Due to the huge influx of patients into big hospitals, it is often difficult to manage or keep a record of the time patients come in or go out. However, with a patient sign in sheet, hospitals can keep better logs of appointment times of each and every patient.
This article reveals a lot more about a patient sign in sheet, what details it contains and the benefits of its usage to doctors, health practitioners and hospitals in general.
What Is a Patient Sign in Sheet?
A patient sign in sheet is a document used by clinics and other healthcare institutions to keep track of basic details of their visiting patients. On the documents are enlisted the names, schedules and time in and out of visiting patients. It allows the clinic’s admins, especially the doctors in the clinic, to monitor more efficiently who arrived at set hours and with whom they requested an appointment.
There are three types of patient sign-in sheets namely a creative patient sign in sheet, a health care event patient sign-in sheet and a patient emergency department sign-in sheet.
The format of a creative patient sign in sheet is the simplest of them all. It contains basically either the name of the physician attending to the patient or the office address. The sheet can take up to seventeen names.
A health care patient sign in sheet is used when a clinic or health institution is organizing an event with its patients as the main guests. The tables provided in these sheets contain at least five columns. This sign in sheet type can accommodate up to 120 name entries.
A patient emergency department sign in sheet is used by patients in emergency units. This sign-in sheet contains a lot more information than the others.
What Should Be Included in a Patient Sign in Sheet?
The elements present in a patient sign in sheet differs from type to type. However, the following are the basic elements that must be present in any given patient sign in sheet template or sign in sheets pdf:
- Title of sheet
- Name of patient
- Medical record ID
- Arrival and appointment times
- Name of whom the patient has an appointment with
- Signature
The Benefits of Patient Sign in Sheet
The following are the benefits physicians and health care institutions get from using a patient sign in sheet.
- Protects the doctor from liability
- Guides against health care insurance fraud
- HIPAA-compliant sign in sheets help protect patient’s confidentiality
- Improves the work efficiency of covered entities like physician’s offices
- Improves data collection systems
Do you or your organization need patient sign-in sheets to log in the visiting and appointment times of patients? CocoSign has several free printable sign in sheets for your use. They are free to download and customizable