ENT clinic software: from hearing to voice in one visit record
ENT clinic software has to hold a visit that travels from the ear to the nose, the throat and the neck, with nearly every finding written once for each side. This guide sets out what that record should contain, follows one visit in OPALEVI from the otoscope to the audiology report, and names what the program leaves to you.
Key takeaways
- Record ENT findings by side, each in its own field: a perforated left drum with a negative right Rinne is a different patient from the reverse.
- Type the pure-tone thresholds once. In OPALEVI the audiogram is drawn from that grid, on screen and on paper, so the two never disagree.
- OPALEVI records and prints; it does not classify a hearing loss, read a tympanogram or connect to an audiometer. The reading stays the clinician's.
- Hearing aids belong in two places: the fitting on the visit, and the device with its serial number and repairs on the patient file.
Signs an ENT practice has outgrown paper and a general program
Many ENT practices start with a printed audiogram clipped to a card and one line of notes: wax both sides, drums intact, hearing down on the left, tonsils large. A general program offers one text box for the same line. The gaps appear soon:
- The audiogram is paper. Comparing it with last year's means laying two printouts side by side.
- Right and left blur. “Perforation, Rinne negative” with no side helps nobody at the next appointment.
- Grades drift. Tonsils called “large” once and “grade 3” the next time cannot be compared.
- Hearing aids leave with the box. The model and serial number went home with the patient.
- Drawings stay in someone's head. Where the vocal fold lesion sat, and its size, survives only in memory.
In ENT almost every finding has a side and a number. A record that keeps both makes next year's visit comparable with this one.
What an ENT visit record should contain
Decide first what one visit must capture; the list suits any system, paper included:
| Field | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Otoscopy, per ear | Canal and eardrum findings for each side, so a change is not buried in prose. |
| Tuning-fork tests | Weber and each Rinne, written the same way every time. |
| Pure-tone thresholds | The numbers behind the audiogram, per ear and frequency; a chart is only as good as its grid. |
| Tympanogram and stapedial reflexes | The middle ear for each side, with the stimulated ear stated. |
| Speech audiometry | One figure per ear, easier to follow across years than a whole curve. |
| Nose, throat and larynx, with grades | Septum, turbinates, polyp and tonsil grades per side, and where each lesion lies. |
| Facial nerve, neck and balance | House–Brackmann per side, neck nodes with their size, Dix–Hallpike both ways. |
| Hearing aids | Ear, make, model, serial number and fitting date, as a repair or warranty claim asks. |
Record the test, keep the reading
Software can store thresholds and draw them. Which type and degree of hearing loss they show is a clinical judgement, written in the clinician's own words.
One ENT visit in OPALEVI, from the ear to the voice
A typical appointment in OPALEVI for private practices: an adult who hears less on one side, with ringing in that ear. Words in bold are the screen's own labels.
Booking
At the desk, Add appointment books the slot; ticking Email the patient a reminder the day before sends one to a patient whose file has an address.
History first
ENT asks for no vital signs, so the visit opens on the Doctor's report, with the ENT examination below it.
The ears
Under Otoscopy, the External auditory canal and the Tympanic membrane each take one listed finding per ear, with notes for the rest. Tuning fork tests hold the Weber test and a Rinne for each ear.
Thresholds and the middle ear
Copy the audiometer's figures into Thresholds, 250 to 8000 Hz per ear; the audiogram draws itself from them. Then the Tympanogram type per ear, the Stapedial reflex grid and Speech audiometry.
Nose, throat, face and neck
Further down: Nasal polyps – grade (0–4), Tonsils – Brodsky grade (0–4), the Mallampati class, Vocal fold mobility, Facial nerve function (House-Brackmann) and the neck. Skip what you did not examine.
Prescribe, print, bill
Fill in the Prescription (its routes include the ear and the nose) and, if needed, a Referral letter. The header then offers Print prescription, Print referral letter, Audiology report and the report; Invoice this visit bills it and Book a follow-up appointment sets the repeat test.
Two limits, said plainly. OPALEVI has no link to audiometers or tympanometers: thresholds are typed from the printout, which can be attached as a PDF under Visit documents. And nothing is carried forward: a new visit starts empty, while earlier results stay on the patient file and in the charts below.
The audiogram, speech audiometry and the audiology report
Thresholds is the one place a hearing level is written, and the audiogram redraws from it: decibels run downwards from 0, frequencies are spaced by octave, the right ear is a red circle and the left a blue cross. Until a value is typed, the chart waits. It draws no normal band and names no type or degree of loss; that goes under Impression, in your words.
Hearing over time
A curve is hard to trend, so Hearing over time follows speech audiometry instead: Speech threshold across visits and Word recognition across visits, one line per ear, plotted from the patient's previous ENT visits and the current one. Each appears from the second measurement. The pure-tone grid is not charted across visits; older audiograms stay on their own visits.
The audiology report
Audiology report prints the audiogram with the thresholds as a table (a column per tested frequency, a row per ear), then the tuning forks, tympanogram, reflexes, speech audiometry, canal and drum findings, Hearing aids in use, Impression and Recommendations: the sheet a hearing-aid fitter or a referring doctor reads. The full visit report draws the audiogram too.
Four maps and the ENT grades, side by side
“Posterior third of the left vocal fold” is exact but slow to read. The record has four maps whose numbered marks print as text on the report:
- Ear and mouth map: the photographed right eardrum, the left as its mirror, and the open mouth, with regions such as the drum's quadrants, the malleus, the tonsils and the uvula.
