The problem
You ask patients how they're getting on, but nothing is recorded in a way you can compare. If 15 patients a week fill in a paper questionnaire and scoring and recording each takes 4 minutes, that's 60 minutes a week, about 4.3 hours a month, which is why it often gets dropped.
What the AI does
Zanda offers online forms with automatic assessment scoring and progress reports in each client profile. You build the pain and function questionnaire you use as a scored form, where its terms allow, and ask patients to complete it through the portal at their first, fourth and final visits. The score and a progress chart appear on the patient's file for you to go through together.
A worked example
A solo osteopath in Bath sees about 30 patients a week, with 15 completing a pain and function questionnaire at their first, fourth or final visit. They build it as a scored form in Zanda Starter.
Before
15 paper forms a week at 4 minutes to score and record: 4.3 hours a month
After
About 1 minute to read each scored form: about 1.1 hours a month
What it's worth
About $214£161€192A$309C$303 a month of the osteopath's time, at an assumed $67£50€60A$96C$94 an hour, against $20£15€18A$29C$28 for Zanda Starter. That's 3 minutes saved on each of 15 forms a week: 45 minutes x 4.3, about 3.2 hours.
How to set it up
- Choose a validated pain and function questionnaire and check its terms allow you to put it online.
- Build it as a scored form in Zanda and test the scoring against a hand-scored example.
- Ask patients to complete it through the client portal before their first, fourth and final visits.
- Read every response before the appointment and go through the progress chart with the patient.
- Each quarter, look at your results to see which presentations do well and which you should refer on sooner.
What goes wrong
- Your own patients' scores aren't evidence for advertising claims under the CAP code. Don't quote them on your website as proof of what you treat.
- If you're already on Cliniko or another system, check what it offers first: switching just for questionnaires rarely pays.
- Scores are special-category health data. Check Zanda's data hosting and processing terms before you start.
- A better score doesn't prove treatment caused it. Use it to talk with patients, not to make promises.