Barbara is admitted to Healthwise Hospital for a procedure. This is her first visit/admission to this facility. She is assigned a new health record number for this first visit. If she is admitted or is seen at this hospital again, she will be assigned a new health record number and her old record will be brought forward and filed under the new number. This method of numbering is called numbering.

Healthwise Hospital

This method of numbering is called __serial unit___ numbering.

Explanation:

The best way to illustrate this serial unit numbering system is to use the following example. Rafael is registered for the first time in Healthwise Hospital for a medical procedure and he receives the number HH136501.  When he comes for a follow-up a month later he is registered again under a new medical record number HH140203 while his previous medical file(s) are brought forward. This continues to happen with each new visit. This system contrasts with serial numbering.  Serial numbering involves new numbers being assigned at each visit without reference to previous files. Serial unit numbering also contrasts with unit numbering, where only one number is assigned to a patient in this hospital.