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Solution · Legal & complianceThe before photo reaches the patient record before the doctor puts the tablet down. None stays on anybody’s phone
Before-and-after photos in the record
The doctor starts each photo session by photographing the visit code, then takes pictures with the clinic tablet just as he does with a phone today. A robot matches every photo to the right patient and visit, labels it, files it in the record and clears the device. At the follow-up the doctor has before and after side by side, and only photos the patient separately agreed to publish ever reach publication.
Executive summary
Before-and-after photos are part of the treatment record, yet today they are often taken on whatever phone is at hand and wait for a transfer that does not always happen.
A robot matches photos from the clinic tablet to the visit by a code, labels them, files them in the patient record, clears the device and makes sure a treatment that requires photos does not skip them.
No more patient photos on private phones, a before-and-after comparison at the follow-up in seconds, a clear line between the record and publication; less risk and less searching.
a clinic tablet with an intake folder in OneDrive; a visit card with a code; the record in the clinic system or a SharePoint archive with permissions; alerts for doctors in Microsoft Teams
Business problem
The before photo is the most valuable document in a patient’s file, and it is kept worse than a receipt
In aesthetic medicine the before photo is the reference point for everything that follows. It shows the result at the follow-up, settles the doubts of a patient who a month later no longer remembers how she looked, and protects the clinic when a complaint arrives. Without it a conversation about the result turns into an argument about memories.
Yet photos are taken on whatever is at hand. The treatment room tablet, the reception phone, sometimes a doctor’s private phone because it was nearest. The file is named whatever the camera called it, and the transfer to the record waits for a free moment that never comes on a day with twenty visits. Some photos reach the record a week later, some never.
Two moments cost the most. The first is a follow-up or a complaint, when the before photo is needed and nobody knows which device holds it, or whether it was taken at all. The second is the day a doctor leaves the clinic or loses a phone, and patient photos the clinic should control exclusively walk out with it.
Then there is publication. Photos for social media and the website need separate patient consent, and when they all sit in one gallery, the line between the record and marketing depends on the memory of whoever picks a photo for a post. That is no place for memory.
How it works today
Below is what the work looks like before anything is automated.
- PersonThe doctor takes the before photo on whatever is at hand
- Risk of errorThe photo lands in a phone gallery, next to private ones
- WaitingThe transfer to the record waits for a free moment
- Risk of errorThe file carries a camera number instead of patient, date and area
- WaitingAt the follow-up nobody can find the before photo
- Risk of errorSome photos never reach the record at all
Why the current process costs more than it appears
The bill that never shows up in a budget.
- On how many devices are your patients’ photos today, and do they all belong to the clinic?
- How long does it take to find a before photo from three months ago?
- What happens to the photos when a doctor leaves the clinic or changes phones?
- Who checks that a photo in a post is backed by the patient’s consent to publication?
Cost of inaction
The model assumes photos are taken at about 350 of 600 treatment visits a month and a fully loaded staff hour of 28 €. You will know your own number by counting for a week how often someone moves, labels or searches for a photo.
The third line has no amount on purpose. A lost phone with patient photos is a matter for the data protection officer, not for a spreadsheet.
A model organisation with realistic proportions – the numbers exist so you can run the same maths on your own data; they are not a client result.
An aesthetic clinic: 3 treatment rooms, 5 doctors and cosmetologists, about 600 treatment visits a month, some 350 of them with photos, Microsoft 365, records in the clinic system.
Each morning the robot prepares cards for the day’s visits with a code for every room. The card is on the room computer’s screen or printed by the chair.
Before the treatment the doctor photographs the visit code with the clinic tablet, then takes the before photos as usual. The tablet sends them to the clinic’s intake folder.
The robot reads the code from the first image, matches the whole series to the patient and visit, labels the photos with date, treatment and a before mark, files them in the record and deletes them from the tablet.
For a treatment that the clinic’s rules say requires photos, when none have arrived, the robot sends the doctor an alert in Teams while the visit is still running. A before photo can only be taken before.
