Cardiology software: one outpatient visit, from the ECG to the referral letter
Cardiology software has to hold a visit that produces numbers, sounds and tracings at once: an ECG, an echo report, a murmur, pulses on each side. This guide covers what the record should contain, one visit in OPALEVI from the vital signs to the referral letter, and the questions to ask before choosing.
Key takeaways
- Most of a cardiology record is measurement: keep intervals, ejection fraction and grades as numbers in their own fields, comparable from visit to visit.
- Keep the tracing with the note: in OPALEVI the recorder's CSV export opens as an ECG strip on the standard grid, with calipers.
- OPALEVI records and adds up scores; it does not read the ECG. Intervals are typed, nothing is judged against a range, and the interpretation stays the cardiologist's.
- Referrals should leave from the visit itself and stay visible until someone answers them.
Signs your cardiology notes have outgrown paper and free text
Many cardiologists write the visit as one paragraph: palpitations, irregular rhythm, EF about 55 %, pulses fine, review in a month. That works for one visit. Over years of follow-up, the gaps show:
- The tracing is elsewhere. The printout sits in a folder and is never measured again.
- The ejection fraction lives in sentences. Seeing whether it fell from 45 to 35 % means rereading every letter.
- “Pulses fine” ignores sides. A weak left dorsalis pedis is the finding, and prose loses it.
- Grades drift. A murmur called “soft” at one visit and “grade 2” at the next cannot be compared.
- Referrals vanish. A requested echo leaves no trace until an answer comes back, if it does.
Structure in cardiology is for comparison: this visit against the last, left against right, this year's ejection fraction against last year's.
What a cardiology outpatient record should contain
Settle first what one visit must capture. The list fits any system, paper included:
| Field | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| ECG intervals and axis | As numbers they compare across years; a QTc needs its correction formula named. |
| The tracing itself | A figure taken from a strip can be checked only while the strip exists. |
| Heart sounds and murmurs | Levine grade, timing and radiation, written the same way each time, so a change shows. |
| Neck veins, pulses and oedema by side | Asymmetry is often the finding: a pulse lost on one side, oedema climbing one leg. |
| Echo measurements | Ejection fraction, chamber sizes and valve gradients, each with its own field and unit. |
| Functional class and risk factors | NYHA on the same four steps at every visit, with the risk factors behind each decision. |
| Investigations, prescription, referral | Dated Holter and stress-test results, the medicines, and who else was asked. |
A record, not a reading
Software should keep what the clinician measured and scored, and say nothing about what it means. A Levine grade or a CHA₂DS₂-VASc total is information; changing treatment is a clinical decision.
One outpatient visit, step by step, in OPALEVI
A typical visit in the cardiology department of OPALEVI for clinics: a patient sent by a colleague for palpitations. Bold words are labels exactly as the screen shows them.
The request arrives
A general practitioner uses Refer to a department, chooses cardiology and writes the Clinical reason; the request lands on the Referrals worklist and reception books it with Take it on. A patient who phones is booked with Add appointment, where Email the patient a reminder the day before can be ticked.
The nurse takes the vital signs
The nurse enters pulse and blood pressure under Vital signs and presses Mark ready for the doctor; the clinical record is the clinician's to write.
History, rhythm and intervals
The Doctor's report holds complaints, examination and diagnoses. Under Rhythm and ECG choose the rhythm and enter the Heart rate (ECG); ECG measurements takes PR, QRS, QT, QTc and the axis as the tracing states them.
The examination
Cardiac auscultation takes the heart sounds and the loudest murmur's Levine grade, timing and radiation. Neck veins, pulses and oedema takes the jugular venous pressure, seven pulses per side and pitting oedema by level.
Echo, class and scores
Type the echo report's figures under Echocardiography (ejection fraction, LV end-diastolic diameter, left atrium, valve gradients), set the Functional class (NYHA) and, in atrial fibrillation, answer the CHA₂DS₂-VASc and HAS-BLED items; OPALEVI adds up each total.
Prescribe, refer, finish
Fill in the Prescription and, if needed, a Referral letter, then finish the visit. Its header offers Print prescription, Print referral letter, ECG report and the full report.
Two plain notes. OPALEVI does not connect to ECG, Holter or echo machines: figures are typed from their reports, the tracing arrives as an exported file, and PDF reports attach under Visit documents. And it does not interpret the ECG: the QTc is the one you type, and no interval is called long or short.
The cardiology tools: ECG strip, heart and pulse maps, ejection fraction
The ECG strip and its calipers
If your ECG recorder, or the software that came with it, can export the tracing as a CSV file with one column per lead, press Upload a recording (.csv) in the ECG strip section. A first line such as “# fs=500” gives the sampling rate; without it the strip opens at 500 Hz, notes that the file gave no rate, and lets you type the right one under Sampling rate (Hz). Download a sample CSV shows the format.
The strip is drawn on the standard grid (0.04 s and 0.2 s squares), with a lead choice and zoom. Add mark drops a caliper; set its time until the dashed line sits on the wave. Between neighbouring marks OPALEVI shows milliseconds and the same interval per minute: arithmetic, not interpretation. No rhythm is named and no beat classified.
The ECG report prints rhythm, rate and axis, the typed intervals, the strip at 25 mm/s with your marks, the caliper intervals under Measured on the strip and your interpretation. Under the strip, the sheet gives the grid in seconds and says the trace height is scaled to fit its row and is not calibrated.
