Resource Centre - Advanced Search

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Video Tutorial


The Advanced Search is used to narrow down the patient search results and returns results much quicker by using a combination of unique patient identifiers and requires mandatory fields such as the Source and the Facility. This is helpful when searching for a patient who has a common name but may not have an HCN.

To search for a patient’s record using the Advanced Search:

1. Click the Advanced Search option located in the toolbar at the top of the screen.

 

Image where the source option is located on the advanced search tab

2. Using the text boxes, drop downs, and calendar options, enter the patient’s search criteria then click the Search button.

3 . The search results display in a list below the Advanced Search criteria. To access the patient’s record, click the patient information row.  

a tip icon If there are no results returned when doing an Advanced Search, this may indicate that one or more of the search fields contains incorrect information, and you should check the search criteria entered before searching again. Also take note of your Source and Facility selection.

Image of the advanced search results

Advanced Search for PCR Records

a note icon The following applies to ClinicalConnect users at Participant Organizations authorized to view data from OLIS or other provincial repositories.

The Advanced Search function can be used by Participant Organizations to search for records of patients who haven’t had a SWO hospital/HCC visit because ClinicalConnect is ‘matching’ the patient’s demographics and identifiers against records held in the PCR.  Please refer to the previous section called 'ClinicalConnect's Integration wtih Provincial Client Registry (PCR)'

1. Using Advanced Search; First, select the Source ‘eHealth Ontario’ then

2. You must either enter the HCN or a combination of Last Name, First Name and DOB.

The example below shows a patient’s record search matching the patient’s demographics and identifiers against records held in the PCR.  This patient has not had any visits to an acute care facility or HCC Service in south west Ontario, however may have data in their health record from other sources.

3. Select the patient’s record to view the details.

Image of PCR Results

When using the Advanced Search, keep in mind the following Advanced Search options and restrictions:

Search Option Description

Source and Facility

These are mandatory fields.

The Source list includes hospitals and Home and Community Care that can have several associated facilities.

Once you’ve selected the Source, use the Facilities list to drill down on a specific facility you want to use in your search. The All option is available in the Facilities dropdown to search through all facilities in the selected source hospital.


The table below shows the Source and Facility fields for Oncology data from HNHB Regional Oncology Centres. To learn more about the data contributing organizations, refer to the ClinicalConnect Data Integration Status Chart.

Oncology Data from HNHB Regional Oncology Centres

ClinicalConnect 

“Source” Field 

ClinicalConnect 

“Facility” Field 

Walker Family Cancer Centre (WFCC) Data (Niagara Health), including historical

WFCC

St. Catharines Site

HNHB hospital oncology data (Juravinski Cancer Centre, and outpatient cancer clinics at Joseph Brant Hospital and Brant Community Healthcare System)

HHSC

JCC
Juravinski Hospital

Joseph Brant Hospital

Brant Community Healthcare System

Historical HNHB hospital oncology data from before June 4, 2022

HNHB Regional Cancer Program

JCC

 

Last Name and First Name

When using the first and last name search option, keep in mind the following: Requires at least one character in the Last Name field.

A patient’s maiden name or other name(s) are also considered in the search and may appear in the results if applicable.

A tip icon Search results may not always match the name entered in the first and last name fields. For example: If Mary Smith (the patient’s maiden name) was entered, Mary Jones (the patient’s current name) will be displayed in the results.

Note: Last Name, First Name, and DOB are required for HHSC patient name search.

Medical Record Number (MRN)

The maximum length for an MRN search is 15 characters.

Account Number

Account numbers are typically assigned to acute care encounters and are different for each individual patient encounter. Account numbers can be used to narrow down the search to a specific patient encounter at the selected facility. 

Health Card Number (HCN)

The maximum length for an HCN search is 10 characters.

Encounter Date

The Encounter Date can be entered if you are sure you know the specific date the patient visit occurred in the acute care facility. Encounters dates may not be used across all contributing source systems.

Date of Birth

Enter the Date of Birth using the dd/mm/yyyy format.

Image of the date of birth option for the advanced search

Gender

The gender field can be used along with other search criteria such as the name fields to narrow down the search results. 

Encounter Date Type

You can include the type of patient encounter to narrow down your results. Encounter filters include:

Admit (patient currently admitted into an acute care bed)

ER (Emergency Department visits)

Service (Service provided)

Discharge (patient is discharged from acute care)


Advanced Search Preferences

Preferences are used to customize how you want to view information presented in the Advanced Search to suit your clinical viewing needs. Preferences only need to be set once, and can be easily updated anytime as your clinical needs change.

Advanced Search has its own set of pfreferences that can be accessed and configured by clicking the Preferences button Preferences button in the Advanced Search results header (after you’ve completed an Advanced Search).

Image of the advanced search preferences tab

After updating your preference settings, click the Save & Apply button to save your changes.

To learn more about the various preference setting options, please visit the Common Preference Settings in ClinicalConnect section.

 

The following table provides a summary of some available Search preference settings:

Preference Description

Search Scope

The Search scope preference option will always default to "All Patients" and cannot be changed.

Source and Facility

The Source dropdown list includes multiple hospitals that can have several associated facilities. After you select a Source, use the Facilities dropdown list to drill down on a specific facility you want to use to filter your census list.

The All option is available in the Facilities dropdown to search through all facilities in the selected source hospital.

Sort By

Customize which column you would prefer your search results to be sorted by.