# Find or register a patient (/docs/en/learn/front-desk-patients)



After this lesson you can find a patient, register a new one without creating a duplicate and set the contact details every message depends on. It takes about 15 minutes. You need the **Create patients** permission, which every default role has.

## Why it matters [#why]

Every booking, form and email attaches to one patient record. Two records for one person split their history and send messages to the wrong place. The front desk is where most records begin, so the care you take here protects everyone downstream.

## How it works [#how]

A caller says she is Lotte Bakker, born 3 May 1971, and wants an appointment. You do not know yet whether she is already a patient.

### Search first [#search-first]

Open **Patients** and type in **Search patients…**. Check the name and the birth date before you open a row. A matching name alone is not enough. If the list looks empty, a filter or your access may be the reason.

### Register a new patient [#register-a-new-patient]

Choose **New patient**. Enter **Given name**, **Family name** and **Birth date**. The dialog also offers a gender field and an identifier field when the practice's country uses them. The identifier is optional. Without **Edit all patients** the dialog shows it read-only, and a colleague with that permission adds it later.

While you type, Salisan checks for a match. If it finds one, **Possible match already in this practice** appears with the reason, either "same identifier" or "same name and birth date". Choose **Open record** to look. A match can be a record you cannot open. When you are sure it is a different person, the button changes to **Create anyway**.

Choose **Create patient**. The record opens and **Patient added.** appears. Add address, insurance and contacts there afterwards. **Full profile** opens the whole registration form with the name and birth date you already typed, and you finish it with **Add patient**.

A patient under 18 needs a parent or guardian on file. When the birth date is under 18, the dialog adds a **Parent or guardian** section: enter their **Full name** and **Relationship**, and **Phone** if you have it. The patient is not created until both required fields are filled in. Further contacts can be added on the record afterwards.

### Contact details and preferences [#contact-details-and-preferences]

Open **Patient actions → Edit**. Values read as text. Click one to change it. It saves when you press Enter or click away. Address, insurance and contacts save one section at a time.

Keep the **Email** and **Preferred language** accurate. Once an address is on file, **Do not email this patient** appears. It stops request links, forms and appointment emails, and anything already queued. Turn it on or off only when the patient asks. **Exclude from AI assistance** and **Exclude from analytics** sit under **More details**.

A clinician who registers a patient is assigned to that patient automatically. You are not, and you still see every patient because the Secretary role can read all of them. Your view of the **Record** page leaves out the clinical sections.

## Try it [#try-it]

Your email address stands in for the patient's, so no real person receives a message.

1. Open **Patients** and search for "Testpatient". If **Sam Testpatient** exists from another course, open it. Otherwise choose **New patient**, enter **Sam**, **Testpatient** and a **Birth date** that makes Sam an adult, and choose **Create patient**.
2. Choose **New patient** again and enter the same name and birth date. Read **Possible match already in this practice** and its reason. Choose **Open record**. Do not choose **Create anyway**.
3. Open **Patient actions → Edit**. In the **Email** row, click **Add email**, enter your own email address and press Enter.
4. **Do not email this patient** now appears. Turn it on and read what it says it does. Turn it off again.
5. Choose **More details** and turn on **Exclude from analytics**.
6. Go back to **Patients** and search for Sam again. Check the birth date in the row.

<Callout type="info">
  Salisan cannot delete or archive a patient. Keep "Testpatient" in the name so nobody mistakes Sam for a real person. Only an owner or admin can start a formal erasure.
</Callout>

## Check yourself [#check]

1. **Possible match already in this practice** appears while you register someone. What do you do?

<details>
  <summary>
    Answer
  </summary>

  Choose **Open record** and compare name, birth date and identifier. If it is the same person, use that record. Use **Create anyway** only for a different person.
</details>

2. You can open a patient's **Record** page but you do not see the clinical sections. Why?

<details>
  <summary>
    Answer
  </summary>

  The Secretary role has no clinical-record permission. You see identity, care team, appointments and requests, and clinicians see the rest.
</details>

3. What does **Do not email this patient** stop?

<details>
  <summary>
    Answer
  </summary>

  Request links, forms and appointment emails, and anything already queued. Turn it off only if the patient asks to receive email again.
</details>

## Next [#next]

Continue with [Book an appointment](/docs/en/learn/front-desk-booking). For the full steps, see [Patients](/docs/en/guides/patients#register).