To import a Patients batch file

You can import a Patients batch file to add multiple patients in a single step to the Geneticist Assistant database. The Patients batch file must be either a comma-separated values (.csv) file, a tab-delimited text (.txt) file, or a tab-separated values (.tsv) file. The first line of the file must be the pound/hashtag (#) symbol, followed by delimited column headers. The file must contain the following columns of information in the order listed—the External ID, the patient last name, the patient first name, the patient date of birth, and the patient gender. Multiple phenotypes and multiple relationships must be separated by semi-colons. In addition to the required columns, the Patients batch file can include other optional standard fields, such as ethnicity, phenotypes, and relationships, as well as custom fields. Patient relationships must be in the format ExternalID;Relationship, for example, ABS17;Father. When importing the patients, you can opt to add any custom patient fields to the Geneticist Assistant database.

To view and edit the custom fields for a patient, you must edit the patient record (Edit Patient). See To use the context menu for a patient (Patients tab).

1. On the Geneticist Assistant main menu, click File > New Patient.

The Add New Patient dialog box opens. The Add Patient tab is the opened tab.

2. Click the Import Patients tab to open it.

3. Next to the Patient File field, click the Browse button

, and then browse to and select your patient file.

4. Specify the properties of your patient file.

Property	Description
Data Delimiter	Indicate the delimiter used (Comma or Tab).
Date of Birth Format	Select the format used for the patients’ dates of birth.
Add New Phenotype Terms	Selected by default. If the patient file contains phenotypes in the Phenotypes column that have not already been added to the Geneticist Assistant database through either the Manage Objects function (see Managing Objects in the Geneticist Assistant Database), or the Add Phenotype option on the Add Patient tab (see Patient tab, Patient sub-tab, Phenotype pane), then leave this option selected to automatically add these phenotypes to the database. Otherwise, clear this option.
Add unmatched columns as custom patient fields	In addition to the required information for the Patients batch file, the file can include any other information as needed, for example, Sample Type, Weight, Age at Death, and so on. Select this option to include this information in the Geneticist Assistant database for the patients.

5. Click OK.

You results are determined by whether you have enabled encryption for your patient data. Continue to one of the following: