Health history forms can be the key to deeply understanding, properly diagnosing, and correctly communicating information to patients. It may seem to be a simple, routine form that every patient is required to complete, but it’s actually more than just this.
We’ll discuss the importance of a properly completed health history form, and how to simplify the process.
Knowledge is Power
Knowing the health history of your patient, and of their kindred, can be a powerful resource for understanding what factors might be contributing to a certain condition, along with providing you with a better idea of potential factors that may be important to consider.
For example, if your patient lists vertigo on their health history form, it’s critical to take note of this before you recline them in the exam chair. Without knowledge of this condition, you could trigger a major vertigo episode that can impair their ability to regain balance, walk, or even drive for several hours.
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This is only a small example of why it’s vital to have patients thoroughly complete a health history form. Serious conditions do exist for many, and patients don’t always know the importance of letting you know in advance. Hence, health history forms play a role in gathering pertinent patient information for you.
Proper Diagnosis
Collecting a patient’s health history gives providers insight into the following information:
- Past operations or treatments
- Previous or pre-existing medical conditions
- Any symptoms or problems
- Family medical history
- Allergies (medications, food, material, etc)
- Medications
- Social history and substance use
- Under care of physician
- Personal & Contact information
With the above information at hand, you’ll be better able to access a patient’s condition, and possible factors causing or affecting it. Pertinent patient information also makes you aware of contraindications to treatments, procedures, or medications.
In addition to using the information on the health history form, it’s also wise to ask the patient about any allergies to treatments, prior procedures, medications, health conditions, and contraindications.
Obtaining a proper diagnosis becomes easier when the whole picture of the patient’s health history is presented. Genetics play a large part in dental and medical disorders, in addition to how the treatment modality should be implemented.
Effective Treatment
How confident would you feel in prescribing a treatment regimen for a patient without having prior knowledge of their health history? It would certainly be a risky, unwise decision to make.
Having a properly completed health history form from a patient gives you that added security of knowing all about the medical conditions that exist for the patient and their family, along with pre-existing ailments, previous treatments, allergic reactions, medications, symptoms, and so much more that will help you decipher the perfect treatment plan.
Health history forms are far more than just another paper to get out of the way – they open the window for confident and knowledgeable decision-making to put both the provider and patient at ease.
Simplify the Process
Now that we’ve gone over the importance of a proper health history form, we’ll move on to discuss how your dental practice can simplify the process of having patients complete and submit their form to you – with minimal effort, and with better data accuracy.
Paper forms have been the traditional method of obtaining a patient’s health history; however, paperless advancements have proven to be a far more efficient and reliable method, empowering practices with patient self-service capabilities.
By embracing paperless health history forms, dental practices free patients from the setbacks of paper forms, allowing them to complete, e-sign, and submit the forms, all from home, using their own device.
Additionally, the digital forms directly integrate with major practice management software (Open Dental, Eaglesoft, Dendrix, Dolphin) and are compatible with non-integrated PMS. Paperless forms have proven to save practices ~$60K in administrative costs annually, and 35% of documentation time.
Read Also: How Often Should the Medical History Form Be Updated in a Dental Office
Streamlining with digital forms has optimized thousands of dental practices across the country, and has obliterated time-consuming tasks like scanning, manual data entries, printing, etc.
Conclusion
Health history forms play a crucial role in giving providers relevant knowledge about the patient, equipping them with the capability to properly diagnose, and enabling more effective treatment plans.
Without a doubt, proper health history forms are a critical part of the dental visit. Simplifying the process for patients to complete forms with better accuracy and ease, has become achievable by streamlining with paperless systems.
mConsent’s paperless forms have completely transformed the intake process, and have taken the workload out of forms, for both patients and providers. Find out how mConsent can revolutionize your dental practice.