Heart, chest and pulse maps
The Heart map is a photographed heart from the front, with atria, ventricles, great vessels and coronary arteries as regions; each numbered mark takes a finding in words. The Auscultation map shows the chest from four sides and asks for a Levine grade only for a murmur. The Pulses map marks each palpated pulse with its grade and a note.
Beside them, Peripheral pulses grades seven sites per side as absent, reduced, present or bounding, in words rather than plus signs, and Peripheral oedema (0–4) grades pitting from foot to thigh, with sacral oedema next to it.
Ejection fraction across visits
Each ejection fraction typed becomes a point on Ejection fraction across visits, from this patient's earlier visits in the department plus today's. It appears with two measurements and draws only what was entered: no target line, no band. Blood pressure is recorded at each visit but not charted here.
Referrals in and out, and the rest of the clinic
Patients reach cardiology from general practice or the emergency department, and leave with requests for imaging, blood tests or a second opinion.
- Inside the clinic. Refer to a department sends a request with What is being asked for (consultation, imaging, laboratory analysis or procedure), a reason and a priority. The receiving department books it; it closes when that department finishes a visit for the patient, and the cardiologist is told at each step. See the guide to radiology software.
- Outside the clinic. The Referral letter gives the addressee, the urgency, your question and the findings, and adds the visit's diagnosis and therapy, so letter and report agree.
- Coming in. Referred by records an outside referring doctor from the list kept under Settings → Referrers; an emergency department in the same clinic refers like any other (see the emergency department guide).
- The laboratory. Where the clinic's laboratory runs in OPALEVI, troponin or lipids are requested from the visit under Analyses and read in Analysis results; the medical laboratory guide takes it from there.
Invoice this visit bills the visit's services and Book a follow-up appointment opens the calendar. Cardiology records start open to all staff allowed to read clinical records; Record privacy, under Settings → Department setup, can restrict them to the department or the treating clinician. The Change history keeps a before-and-after of each change, with who made it and when.
Questions to ask before choosing cardiology software
Ask every candidate, ours too, and test the answers on your own recorder's files.
| Question | What to look for | OPALEVI |
|---|---|---|
| Can you see and measure the tracing? | The ECG on a grid, with calipers. | Yes: the CSV export opens as a strip with calipers. |
| Does it read ECGs straight from the machine? | A tested connection, or a clear file route. | No: upload the CSV export; PDFs attach as documents. |
| Does it interpret the ECG or calculate the QTc? | Clarity about what it calculates. | No: intervals and QTc are typed, and nothing is flagged. |
| Are pulses and oedema recorded by side? | Right and left columns. | Yes: seven pulse sites, five oedema levels. |
| Does it chart blood pressure across visits? | A trend of each visit's vitals. | Partly: recorded at every visit, but not charted in this record. |
| Where do Holter and stress-test results go? | Structured results, or a dated list. | Partly: typed lines of test, date and result, with the files attached. |
| Are referrals followed until answered? | A worklist with statuses. | Yes: the Referrals worklist. |
| Can you predict next year's bill? | Pricing you can calculate before signing. | Yes: per staff member; patients and visits are never counted. |
Prices are on the pricing page and every module on the features page. The buying checklist in how to choose clinic software covers invoices, data protection and the trial.
A first week with cardiology in OPALEVI
Setup takes an afternoon; the first week tests it on real work. The First steps list on the Today screen ticks itself off as you go.
Choose the department
Register as a clinic, or as a private practice if you work alone, and tick cardiology; the cardiology department page lists what its record holds.
Price and brand
Add your services and prices (consultation, ECG, echo, Holter fitting) and Set up the report letterhead, so every printout carries your clinic's name.
Test your recorder
Upload an export from your own ECG recorder to a test patient, and check the leads, the rate and one caliper measurement against the paper strip.
Bring in the team
Invite your colleagues, the nurse and reception, each with their own role.
Record the echo every time
Type the ejection fraction after every echo and the NYHA class at every visit; from the second echo, the chart is ready.
Frequently asked questions
What is cardiology software?
A program that keeps a cardiology practice's records in structured form: rhythm and intervals, the tracing, auscultation, pulses and oedema by side, echo measurements, NYHA class, prescriptions and referrals. Visits can then be compared across years, and the printouts serve patients and colleagues, without the program interpreting the findings.
Can OPALEVI read the ECG from our machine?
Not directly: there is no connection to ECG machines. If the machine or its software can export the tracing as a CSV file with one column per lead, upload that file in the visit's ECG strip section and it opens on the grid with calipers. OPALEVI neither interprets the tracing nor calculates the QTc.
Can reception see cardiology notes?
Only if your clinic allows it: whether reception may read clinical history is a clinic setting, and finance staff never can. Within the clinical team, Record privacy can limit cardiology records to the department or to the treating clinician. Reception books, admits and takes payment either way.
Can we use it on tablets and phones?
Yes. OPALEVI is a web program: a current browser on a computer, tablet or phone is all it needs, with nothing to install. On small screens the top menu becomes a bar along the bottom, so a cardiologist can check a patient's last echo on a tablet between rooms.
Is there a free trial?
Yes, with no card, from the moment you register. Use it on real visits: upload your recorder's export, print an ECG report, send a referral. If the trial ends without a subscription, nothing is charged and the records stay readable.
What does OPALEVI cost for a cardiology clinic?
You pay per staff seat, one for each team member who uses OPALEVI, and the yearly plan lowers the monthly rate. Patients, visits, departments and uploaded recordings are never counted, so adding an echo service changes nothing on the bill. See the pricing page.
