GNU Health/Configuration

The Configuration Section in GNU Health

In most databases – and GNU Health is no different here – there are two categories of data: Some data is created and updated permanently, while other data, once entered into the system, remains quite static. For example, during a working day in a hospital many new patients, evaluations, prescriptions and hospitalizations are stored in GNU Health. On the other hand, the staff of health professionals, the medicaments available in the pharmacy, the medical procedures provided or the hospital infrastructure (buildings, beds, operating rooms) will not change very much during a day, a week or even a month.

The second type of data is grouped in the Health → Configuration section, and this chapter provides an overview for this section. Since most configuration options are easier to understand in their context, you won't find too many details here but links to other chapters of this book where data from the Configuration section will be used.

Notes:

• The subsections available under the Health → Configuration section will vary depending on the modules installed in your system. This chapter describes the configuration options whith all GNU Health modules installed.
• There are configuration options on a more technical level too, relevant only to system administrators. These are not covered in this chapters since they are not part of the Health → Configuration section.

Laboratory

In the Laboratory subsection you define the Lab Test Types, i.e. all tests a laboratory can provide, including all parameters to be analyzed during that test. You can also configure the Lab Test Units used in the laboratory.

Institutions

In the Institutions subsection you define the organisational structure and physical assets of your health institution. This includes the following data:

• Buildings
• Units
• Wards
• Beds
• Operation Rooms

Health Professionals

In the Health Professionals subsection you manage the staff of a health institution. A Health Professionals record contains mainly the professional qualifications, while the personal information (like name, date of birth, home address and so on) is stored in the associated Party record. The following fields are available in a Health Professionals record:

• Health Professional: Link to a Party record. You can either select an existing record or create a new one. (Please note that only party records with the Health Professional flag can be found when searching. So if you can't find a party that exists already in your system, please check this flag before unintentionally creating a duplicate record.)
• Licence ID
• Specialities: One or more Health Professional Specialites that health professional has experience in. You can select from the list of existing specialities (which will be the standard procedure) or create a new one if necessary.
• Extra Info
• Institution: Link to a Health Institution record.
• Main Specialty: Link to one of the entries in the Specialties list of this health professional (see above). Please note that you must save the Health Professionals record first for being able to edit this field.
• PUID: Identifier from the Party record. Filled in automatically.

Note: In GNU Health, one health professional can only work for one health institution at a time. If you try to create a second Health Professionals record linking to the same Party record, you will get an error message.