Jane is pretty passionate about accessible healthcare for everyone, and we understand that your patients may identify themselves with a name other than their legal first name.

Read on to learn how to add an optional Preferred Name for your patients!

There are several ways that we collect your patient’s preferred name and then present the appropriate name to you throughout Jane.

Editing the Patient Profile

At any point, you can add or change the name of a patient by clicking Edit / Settings on their profile. Here, you can change their Preferred Name, or you can update their legal First Name and Last Name:

How the Name Appears in Jane

Once you’ve entered a preferred name, we’ll present it throughout Jane so that everyone in the clinic can refer to the patient by the name they would like to be called.

You’ll see this in the schedule, patient profile, reports, and all staff and patient email and SMS communications. We’ll use the patient’s legal name where it is required for legal reasons. As such, chart exports, receipts and invoices will use the patient’s legal name.

If your patient’s preferred name differs from the name that appears on their insurance information, IDs, and payment methods, then you can use the first name field to populate clinical and billing documents and the preferred name field for communications.

Editing the Intake Form

Another way to collect your patient’s preferred name is through your intake form.

To enable the Preferred Name field on your intake, head to Settings > Forms & Surveys > View Forms on the Intake Form section. Next, click Edit an existing intake or click New Intake Form to generate a fresh one.

Next, select Profile Fields and choose to include the Preferred Name field and make it required or hide it.

Make sure to click the blue Save button at the bottom of the page to confirm those changes.

Here’s a preview of how it’ll look on the intake:

Online Booking - How new patients can enter a preferred name

From the client-facing side, new patients can enter a preferred name when they create their online account:

Online Booking - How new patients can enter a preferred name

Existing clients can also update their preferred name when logged in to your booking site from My Account > My Contact Info:

Handy, right?

Additional Notes

⭐️ Can practitioners have a preferred name in Jane?

No, practitioner profiles can only have a first and last name entered. If the staff profile has a patient component, the preferred name will only appear on patient-like actions (i.e., booking appointments).

We’re always looking to build Jane into a helpful, friendly, and useful tool for your practice and your clients. If you have any questions or feedback on how Jane could succeed in supporting you and your work, we’d love to hear from you!

You can email us directly using the Need Help button at the top of your Jane account or by contacting us here