patient came to the hospital in the first place.