Six weeks later, at the follow-up, the doctor opens a before-and-after comparison of the same area with one click. In the modelled year the clinic recovers about 10 000 € of staff time. These are model figures, not the clinic’s records.
Proposed solution
The core is the visit code. Each morning the robot prepares visit cards with a code for every room, and the doctor starts every photo session by photographing that code. Everything taken after it belongs to that visit, until the next code. Nobody types anything, and a photo cannot land in the wrong file because of a misspelt name.
Photos are taken only with the clinic tablet, which sends them to an intake folder in Microsoft 365. The robot matches the series to the patient, labels the photos to an agreed pattern, files them in the record in the clinic system or in a SharePoint archive with permissions, and deletes them from the device. At the follow-up it puts before and after of the same area side by side, and for treatments that the clinic’s rules say require photos it makes sure none are missing.
Publication is a separate world. Consent to photos in the record and consent to their use in clinic materials are two different consents, and the robot marks every photo with its status. Only a photo with valid publication consent, chosen by a person, can reach the folder marketing works from. The robot does not assess photos or treatment results; it keeps them in order and guards access.
UiPath Orchestrator: matching photos to visits by code, labelling, filing, alerts on gaps and an audit trail; UiPath Integration Service connectors to OneDrive, SharePoint and Teams
Visit cards with a code for every room, photo naming and labelling rules, a list of treatments requiring photos, the before-and-after comparison for follow-ups and publication consent marks
A clinic tablet with OneDrive and device management in Microsoft 365; the clinic system with the visit list and records via export or API
How the automated process works
- PersonThe doctor photographs the visit code, then takes photos with the clinic tablet
- AutomationThe robot matches the photo series to the patient and visit by the code
- AutomationLabels, the patient record, a cleared tablet
- AutomationNo photos for a treatment that requires them: an alert to the doctor
- SystemAt the follow-up, before and after side by side with one click
- PersonPublication only for photos with separate consent, chosen by a person
Human-in-the-loop model
Automation handles
- Visit cards with a code and matching photos to patients and visits
- Labels, filing in the record and clearing the tablet
- Alerts on missing photos and before-and-after comparisons for follow-ups
People decide
- Taking and assessing photos: the doctor alone
- The list of treatments requiring photos and the label pattern: set by the clinic
- Choosing photos for publication among those with separate consent: a person, not the robot
Before and after
Systems and integrations
The stack is short on purpose: one engine, one execution layer, one place where a person decides.
Inputs
- the day’s visit list from the clinic system
- photos from the clinic tablet in the intake folder
- patients’ consent to photos and to publication
- the list of treatments that the clinic’s rules say require photos
Automation layer
- UiPath Orchestrator
- UiPath Robots
- UiPath Integration Service
- UiPath Action Center
Target systems
- photos labelled and filed in patient records
- alerts on missing photos in Teams
- before-and-after comparisons for follow-ups
Human touchpoints: the doctor photographs the visit code before a photo session; a person named by the clinic picks photos for publication; a monthly look at the gaps report
Technologies used
matching photos to visits by code, labels, filing, an audit trail
Athe intake folder, the archive with permissions, alerts for doctors
Aa photo archive per patient, when the clinic system does not accept files
Aphotos sent straight to the clinic folder; the device managed in Microsoft 365
Bthe visit list and storing photos in the record via export or API
BIllustrative economic model
Numbers you can check against your own data.
The model assumes 350 visits with photos a month and the cautious assumption that part of the photo work stays with people. The most important line has no amount: patient photos stop leaving the clinic in other people’s pockets. Put your own figures into the calculator beside.
Run the maths on your data
An illustrative estimate based on your inputs. It models freed capacity, not promised savings.
