Vital signs and measurements

A patient’s measurements are recorded on the visit page, in the Vitals section. It has three cards:

• Measurements: weight, height, waist and hip circumference, and BMI.
• Blood Pressure: systolic and diastolic pressure, and heart rate.
• Observations: temperature and oxygen saturation (SpO₂).

The Vitals summary in the visit’s side panel shows the most recent value of each measurement. Select it to jump to the cards.

Viewing readings

Each card shows the patient’s readings as a chart or as a table. Switch between them with the view button on a card or with Table / Chart at the top of the visit page; either one switches every card at once. Expand opens a larger view.

The chart shows one point per day: the highest value of each measurement that day. For blood pressure, systolic and diastolic are each the day’s highest, so they may come from different readings. The table lists every reading.

In the table, each row is one reading: the values recorded together at the same date and time, one column per measurement. A dash means that value wasn’t taken in that reading. The comment column shows the staff member’s comment and, labelled Patient comment, the note a patient added to a reading they recorded. Readings are listed newest first, a page at a time; readings taken at the same moment keep a fixed order, so none moves or repeats when you change page.

By default the cards show every reading of the patient. Turn on Visit only at the top of the page to show only the readings taken during this visit. Closed visits always show only their own readings.

Recording a reading

Choose Add on a card:

1. Set the date and time the measurements were taken.
2. Fill in the measurements you took. Leave the others empty. Each field shows its unit, and values outside the accepted range for that measurement are refused, whether they come from this form or from another system through the API.
3. Optionally add a comment.

Some measurements must be recorded together: systolic and diastolic blood pressure go in the same reading.

BMI is calculated for you whenever you record a weight or a height. If you enter only one of them, the patient’s most recent value of the other, as of the reading’s date and time, is used: a weight recorded for last month is combined with the height known last month. If there is no such value, no BMI is calculated. BMI can’t be entered by hand.

The reading is recorded under your name and your organization, and linked to the visit. Readings can’t be edited: to correct one, delete it and record it again. You can’t add readings to a closed visit.

Deleting a reading

Choose the bin icon on a row of the table. The whole reading is deleted, including its BMI. You can delete any reading recorded by your organization, including a colleague’s. Readings the patient recorded themselves have no bin icon: only the patient can delete them.

Who sees what

Viewing and recording measurements each need the matching permission.

• Staff see the readings recorded by their own organization. Once the patient has fully accepted your organization, staff also see the readings the patient recorded themselves. All of this applies only while the patient shares their vital signs with your organization: if they stop sharing, or your organization’s access to the patient expires, the cards show no readings and new ones can’t be recorded.
• Patients record their own measurements in the patient app, with an optional note. They see every reading about them, from every organization, and can delete only the readings they recorded themselves.

New readings can trigger alerts for the patient, depending on your organization’s alert rules.