- Findings on the nose: the external nose, the nose from below and each cavity through a 0° endoscope; a mark is a polyp, oedema, crusting, a bleeding point, a perforation or similar, with a note.
- Findings in the larynx: the larynx from above, as flexible laryngoscopy shows it, each lesion with its type and size in millimetres.
- Findings on the neck: front and both sides, each node or nodule with size and consistency.
Grades are numbers or fixed choices, most of them per side: polyps 0–4 per nasal cavity, Brodsky 0–4 per tonsil, House–Brackmann I–VI per side, one Mallampati class I–IV, and under Balance and vertigo a Dix–Hallpike result each way. A 5 on a 0–4 scale is refused, and OPALEVI calculates none of them.
No questionnaires in this record
The ENT record has no symptom questionnaire. Score a licensed tinnitus, dizziness or sinus questionnaire on its own form, then note the total or attach the form under Visit documents.
Hearing aids, devices and the rest of the practice
- The fitting, on the visit. Hearing aids in use holds up to ten lines: ear, make and model, serial number, fitting date and a settings note in plain text.
- The device, on the file. With an ENT department, each patient file gets a Devices tab. Add device records type, model, serial number, warranty and price, with a Hearing aid tick; Add repair logs each repair beneath it. It is a register only: no invoice, no stock.
- Next door. Children: the paediatric clinic guide. Voice and swallowing therapy: speech therapy software. Sleep studies: the pulmonology guide. Thyroid nodules: the endocrinology guide.
Invoices are switched on at registration; a practice that does not bill turns them off under Settings → Application menus. Reception books and takes payment, and opens visit history only once you enable Reception may see patients' visit history; finance staff never do. With one department, Record privacy (under Department setup) is Automatic or Only the clinician, the one a record is assigned to. A clinic with more departments gains Refer to a department, and every save stays in the Change history, before and after.
Questions to ask before choosing ENT clinic software
Ask them of any vendor, ourselves included, and test each answer on a real audiogram.
| Question | What to look for | OPALEVI |
|---|---|---|
| Are ear findings recorded per side? | Right and left columns. | Yes: canal, drum, tympanogram, reflexes. |
| Is the audiogram drawn from the thresholds? | One grid, one chart, the same on paper. | Yes, on screen and on both reports. |
| Does it import from the audiometer? | A tested connection or file route. | No: typed; the PDF attaches to the visit. |
| Does it classify the hearing loss? | Clarity about what it calculates. | No: the clinician writes the impression. |
| Can hearing be followed across visits? | A trend per ear. | Partly: speech threshold and word recognition, not the pure-tone curve. |
| Are nose, larynx and neck findings drawn? | Maps with sizes and sides. | Yes: four maps. |
| Are hearing aids and repairs kept? | Serial, warranty, repairs. | Yes: the Devices tab, apart from invoices and stock. |
| What will next year cost? | A figure you can work out today. | Per staff member; patient and visit numbers do not matter. |
The features page lists the rest of OPALEVI, the ENT department page sums up the record, and the guide to choosing clinic software walks through billing, data protection and the trial.
Your first week with ENT in OPALEVI
Register as a private practice and tick ENT; First steps on the Today screen lists the rest.
Services and letterhead
Add your services and prices (consultation, audiometry, tympanometry, ear cleaning) and Set up the report letterhead for the audiology report.
Test with your audiometer
Copy one real audiogram into a test patient and compare the curve and printed table with the audiometer's sheet.
Add the team
Invite your colleagues: audiologist, nurse, reception.
Type speech audiometry every time
The trend lines need two measurements; record speech threshold and word recognition at each audiology visit.
Frequently asked questions
What is ENT clinic software?
A program that keeps an ear, nose and throat practice's records in structured form: otoscopy and tuning forks by ear, thresholds with their audiogram, the tympanogram, nose, throat and neck findings with grades and maps, prescriptions, referral letters and invoices. Visits become comparable year to year, and reports print, without the program interpreting anything.
Can OPALEVI import results from our audiometer?
No; there is no connection to audiometers or tympanometers. Type the thresholds from the printout, six frequencies per ear, and the audiogram is drawn from them. Attach the printout as a PDF if you want it on file. OPALEVI neither classifies the loss nor calculates an average.
Can reception see ENT clinical notes?
Not unless the practice allows it. The desk handles bookings, registration and payments, and opens visit history only when a practice setting permits it; finance staff are never given clinical records. Records can also be limited to their assigned clinician with Only the clinician under Record privacy.
Does it work on a tablet or phone?
Yes. OPALEVI is used through a web browser on any computer, tablet or phone, and nothing needs installing. Small screens get a bottom menu bar, so a doctor can open a patient's last audiogram on a tablet in the examination room and show the curve.
Can I try it before paying?
Yes: a free trial starts when you register, with no card. Use it on real work, typing an audiogram, marking a larynx finding and printing the audiology report. Should it lapse without a subscription, you owe nothing and the records remain open to read.
How is OPALEVI priced for an ENT practice?
By staff seat, meaning each team member with an active account. Patients, visits, audiograms and devices are never counted, so a busy month of fittings costs what a quiet one does, and a yearly plan lowers the monthly rate. See the pricing page.
