TRAK
TRAK is our electronic health record for almost all parts of NHS Lothian - and so will be a huge part of your clinical work. This page will help you engage well rather than avoid and moan!
About Electronic Health Records
Starting with radiology and the PACS system in the 80s/90s, clinical records have increasingly moved online. In Lothian, we are fortunate to have an advanced version of TRAK (formally 'TRAK Care - produced by a company called Intersystems) that is used across almost all inpatient, A&E and mental health settings. This is more unified that almost any other system in the UK.
GP practices use products called Vision and Docman that have electronic data linkage with TRAK meaning digital letters can be sent and GP medications looked up from the Hospital. Small parts of NHS Lothian use other systems such as ICU or Sexual Health, but even in these areas some TRAK use still occurs. We have separate pages about HEPMA (digital prescribing) and Labs/Radiology (all tests are ordered and signed off on-line via TRAK.
We are working towards an even more integrated future, with better secondary/primary care and health/social-care data sharing. From Easter 2025, some TRAK data will be available to patients via a patient portal.
We want to encourage resident doctors to do two things:
get really good at using TRAK - you might as well as you will spend hours on it. Scroll down for more.
get involved in developing tomorrows electronic health records - as you will be using what you develop so why not be involved. See the Digital Skills page for more.
Common TRAK Shortcuts
Trak has many Canned Text shortcuts that insert a template of text that you can then edit. These are useful for saving you time and ensuring you don’t miss something.
Many of the Trak Canned Text shortcuts are specific to each Speciality and you should be told about these when you receive your local induction to that ward or unit. You can also ask the doctors you are taking over from for the ones that are most useful to them.
The following is a list of commonly used Canned Text shortcuts that are useful wherever you are working, as chosen by current FY1s.
To use, simply type the code into the patient notes text box, then hit the <Spacebar> key.
For example, type \IDL then press the spacebar to display the Discharge Letter template.
| \IDL | Immediate Discharge Letter |
| \IDLGM | Immediate Discharge Letter (Gen Med specific) |
| \IDLGS , \IDLCA etc | Specific Discharge Letter templates for certain clinical areas – ask which one your area uses |
| \TTT | Falls Checklist – used when you document a review you do for any patient who has fallen whilst in hospital |
| \painref | Referral to pain team |
| \frail | Referral to frailty team |
| \deathver | Death verification template – used when you verify any patient death |
| \deathcert | Death certification template – used when you complete a Death Certificate for a patient |
| \2222 | Cardiac Arrests |
| \2222me | Other Medical Emergencies [that are not arrests] |
TRAK User Updates
TRAK undergoes frequent updates and these changes to TRAK functionality are communicated by the Digital & IT TRAK Projects Team. Here is where you will find the most up-to-date information: