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Version: 3.0

How to create an encounter

Overview​

This flow describes how to start an encounter for a patient at your facility. The encounter is the episode of care that holds the clinical records of the visit.

Pre-requisites​

  • The patient is registered in Care. If the patient is new, first register the patient.
  • You belong to a department of the facility that treats the patient.
  • If you start the encounter from an appointment, the patient has a booked or checked-in appointment at the facility.
  • You have the permissions listed below.

Permissions​

PermissionAccess
Can Create encounterStart an encounter for a patient at the facility
Can Read encounterOpen the encounter after Care creates it

Steps​

1. Open the patient​

From the facility dashboard, select Patients. Select the patient.

2. Start the encounter​

Select Create Encounter. The Initiate Patient Encounter panel opens.

You can also start the encounter from the Encounters tab of the patient.

To start an encounter from an appointment, open the appointment. Select Start Consultation to begin care now. Select Create Planned Encounter to record an episode that starts later.

note

On the patient page, the keyboard shortcut e opens Create Encounter. On the appointment page, 1 starts a consultation and 2 creates an encounter.

3. Enter the encounter details​

Complete the panel:

ComponentsWhat it captures
Date and TimeThe time the episode starts. Care fills in the current time.
Type of EncounterThe kind of episode: Ambulatory, Emergency, Inpatient, Observation, Home Health, or Virtual.
StatusPlanned, In Progress, or On Hold.
PriorityThe urgency of the episode, for example Routine, Urgent, or Emergency.
TagsThe labels that your facility uses for encounters.
DepartmentsThe facility departments that the encounter belongs to.

Note: Which types of encounter you can select depends on the configuration of your deployment.

A future date is only allowed for a planned encounter.

4. Select a department​

Select at least one department. Care keeps Create Encounter disabled until you select a department.

Care uses the department to decide who can see and update the encounter.

5. Save the encounter​

Select Create Encounter. To cancel the panel, select Cancel.

Expected Outcome​

  • Care shows the message "Encounter created successfully".
  • Care opens the Updates tab of the new encounter.
  • The encounter shows in the Encounters tab of the patient.

Concepts:

Flows: