Although we live in the 21st century and innovative technologies for managing a smart clinic are at hand – there are still many clinics that manage their databases and information about their customers using outdated tools that do not fit the spirit of the times.
Many clinics across the country and throughout the world still use Excel spreadsheets for the purpose of saving and managing patient information, but MS Office software, including Excel, has technical and other limitations, and the medical and administrative teams in the clinics often encounter problems when using Excel sheets.
It is important to remember that this software is not intended for managing complex tasks. Sometimes there are compatibility issues between software versions and information may be lost, in addition, the software is limited in terms of list management since Excel sheets (XLS) are limited to 65,536 rows.
The medical information in Excel sheets is vulnerable to risks
To illustrate the problematic nature of managing medical records in Excel, let’s look at an incident that occurred in October 2020, when it was published in the UK media that various government agencies discovered to their surprise that the systems they were using had lost a significant portion of the information and documentation on COVID-19 patients, and this was due to the technical limitations related to the amount of records that can be kept in Excel sheets. This is just one of many examples of the problems of using Excel, both in terms of managing medical records and in other respects which we will detail later.
We will admit that Excel is a popular, convenient, and user-friendly software. Many people know how to work with Excel sheets and there is no need to invest resources in training workers on a new system, and in addition, the cost of Office software is low. At the same time, when many users work on a single table where all the medical records of the clinic’s patients appear, the sheet may crash and a lot of information about the patients may be erased and become lost, and no clinic can afford to lose important data about its patients.
Incompatibility between versions
One of the main problems of managing medical records using Excel is the incompatibility between different versions of the software. If the staff at the clinic uses different versions of Excel, important and critical medical information may be lost. In addition, when you send and share an Excel sheet with another user in the clinic who uses the latest version, often the information does not transfer correctly, functions get deleted, the formatting of the data changes, and more.
Privacy and medical confidentiality
There is also a problem regarding the privacy and confidentiality of medical information. Access to Excel sheets is open to all employees in the clinic, so the medical records can be easily copied, and sometimes inexperienced users may delete or change information due to human error or inattention. It is worth noting that through Clinic Management Software you can assign permissions and limit the access and ability to change medical information stored in the computerized medical file, making this a more professional and higher-quality solution. Further, the smart Clinic Management Software has a host of other advantages, beyond medical confidentiality.
Additional limitations of managing medical records in Excel
There are additional limitations to managing records in Excel, for example very limited levels of automation. The main automation tool in Excel is “Record Macro”, so users find it difficult to analyze unusual data. Also, Excel is limited in terms of its ability to handle files, maintain the integrity of the data in the medical records, and import data from other information systems.
Therefore, if you are still using Excel sheets to manage the medical records in the clinic – it is time to choose Clinic Management Software which will allow you to enjoy more advanced tools, maintain medical confidentiality, and receive many other benefits.
ezMedSoft develops quality programming systems with up-to-date technology in the fields of health, medicine, and optics, according to the needs of its customers in accordance with their fields of specialism and operational processes.