Accessibility in clinics: How to customize the patient's journey

Emojis are graphic symbols that represent emotions, concepts, and objects. They are widely used to convey information quickly and clearly. Therefore, using emojis as part of a system to identify specific records, such as patient profiles, can be an interesting approach to make the experience more friendly, visual, and intuitive, even assisting in the issue of accessibility.

With the latest update of the Ninsaúde Apolo clinic system, users will be able to assign emojis to patient records, thus facilitating the clinic's workflow. These emojis, also known as flags, can be used to identify patients by their habits, medical conditions, allergies, and other characteristics.

Before we continue, we need to know: Are you already familiar with the Ninsaúde Apolo health clinic system? The Ninsaúde Apolo medical software features a fast and comprehensive schedule, personalized electronic medical records for each specialty with legal validity, telemedicine, financial control, and much more. Schedule a demonstration or try the Ninsaúde Apolo health clinic system right now!

When using Ninsaúde Apolo and accessing the patient's profile through different screens, it is possible to insert identification flags (emojis). These flags will appear next to the patient's name, and it's possible to select more than one emoji (with a quantity limit depending on the size of the selected emojis).

In total, there are over 60 emoji options carefully chosen by our developers, ensuring that they are universally recognized and understood by the medical team. However, it's important to note that communication-based on these emojis should always be supplementary and not a replacement for crucial information present in medical records and patient profiles.

Benefits of identification flags on patient profiles

The use of emojis in patient profile identification can bring several advantages for healthcare professionals and for the patients' own experience. Check out some of them below.

• Ease of identification: Emojis are intuitive visual symbols that are easily recognizable. They can help healthcare professionals quickly identify important patient characteristics, such as specific medical conditions, age groups, allergies, or dietary preferences.
• Clearer communication: Emojis can complement textual information, making communication clearer and more efficient, especially in emergency situations or when there are language barriers. Therefore, emojis can convey information in a more concise and universal manner.
• Memorization and retention of information: The use of emojis can facilitate the memorization and retention of important patient information. Visual representations can help healthcare professionals remember specific patient characteristics more easily.
• Personalization: In some cases, doctors can allow patients to choose their own emojis to represent personal characteristics or preferences, which can make the healthcare experience more personalized and empower patients to express themselves.
• Error prevention: In certain contexts, emojis can help prevent interpretation errors, especially when dealing with different languages and cultures, where the exact translation of words can be challenging.

How to use identification flags (emojis)?

If you are a healthcare professional who operates alone in your practice, only you will know the best way to identify a patient through emojis, as within the system, only you, as a professional, will have access to this data. However, if you are part of a multi-professional clinic, it's important to consider your colleagues' care. Therefore, a good strategy for using flags is to choose emojis that symbolize the medical specialties that have already treated that patient.

For example, if the patient who visits your clinic has already had consultations with a cardiologist, this professional can insert the heart emoji. If the same patient has also seen a neurologist, the brain emoji can also be added to their profile. In this way, even without analyzing the patient's medical history, it is possible to know that they have sought help from certain specialties, which can streamline the service without compromising quality.

Based on the emojis available in Ninsaúde Apolo, we have listed below some of them and their meanings, as well as how you can use them as identification flags in patient records.

Wheelchairs ♿🦽🦼

You can use this emoji to indicate the patient's mobility if they use a wheelchair. In Ninsaúde Apolo, you will find three variations of this emoji, one of which represents a motorized wheelchair. The blue emoji is the international symbol of access, used to denote a facility designed with accessibility or people in wheelchairs. Because it's a universal symbol, it can be recognized more quickly.

Autism: Infinity ♾ and Puzzle 🧩

The symbols of autism were created to represent the diversity present in individuals diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and their families. The first symbol chosen to represent these individuals was the puzzle piece, as its meaning alludes to something complex and hard to understand. Over time, this symbol was not universally accepted among people on the autism spectrum, which led the autistic community itself, as a replacement for the game image, to create the symbol of neurodiversity, namely, a colorful infinity symbol.

Therefore, when using Ninsaúde Apolo, healthcare professionals can use both the infinity symbol and the puzzle piece to identify patients with Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Transgender Symbol ⚧️

Dealing with patients who do not identify with their own gender is always a delicate matter. This encompasses not only the acceptance of the person as an individual but also as a human being in society. We know that one of the achievements for transgender individuals concerns changing their name on their documents. However, when this person has not yet made such a change, it is important to understand that they will feel more comfortable if they are addressed by their chosen social name, which is the name they have chosen to present themselves to society.

