Need to add custom details for your patients or clients? For example, vaccination status, insurance coverage, anniversary dates, or any useful information that would help you manage & understand your patients further.
If you want to create additional fields to the patient details page, the first thing you'll have to do is set up custom patient fields within the Settings page. You can then set up as many custom patient fields as you need 🎉!
In this guide, we'll take you through the following:
If you'd like to watch a video overview of how custom patient fields work, Rachel walks you through it below!
The function of creating custom patient fields is currently only available to users with the Administrator or Power receptionist security role.
Creating custom patient fields
Head to Settings, and then select Custom patient fields:
From here, if no custom patient fields have been added previously you'll want to click "create one":
Once a new section has been added, you'll see a few fields that can be filled in/selected:
Section title (required)
Field title (required)
Field type (required)
Similar to Treatment note templates and Patient form templates, when adding custom patient fields you also have the option to create multiple new sections by using the "Add section" button:
Within each section, you can add as many custom fields as needed. Once you've added your custom fields, make sure to Save your changes at the bottom of the page:
The next time you edit or create a new patient on the Patients page, you'll now see the new fields appear (below the Referral source section) 🎉:
Understanding "Field types"
When adding your custom patient fields, there are many different types of fields you can select from:
Single line text
Paragraph text
Multiple choice
Checkboxes
Date
Single line text fields
These are the types of patient fields that would require shorter answers—nothing super long and detailed.
Paragraph text fields
These are the kinds of patient fields that would require longer answers—maybe you're adding an address of an emergency contact or listing patient preferences. A paragraph text question would be a good candidate here, as it will let you write a lot of details about the patient!
Multiple choice fields
These are good if you have a patient field that might have a lot of possible answers, but you only need to select one. If the answer isn’t available in the list, you can also add an "Other" option which will allow you or your team to write in a new custom value.
Checkboxes fields
These are similar to multiple choice, but you can select more than one answer. Checkboxes also allows for an "Other" option to be added to your list of possible answers, which will allow you or your team to write in a new custom value.
Date fields
With the Date field type you'll be able to select past or future dates quickly. You’ll see a drop-down for year, month, and an option to clear the date that was previously selected.
Renaming custom patient sections and fields
Once a custom patient field has been added to your account, at any time you can rename or update the section or field titles. However, you cannot edit field types (for example changing a custom field type from "single text" to a "checkboxes" field type)
To rename a custom patient field section or title, head to Settings, and then select Custom patient fields:
From here, edit any section titles, field titles, or options as needed.
You’ll see a warning that the updated title or option will be applied to all patients that may already have existing data. So we highly recommend not renaming your fields in a way that could change the meaning of the existing data you’ve already added:
Once you finished your changes, make sure to click Save at the bottom of the page:
Any archived patient fields and sections cannot be edited unless they are restored first.
Archiving custom patient sections and fields
To archive any sections or individual custom fields, head to Settings, and then select Custom patient fields:
From here, use the Archive button on any sections, fields, or options as needed:
This will not delete or remove the custom patient fields permanently from the account. You'll see a warning that Archiving any sections, fields, options will simply hide any data that has been collected so far from the patient details page. Keep in mind, however, if you export your patients via Settings → Data Exports the archived data will be available.
To view any archived fields, head to the bottom of any section with an archived field and click "Show archived fields":
Otherwise, if you archived an entire section, you'll need to scroll to the bottom of the page and click "Show archived sections":
Once you make all of your changes, click Save at the bottom of the page:
Restoring sections and fields
At any time you can restore your archived custom patient fields, sections, or options.
To do this, head to Settings, and then select Custom patient fields:
Restore an archived field
Head to the bottom of any section with an archived custom patient field and click "Show archived fields":
You'll now see the option to "Restore field":
This will add the archived field back to the section. Once you Save your changes, the field will also be available within the patient's details page.
Restore an archived field option
Head to the bottom of any section with an archived custom patient field option and click "Show archived options":
You'll now see the option to "Restore":
Once you Save your changes, the field option will be available again within the patient's details page.
Restore an archived section
If you archived an entire section, you'll need to scroll to the very bottom of the custom patient fields page and click "Show archived sections":
You'll now see the option to "Restore section":
Once you Save your changes, the section will be available within the patient's details page.
Exporting custom patient field data
If any custom data is added to the patient, we’ll also include those fields within your data exports!
Export individual patient data
A single patient export can be generated by selecting the patient in question, and scrolling down to the bottom of their details. From here, you'll see an option to generate an export under Export patient information:
Click the Generate export link, and you'll see a message that a copy of stored information is being exported:
To access this export, head into the patient's Files, and you'll see the export (it will be a .zip file, and have a really long name):
Export multiple patients
To generate an export of custom patient data fields from multiple patients, head to Settings, and then Data exports:
From here, you'll want to select "patients" as the type of Data to export, and select your date range:
The date ranges filter by the dates that patients are created (added into Cliniko). If you want all of your patients, select "Any time" to "Any time", as in the example below.
Click the Export data button, and your file will be generated. The spreadsheet will contain the custom patient data fields and sections you created 🎉! Perfect for creating custom reports based on the data you've collected!
If you have any questions on custom patient fields, our support team is happy to help out!