Inpatient Module Overview

Inpatient Module — Overview

The Inpatient module (also called the Inward module) manages the complete lifecycle of a hospital admission from the moment a patient is booked in through to final billing and discharge. It is the central hub that coordinates clinical documentation, room management, pharmacy dispensing, laboratory requests, professional fees, and financial settlement for every admitted patient.

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Core Concept — The BHT

Every admission is identified by a BHT (Bed Head Ticket) number. The BHT is unique per admission episode: one patient can have multiple BHTs over time (one per stay), but each BHT represents one continuous admission and will generate exactly one final bill. All services, medications, outside charges, professional fees, and deposits are linked to the BHT.

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Admission Lifecycle

Patient Search / Registration
        ↓
Admission (BHT assigned, room allocated)
        ↓
Clinical Phase (services · pharmacy · lab · EHR · timed services)
        ↓
Room Change (optional) · Transfer Between Wards (optional)
        ↓
Clinical Discharge (by doctor)
        ↓
Room Discharge (by ward/nursing)
        ↓
Final Bill Generation → Payment
        ↓
Discharge Complete

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Menu Structure

The top-level menu entry is Inpatient (requires privilege Inward).

Admissions

Privilege: InwardAdmissions

• Patient Admit — open the admission form to admit a new patient
• Edit Admission Details — correct BHT details after admission
• Change Patient for Admission — reassign a BHT to a different patient record

Appointment

Privilege: InwardAppointmentMenu

• Add Appointment — pre-register an inpatient appointment before admission
• Appointment Admission — convert an existing appointment into an active admission
• Manage Appointment — edit pre-admission appointment details
• Room Reservations — reserve a room in advance using the calendar view

Room

Privilege: InwardRoom

• Admit Room — assign a room to an already-admitted patient (used when admission and room allocation are configured as separate steps)
• Room Occupancy — view which rooms are currently occupied
• Room Vacancy — view which rooms are currently free
• Bed Board — a graphical, drill-down map of the hospital (site → building → floor → unit), with beds colour-coded by live status
• Room Change — move a patient to a different room with full timestamp tracking
• Guardian Room Change — move a guardian to a different room

Services & Items

Privilege: InwardServicesAndItems

• Add Services & Investigations — record ordered procedures, investigations, and professional services against the BHT
• Add Outside Charges — enter charges incurred at external providers
• Add Professional Fee — record consultant and specialist fees for the admission
• Add Estimated Professional Fee — record fee estimates before final settlement
• Add Timed Services — record ongoing charges that accrue over time (room rent, oxygen, IV fluids)

Billing

Privilege: InwardBilling

• Interim Bill — view the running total of all charges against the BHT at any point during the stay
• Interim Bill — Estimated Professional Fees — interim view including estimated professional fees

Search

Privilege: InwardSearch

• Admissions Search — search active and past admissions by patient, BHT, or date
• Service Bill / Professional Bill / Provisional Bill / Final Bill search — locate specific bill types

Pharmacy

Privilege: InwardPharmacyMenu

Three coordinated workflows cover the full medicine journey from pharmacy to ward and back:

• Request-based — nurse creates a medicine request from the ward; pharmacist views the queue, picks, and issues. Pharmacists can substitute out-of-stock items with equivalent alternatives.
• Porter-mediated ward delivery — after pharmacy issues medicines, a porter carries them to the ward. Ward staff confirm receipt into ward stock. Ward staff can later return unused medicines back to the pharmacy via a porter. Pharmacy staff confirm receipt of the returned goods.
• Direct issue — pharmacist issues medicines directly to a BHT without a prior request
• Ward medication administration — nurses record when medicines are administered to patients, then bulk-deduct the administered quantities from ward stock

See Ward Medicine Request, Issue, and Return Workflow for the full porter-mediated workflow, and Ward Medication Administration and Stock Deduction for the administration workflow.

Inpatient Administration

Privilege: InwardAdministration

Configuration of admission types, room categories, rooms, timed services, surgery types, price adjustments, and module behaviour. Covered in the Admin — Inpatient Module Configuration Overview article.

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Admission Profile (Central Dashboard)

Once a patient is admitted, the Admission Profile (/inward/admission_profile.xhtml) is the single-page dashboard for that BHT. From this page, authorised staff can:

• View patient demographics and current room
• Navigate to all clinical documentation panels (allergies, assessments, medications, discharge)
• Launch service ordering, pharmacy, and lab request screens
• Check the interim bill and deposit summary
• Initiate room discharge and final bill generation

All inpatient actions branch from or return to the Admission Profile.

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Key Articles

Area	Article
Admitting a patient	Inpatient — Admit a Patient
Baby admission	Inpatient — Baby Admission
Edit admission details	Inpatient — Edit Admission Details
Change patient on a BHT	Inpatient — Change Patient for Admission
Cancel an admission	Inpatient — Cancel Admission
Admission profile dashboard	Inpatient Admission Profile (Dashboard)
Room occupancy / vacancy	Inpatient — Room Occupancy and Vacancy
Graphical bed board	Inpatient — Bed Board
Room reservations	Inpatient — Room Reservations
Room change	Inpatient — Room Change and Guardian Room Change
Transfer between wards	Inpatient — Patient Transfer Between Wards
EHR overview	Inpatient EHR — Overview
Allergies	Inpatient EHR — Allergies
Clinical assessment & notes	Inpatient EHR — Clinical Assessment and Notes
Ward medications	Inpatient EHR — Ward Medications
Discharge medications	Inpatient EHR — Discharge Medications
Clinical discharge	Inpatient EHR — Clinical Discharge
Clinical data / investigations / images	Inpatient EHR — Clinical Data
Nursing workbench	Inpatient — Nursing Workbench
Room discharge	Inpatient — Room Discharge
Final bill generation	Inpatient — Final Bill Generation
Final bill payment	Inpatient — Final Bill Payment
Deposits	Inpatient — Patient Deposits
Cancellations & refunds	Inpatient — Bill Cancellations and Refunds
Admissions search	Inpatient — Admissions Search
Discharge summary & diagnosis card	Inpatient — Discharge Summary and Diagnosis Card
Ward medicine request/issue/return	Ward Medicine Request, Issue, and Return Workflow
Ward medication administration	Ward Medication Administration and Stock Deduction
Covering letters	Inpatient Covering Letters
Document upload	Inpatient — Document Upload
Module administration	Admin — Inpatient Module Configuration Overview

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Required Privilege

To access any inpatient screen the user must hold the Inward privilege. Each sub-section has its own granular privilege as noted in the menu structure above. See Admin — Inpatient Privileges and Access for the full list.