In this regard, we can say that the Ninsaúde Apolo clinic system is already well-prepared. When using it, you can insert the patient's chosen social name in their profile. By registering the patient's social name, not only do you provide a more compassionate care experience, but you also avoid potential discomfort, such as when the patient is in the waiting area waiting to be called for their appointment. In addition to the social name, the use of the transgender symbol in their profile also aids in patient identification, thus bringing more confidence and tranquility to both parties during the appointment.

To learn more about this topic, we recommend reading our article on the social name in Ninsaúde Apolo and its importance.

Pregnancy 🤰

The emoji representing a pregnant woman can be used by gynecologists and obstetricians because when they see this information, they will automatically know that the patient in question is pregnant. In the waiting room, this emoji can also be useful for prioritizing appointments if the clinic provides certain services on a first-come, first-served basis.

Breastfeeding 🤱

Breast milk is a source of essential nutrients for a baby's healthy growth, so a woman's diet and health can directly influence the quality of breast milk. Additionally, the use of certain medications can interfere with breastfeeding, so this information is crucial for healthcare professionals who can then use the corresponding emoji to identify this type of patient.

Cigarette (smoking) 🚬

Smoking is associated with at least 50 diseases that bring broad and profound harm. Its toxic components primarily harm the lungs, heart, and blood vessels, in addition to the fact that smokers are easy targets for cancer, which can develop not only in the lungs but also in the mouth, throat, esophagus, bladder, and other areas.

The reproductive system is also affected. Smoking can lead to impotence in men, while in women, it can result in pregnancy complications, including premature birth and fetal development problems. Furthermore, smoking weakens the immune system, making the body more vulnerable to infections and diseases. Therefore, it is of utmost importance for any medical specialty to have the information that their patient is a smoker, and they can quickly identify this habit by inserting the cigarette emoji in their patient records.

Beer mug 🍺

Like smoking, alcoholism is a public health problem that affects thousands of people. Alcohol use can also lead to dependence, and like cigarettes, it affects different areas of the body, especially the liver. Identifying the habit of consuming alcoholic beverages is important not only because of the diseases that may result from its use but also because many medications cannot be taken with the use of alcoholic beverages. In this regard, you can identify patients who have this habit through the beer mug emoji.

Videogames 🎮

According to the WHO, the abusive use of computers, smartphones, and other electronic devices has increased drastically in recent decades, as has the unrestrained access to the internet and uncontrolled video game use. This increase has been associated with numerous documented cases that have had negative consequences on health, and this habit is currently referred to as Electronic Gaming Disorder. Therefore, the video game emoji can be used to identify patients who have habits related to the ones mentioned above, which interestingly are not limited to just children and adolescents.

Athletes: Flexed biceps 💪, Soccer ball ⚽, and Sports medal 🏅

Patients who engage in sports can also be identified through emojis, as many athletes end up suffering injuries, with repetitive motion being one of the causes. One of the sports that generates the most injuries due to repetitive movements is soccer, so in this context, you can use the ball emoji to identify patients who play this sport.

For those who engage in weightlifting, you can identify them through the flexed biceps emoji, as despite many benefits, excessive weight lifting can strain joints and muscle groups, as well as trigger insomnia, loss of appetite, stress, and even depression. And it's not just football or weightlifting enthusiasts who are susceptible to minor health issues related to sports. Therefore, you can also use the sports medal emoji to identify other sports activities, such as swimming, martial arts, running, and more.

Elderly (man and woman) 👴👵

The elderly emojis, in addition to representing patients of advanced age, can also symbolize that these patients have a pathology related to their age group. In the case of multi-professional clinics, using the flag of an elderly person in their profile can indicate that they have already had a consultation with a geriatrics specialist.

In addition to the examples mentioned above, emojis can be used for various other cases and in the way that healthcare professionals find most suitable. It's important to note that the emojis used in Ninsaúde Apolo are universal, but their colors and sizes may vary depending on the device used. In other words, if you access the system on a computer, the representation of some emojis may appear slightly different from their representations on smartphones, also varying depending on the brand, model, and operating system of the device.

So, did you like the tips? Keep following the blog to stay updated on more content like this. Are you a healthcare professional but still not using management software? Get to know the Ninsaúde Apolo clinic system.