This article describes some of the advanced use cases when importing patients or audiograms to the SHOEBOX Data Management Portal.
In this article:
Importing patients without audiograms
Instead of adding several patients manually, you can import patients through the SHOEBOX Data Management Portal. If you are importing a file from another external database system, it will typically have a unique identifier for each patient. This unique identifier should be used in the ExternalID/SubjectGuid field. An import can be done with an empty ExternalID/SubjectGuid only if there is no intention to either import audiograms associated to these patients or later update these patients via an import function. If you are not sure whether you will need to import associated audiograms or patient updates, then we strongly recommend assigning a unique ExternalID/SubjectGuid. Note that the ID must be unique among all patients who have been uploaded to SHOEBOX. If your external system does not already assign a unique ID, then you may want to compose an ID by combining first name, last name, and date of birth, or first name, last name and employee ID, as an example.
Updating patients
If you would like to make changes or updates to your patients by re-importing your patients’ demographic data, be aware that the newly imported demographic data will overwrite the previously imported demographic data. To avoid this, make sure to include all the information from your previous CSV import, plus any additions or changes you would like to import.
To update patients through the import functionality, it is mandatory for them to have an associated ExternalID/SubjectGuid. If you did not assign an ExternalID/SubjectGuid when they were imported or created on the iPad, you have the option to assign an ExternalID (SubjectGuid is the same as ExternalID when using a Benson Patient Import) to each patient individually from the SHOEBOX Data Management Portal. You can then reference that ExternalID/SubjectGuid in the CSV import template prior to importing the file into the portal.
Importing audiograms to SHOEBOX
To import audiograms to the SHOEBOX Data Management Portal you must have a valid patient in the SHOEBOX Data Management Portal. Patients can be created through the SHOEBOX software on the iPad or the Data Management Portal. Patients can also be imported to the portal. It is mandatory that each patient is assigned an ExternalID, either when creating or uploading them. This ID can then be used to match the ExternalID on the audiogram import template, allowing the system to link the audiogram to the proper patient file.