🎞️ View video tutorial: Starting encounters and recording encounter notes
The encounter section of the chart allows you to perform the most common tasks to track patient interactions. This includes recording notes, prescribing medications, filling in forms, creating bills, and more.
You can start an encounter from:
The appointment on the schedule
The Visits dashboard
The patient's chart
Starting the encounter from the Schedule or Visits dashboard automatically links your encounter with the appointment and populates any presenting issues, templates and Qnaires. It also updates the appointment status to Being Seen.
💡 Tip: If you start your encounter ahead of the appointment time, and you have an appointment notification that has not gone out yet, you need to change the appointment status back to Confirmed. Notifications are not sent if the appointment status is Being Seen at the time the notification is set to send.
Steps
1. To start the encounter, do one of the following:
From the schedule, click the patient's appointment, and a new window opens.
Click Encounter.
From the main menu, click Visits.
Click the patient's appointment, and a new window appears.
Under Actions, click Start Encounter.
From the patient's chart, do one of the following:
In the dashboard view, under Quick Menu, click the + icon beside Encounters.
In the dashboard view, under Latest Encounters, click Start New.
Click the Start/Open menu, then click Start New Encounter.
From the schedule, click a group appointment, and the Group Visit window opens.
In the top-right corner, click Start Encounter.
An encounter note is created for each patient, and their charts appear in the Opened Patient Charts list for easy access. You must complete each encounter note individually.
2. If you start from the patient's chart and the patient has an appointment today, you are invited to link the encounter with that appointment.
Choose the appointment, or click Skip.
3. By default, the Select Template window appears (see Using encounter templates). Do one of the following:
To choose a template, under Templates, click the template you want to use.
Click Apply this template.
If you do not want to use a template, click Close.
💡 Tips:
If you do not use encounter templates on a daily basis, you can disable the default. Click Do not open this dialog by default.
If you change your mind or want to use a second template, click Template in the top-right corner of the screen while in an encounter to open the Select Template window.
4. The encounter opens, ready to document the patient's visit. For more information, see Overview of Encounters or Recording encounter notes.
📌Note: When opening the encounter, by default, the sections History, Examination, Assessment and Plan sections are expanded. All other encounter sections (e.g. Prescriptions, Attachments, Referrals, etc.) only expand automatically if there is information within that section.
Updated April 17, 2025