Scan Patient Identification

EMTrack provides the ability to scan patient identification, such as a driver license and triage tags/IDs.

There are two ways to acknowledge a patient, through the patient record or through the transport. When using EMTrack to add or edit patient records, you can scan the person's ID or driver license to quickly populate relevant fields on the form. Scanning a driver license or ID card uploads patient information and fills in the appropriate fields on the form.

You need to have the proper scanning equipment. For more information about equipment, refer to Hardware.

When adding a new patient or client, or editing an existing record, you can scan the individual's driver license (or other State-issued ID) if you have the proper equipment.

  1. On the add or edit patient form, click Scan Driver License. The Scan Driver License window opens and initiates the scan.

  2. Focus the scanner on the barcode. The solution captures the data and enters it in the appropriate fields.

The following table shows hardware you can purchase that supports this feature:

Hardware and descriptions

Hardware

Description

CHERRY® Keyboard

Scan a magnetic stripe driver license/ID

Tethered Scanner

Scan a 2D driver license/ID

Patient record pages contain the DL/ID Reader Click Here link. Hover over the link to view a description of the link and process.

When you scan a license or ID, the system recognizes the type of item and processes the data accordingly. EMTrack can process driver licenses/IDs from any State, as well as most United States territories and Canadian provinces.

Due to proprietary encryption, EMTrack's web service cannot process Georgia licenses/IDs that were issued prior to 12/01/2009.

When the user scans a driver license of ID, the system separates the string of scanned data into individual data elements, such as name, age, address, and other demographics units.

For a new record, the system fills in these units with data from the scanned license/ID.

For an existing record, the system overwrites these data elements with the data from the scanned license/ID. If the ID does not include data for a field, the system does not remove the existing data.

When you are updating an existing record, make certain you have the correct patient record open, as scanning replaces certain data elements. If you make a mistake, you can also click Cancel in the tab, which will cancel all of your changes.

Each triage/identification tag has a human-readable identification number on its surface and a barcode. At an incident site or event, your users can scan client and patient tags using EMTrack Mobile. At that time, the user may also enter related demographic information for each client or patient. Each unique ID is saved in a client record that is then uploaded to EMTrack Web.

EMTrack checks the ID number against existing patient records. If the ID number:

  • Does not match any ID in the system, EMTrack creates a new patient record.

  • Exists in the system, EMTrack overwrites the existing record with the demographic data that was entered at the site when the ID was scanned. If the scanned ID does not contain data in a field, the system does not overwrite or remove data in the existing record.

Related Concepts

Patients