Digitising clinical consent forms with Sign on Tab

Clinical consent forms are often digitised without truly becoming digital. Replacing paper with a signed PDF may simplify storage, but it does little to make the information easier to validate, retrieve, or reuse. For healthcare organisations, the bigger opportunity is to rethink the entire consent workflow, from completing and signing forms to moving captured information into clinical systems.

Sign on Tab is designed around that broader challenge, helping organisations digitise consent while capturing information in a structured, reusable format. 

Why digitise clinical consent forms?

Paper-based consent is familiar, but it creates problems throughout the workflow. Forms can be incomplete, difficult to read, or missing mandatory information. These errors may only be discovered after the patient has left or the clinical workflow has already moved forward, creating rework and potential compliance gaps.

Once completed, paper forms need to be scanned or physically archived. Long retention periods create storage costs, while retrieval can be slow when records are needed for an audit, claim, or regulatory review.

The bigger limitation, however, is what happens to the information captured on the form. When consent and intake data remains locked inside a paper document or scanned image, it cannot easily support the systems and workflows around it. The organisation may have digitised the document, but not the data.

How Sign on Tab digitises clinical consent workflows

Many digital consent tools focus on one part of the process: replacing a handwritten signature on paper with an electronic one. Sign on Tab takes a broader approach. Designed specifically for healthcare workflows, the solution supports structured templates for clinical consent forms, intake documents, nursing documentation, diagnostic reports, procedure notes, and other healthcare records.

A clinician or administrative user selects the appropriate template, and the patient completes and reviews the information on a tablet before signing directly on the device. Built-in validation helps ensure mandatory fields are completed before submission, reducing avoidable errors and rework. Sign on Tab also captures the biometrics of a handwritten signature on the tablet, rather than relying only on a typed name or click-to-accept confirmation.

The workflow can also begin before the patient arrives. Patients can receive a secure link, verify their identity using a one-time password, and complete or pre-fill documentation remotely. This makes digital consent more than a replacement for paper. It becomes a guided process built around how healthcare organisations collect, verify, sign, and manage information.

How digital consent works at the point of care

Sign on Tab is designed for use across hospitals, diagnostic and imaging centres, GP and specialist clinics, dental practices, and homecare settings. Its capabilities support both patients completing forms and the clinical or administrative teams responsible for collecting signatures and managing records.

• Point-of-care identity verification: patients can be identified by scanning a wristband barcode or QR code before completing and signing documents.
• Mandatory-field validation: built-in checks flag missing information before a form can be submitted.
• Biometric handwritten signature capture: patients sign directly on the device with an active pen, preserving the familiar signing process while capturing signature biometrics digitally.
• Remote pre-fill and signing: patients can receive forms before arrival and verify their identity through digital identity verification solutions.
• Flexible deployment and storage: organisations can choose between an AWS cloud archive and storage on their own infrastructure, providing flexibility for different data residency and sovereignty considerations.
• Auditability and retrieval: signed records are stored and indexed for retrieval, while access and changes are logged to support traceability.

Together, these capabilities help move clinical consent forms away from fragmented paper processes and towards a more consistent digital workflow.

How consent data integrates into clinical systems

The opportunity does not end when the form has been signed. Through two-way HIS (Hospital Information System) integration and Metadata Exchange, Sign on Tab can send captured information back into the healthcare organisation’s systems rather than leaving it stranded in a scanned document.

The solution also provides SDK (Software Development Kit) and Web SDK options that allow its signing and template functionality to be embedded into existing software. This distinction matters, because a digital document can still be a silo. When captured information can move back into operational and clinical systems as data, it can continue supporting workflows, reporting, and other processes beyond the original form.

For healthcare organisations, this means the value of digital consent extends beyond faster signing or easier document retrieval. Information collected during consent and intake can become part of the broader digital environment rather than ending its journey in an archive.

Why structured consent data matters beyond the form

Healthcare organisations do not need more digital documents that behave like paper. The value of digitisation comes from making information easier to capture, retrieve, and reuse.

Sign on Tab approaches clinical consent forms with this broader goal in mind. By combining healthcare-specific templates, guided point-of-care workflows, identity verification, biometric signatures, and data exchange with hospital information systems, it helps organisations replace paper without simply recreating the same limitations on screen.

At Better, we believe healthcare data should be captured once and structured for reuse across care, operations, and decision-making. Sign on Tab supports that vision by helping consent and intake information move beyond the signed document and remain useful across the healthcare environment.

Discover Sign on Tab on Better Marketplace.