It is in an agency's best interest to ensure duplicate client records are not entered in the database. When a potential client presents to an agency, and is not instantly recognized, it does not necessarily mean that the client has not accessed services in the past. For this reason it is necessary to complete a thorough client search before adding clients to the database. The broader the search the more client results return to the screen; a thorough search will effectively reduce the number of duplicates added to the system.
If only the site number is used to search for a client then all clients linked to that site are returned. A result such as this will likely be varied and plentiful, but of little use. By including the client's first name the search results will be narrowed to clients in the database with exact matches or spelling variations* of first or middle name
If a client is searched for by first name and the Soundex Search option is checked, search results are returned by first or middle names along with any client in the database that has a similar sounding first or middle name. By the same token if you search on a partial spelling of the client's first name and check on the option box to the right of the client first name field, then search results are returned with those records that have those specific characters in the spelling of the client's first or middle name.
Note
*Common variations of spellings for last names and first names are referenced during a client search. The odds of finding clients who give a shortened version of their first or last name, such as in the case of nicknames, or whose last name are commonly misspelled, as in "Smith" or "Smyth", improves with this enhancement. Similarly, hyphenated last names such as Jones-Davidson are stored separately in the database, thus if a client presents with the first or last part of the hyphenated name a search for Jones or for Davidson will return Jones-Davidson. See the example below for variation on client's first/middle name.
A broad search increases the likelihood of positive search results, but yields more results to the screen; the more narrow the search, the fewer results are returned which also lowers the odds of finding the potential client.
To take the example further, the Catalyst user completes a broad search by searching only on the client's year of birth, 1990.
All clients in the database with 1990 as the year of birth are returned.
Search results show all clients with that exact year of birth in red type
The Catalyst user then narrows the results by using 10/09/1990, the full D.O.B. Only clients in the database with that exact D.O.B. are selected and result to the screen.
One result returns when the D.O.B. search fields include the day/month/year of the client
Example: Partial Name Search
Client Terri Smith attends for intake to the agency. Before Terri is added to the database a client search must be executed to verify that the potential client had no prior contact with the agency and that there are no active or closed charts/files already in the database for this client. The client's first name can have multiple spelling variations such as Terry, Terri, Teri, Tere, Teresa etc. For this example the option of checking the database for all names that start with the characters entered is used.
Searching for a client by the first characters of the client's first or last names is a first step in reducing or preventing a duplicate client in the database.
- Select Client Info from the Catalyst menu and click on Client Search
- Once the Search Criteria screen appears type in the first three letters of the client's first name "Ter" or "ter" in the first name field
- Check the box to the right of the First Name field
- Click on the search button
The database searches for all names that began with the three letters "Ter" or "ter".
Search results are returned to the screen from which a selection can be made.
If no results match the client Terri Smith, then and only then select Add Client. If there is reason to doubt that the search had not produced all possible results, then select the Modify Search button to modify the previous search. Information such as D.O.B. or last name can be added to the previous search criteria.