Business benefits
- Patient photos only on clinic devices and in clinic systems
- Every photo matched to the right visit without typing names
- The before photo beside the after photo, at the follow-up and in a complaint
- Missing photos for a treatment that requires them show up during the visit
- A clear line between record and publication, stored with every photo
The management view
- A clinic that shows the before photo in seconds discusses the result on facts, not on memories
- A doctor leaving is no longer a risk to patient data
- An orderly archive with consents is material marketing can use without worry
Board-level KPIs
visits with all required photos · time from photo to record · time to find a before photo · photos outside clinic devices (target: zero) · publications with consent marked on the photo
Security and governance
The automation has exactly the permissions it needs. Not one more.
- Photos do not stay on the device: once filed in the record, the tablet is empty
- Access to photos is for the treating doctor and people named by the clinic; every view leaves a trail
- Publication consent is separate from consent to photos in the record; without it a photo does not reach the marketing folder
- The robot records a withdrawal of publication consent at once and shows where the photo was used
- Data stays in your Microsoft 365 tenant; the robots run in the EU region of UiPath Automation Cloud
Why now
Every day of photos on random devices adds files that will one day need finding, moving or explaining.
Patients increasingly ask where their photos go; a good answer builds trust before the first treatment.
A quick-win deployment takes weeks and works from the first photo session after go-live.
Relevant executive roles
Patient photos only in clinic systems, and peace of mind when a doctor leaves or a data protection review comes
Takes photos as before, and at the follow-up has before and after side by side without searching
Knows her photos are in the record, and in publications only if she herself agrees
Common questions and objections
One thing: before a photo session he photographs the visit code from the card in the room. The rest, matching, labelling, filing and clearing the tablet, the robot does.
Photos go to a SharePoint archive with permissions, organised per patient, and the clinic system can hold a link to the folder. Access and the viewing trail work the same way.
No. The robot only ensures that nothing but a photo with the patient’s separate consent can reach the publication folder. The choice of photo, the crop and anonymisation are done by a person.
When this is not the right solution
- A clinic that photographs a handful of treatments a month: a simple procedure is enough
- A team unwilling to take photos only with clinic devices: without that the solution loses its point
- Expecting automatic assessment of results from photos: that is the doctor’s decision, not the robot’s
A question for the next management meeting
If a patient asked tomorrow for her before photo from six months ago, how long would it take to find it?
Implementation approach
Scope without ambiguity, before anything is signed.
We deliver
- Visit cards with a code for every room and photo matching by code
- Photo labelling rules and filing in the record or an archive with permissions
- Alerts on missing photos and before-and-after comparisons for follow-ups
- Publication consent marks and a separate folder for marketing
- A handbook for doctors and assistants and two weeks of assistance after go-live
We need from you
- A clinic tablet, ideally one per room, and a decision to stop using private phones
- Access to the visit list and records in the clinic system
- The list of treatments requiring photos and consent wording set by the clinic
Stages
Discovery
Where photos are taken and kept today, who can reach them; half a day at the clinic
Rules
Label pattern, treatments requiring photos, permissions, the publication folder
Build
Code cards, matching, archiving, alerts, before-and-after comparisons
Parallel run
Two weeks in one room; we check every match
Go-live
All rooms; a review of the archive and consents after a month
A quick win. The biggest change is organisational: patient photos are taken only with a clinic device. Technically it is a few weeks.
The before photo in the record before the doctor puts the tablet down. Beside the after photo at the follow-up. On no private phone.
Count the devices that hold your patients’ photos today and the time it takes to find one photo from six months ago. Send us those two numbers; we will send back a photo workflow design for your clinic and the arithmetic of the time recovered.
Find out where your photos live todayThe neighbouring process usually has the same problem
The patient is in the chair, the procedure minutes away, and one signed page is missing from the file. Again.
See the solution Legal & complianceProduct batches linked to each treatmentThe manufacturer issues a notice about a batch. Who received it? The answer sits in a hundred paper records.
See the solution Operations & qualityClinic reception on a tablet: check-in, details, consentsA clipboard with a form, a pen, and then reception retypes it all into the system. At every visit.
See the solutionIndustries where we deploy this most oftenAesthetic medicineSmall business & services