New patients are registered and their personal and demographic details recorded. A complete list of the towns in Sri Lanka is included to allow standardized linkage from the patient’s address to public health and other facilities. Patients receive a standard Patient Health Number (PHN) and there are functions to print bar-coded patient cards, certificates, bills, receipts, prescriptions, lab-test orders, lab results, visit summaries and appointment tokens.

A short visit to a general practitioner is recorded with the reason for attendance chosen from a look-up list. The doctor sees the previous visits and any action that was taken such as medications prescribed, lab-test ordered is shown and typical patient reports like off-work certificates can be printed. Diagnostic lab-tests, X-rays and scans, treatments and medications are all handled paperless and other diagnostic tests can be ordered and medications prescribed. Repeat and favourite prescriptions for each individual doctor are produced at the press of a button. Physical examination, treatments and procedures can also be optionally recorded, if wished. There is a direct link from OPD to specialist referral or overnight admission.

The clinic medical record is similar to the one for out-patients but a more detailed medical record is recorded. There are structured questionnaires to be used by various consultants coming from different clinical specialities. For example, a diabetic clinic will have questionnaires different from an ante-natal clinic. Clinic books, similar to a bank savings-book, are printed after each visit on special printers. All the functions listed for the OPD department are also available to the clinical consultants, doctors can order diagnostic tests and treatments and prescribe medications.

Wards are defined with the clinical specialities treated in each and associated with specific clinical questionnaires that control what patient information is asked for (the questionnaires are attached to specific wards). Standard questionnaires are available and others are prepared on request. With their help, doctors can document the past history, create internationally standardised SOAP notes (Subjective symptoms, Objective signs, Assessment of the clinical condition and Plan for diagnostic and therapeutic work-up). The admission record is produced as a detailed summary on discharge.

Patients are listed by ward for selection. Transfer between wards and referral to another institution are automated. The doctors & nurses order laboratory tests, X-rays, treatments such as inhalations, injections, appliances, physiotherapy, medications, major and minor surgical operations. They book surgical theatres with the necessary pre-medication, fasting and pre-op preparation. Surgical notes and surgical follow-up are documented. Prescribing and dispensing are done for individual patients (Single dose, regular and as-needed medications, discharge medications). Telemedicine is facilitated.

Daily, monthly and annual statistical reports are produced, and the in-patients have similar reporting of lab results, diagnostic procedures, drug prescribing, medical and surgical treatments as for out-patients. Disease are automatically notified and the quarterly statistics (IMMR) are produced.

Prescriptions are dispensed paperless from the computer record for out-patient, clinic and ward patients. They are sent to the pharmacy electronically or printed on paper or thermal rolls. Statistics of prescribing and dispensing are produced. Individual dispensers can have their own individual sub-stock.

Stocks of medications and materials are edited and maintained to support the pharmacy department and to facilitate ordering. A simple inventory and a stock management system is included with a main stock and multiple sub-stocks. Drugs are sorted by type of medication according to the WHO essential drug classification and both generic and proprietary names are used. If billing is used, the medications and the materials in the database are given purchase and selling prices for billing and accounting purposes.

The details of lab tests carried out including normal values are stored in system tables. Individual or groups of lab-tests are ordered and reported on. If billing is used, each lab-test is given a price. Automatic transfer of lab results from certain auto-analyser equipment directly into the patient database is under development.

Specimen reception, analysis, result recording, verification, validation & reporting.

A system table holds the treatments and surgical operations available in the institution. For  billing, individual treatments are given a price.

A timetable for booking surgical theatres is provided. Tables of operation, anaesthetics, material and theatres support data entry. Operation notes are recorded, for billing each type of operation, material used and service provided is given a price.

Patients are given an appointment for an out-patient visit or a specialist consultation. The appointment system can accommodate priority patients. The doctors see the patients who are waiting and can call the next one. Simple statistics are kept on attendance and waiting times. Patients can print their own appointment token by putting their Patient ID card under a bar-code reader.

Each type of consultation, the services, drugs, labtests, surgical operations and treatments provided are given a price and patient bills are updated automatically before or after the activity is carried out. Moneys are received, including partial payments, and receipts printed. The data is transferred to accounting programs digitally.

Current and waiting appointments are displayed on a TV screen for patient information. The displays are hung in the patient waiting areas. Patients who have seen the doctor are removed from the display and the queue of patients next in line is shown. Numbers are called in English.

Additions to the software and error-corrections are distributed regularly. The users can update the system tables and carry out simple system maintenance themselves. From the database, it is possible to produce numerous reports on activities. Diseases to be notified are listed and notification forms or e-mails prepared automatically when such a patient is diagnosed. All data is logged including changes to patient data, backups carried out, updates to the system etc. It is possible, for example, to identify who entered each individual piece of patient data, and this record cannot be altered later.