Skip to content
Open
Show file tree
Hide file tree
Changes from all commits
Commits
File filter

Filter by extension

Filter by extension

Conversations
Failed to load comments.
Loading
Jump to
Jump to file
Failed to load files.
Loading
Diff view
Diff view
104 changes: 52 additions & 52 deletions versioned_docs/version-3.0/concepts/clinical/encounter.mdx
Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
Expand Up @@ -4,74 +4,74 @@ sidebar_position: 2

# Encounter

An **encounter** is a single episode of care between a patient and a facility — an outpatient visit, an admission, an emergency presentation, or a virtual consultation. It is the working context for clinical activity: while an encounter is open, the orders, observations, medications, and notes recorded for the patient are gathered under it.
## Definition

## What it represents
An **[encounter](https://build.fhir.org/encounter.html)** is one episode of care between a patient and a facility. An outpatient visit, an admission, an emergency presentation, and a teleconsultation are each an encounter. The encounter is the working context for clinical activity: Care gathers the observations, orders, medicines, and notes of that episode under it. One [patient](../clinical/patient) has many encounters over time, so the patient record is the chart and each encounter is a dated chapter in it.

In Care's FHIR-aligned model, an encounter maps to the **Encounter** resource. It answers four questions about one episode: what kind of interaction it is, where and when it happens, who is on the care team, and — for admissions — how the patient arrived and left.
## Key Attributes

An encounter is not the patient and not the whole medical record. One patient accumulates many encounters over time; each encounter is the bounded slice of activity for a single episode, and the [patient](../clinical/patient) record is the thread that ties them together. Think of the patient as the chart and each encounter as a dated chapter within it.

## Lifecycle

An encounter carries a status that reflects where the episode stands. It opens as `planned` or `in_progress`, runs through active care, and ends in exactly one terminal state. Care records every transition in a status history, so the journey stays auditable.
| Components | What it captures |
| --- | --- |
| Type of Encounter | The kind of interaction, such as Inpatient or Ambulatory |
| Encounter Status | The point the episode has reached |
| Priority | The urgency of the episode, such as Routine or Emergency |
| Date and Time | The start of the episode, and the end after the episode closes |
| Departments and Teams | The departments of the facility that are responsible for the episode |
| Care Team | The users who look after the patient in this episode, each with a role |
| Location | The place in the facility that the patient occupies now, with the full location history |
| Hospitalization details | For an admission, the admit source, the discharge disposition, the diet preference, and whether the patient is re-admitted |
| Tags | Labels that your facility applies to group encounters |
| Encounter ID | An identifier from an external system, when your deployment sends one |

### Type of Encounter

| Type | Description |
| --- | --- |
| Inpatient | Patient is admitted to the hospital |
| Ambulatory | Patient visits for outpatient care |
| Observation | Patient is under observation |
| Emergency | Mark as emergency if immediate attention is required |
| Virtual | Virtual or telehealth consultation |
| Home Health | Care provided at the patient's home |

```text
planned ──▶ in_progress ──▶ discharged ──▶ completed
▲ │
└───┘ on_hold (pause, then resume)
```
The type and the priority are set apart from each other. An admission can be Routine, and an outpatient visit can be an Emergency. Care keeps a history of each change of type.

- **planned** — the episode is scheduled or expected but has not started
- **in_progress** — the patient is actively being seen or treated
- **on_hold** — care is temporarily paused (for example, awaiting results or a bed), then resumes
- **discharged** — the patient has left the facility; closing paperwork may still be in flight
- **completed** — the episode is finished and finalized
:::note
Your deployment decides which types staff can select, and which type is offered first.
:::

An episode can also end early without reaching `completed`: **cancelled** (called off before meaningful care), **discontinued** (stopped and will not resume), or **entered_in_error** (created by mistake and voided). These, along with `completed`, are the terminal states — once an encounter reaches one, it stops accumulating new clinical activity.
### Care Team

## Classification
The care team lists the users who look after the patient in this episode. Each member holds a clinical role, and one member can be marked as primary. A user must have access to the encounter before you can add that user to the care team.

Two independent axes describe an encounter. **Class** answers "what kind of visit is this?" and **priority** answers "how urgent is it?". The two are set separately, so an inpatient admission can be routine and an outpatient visit can be an emergency.
### Status

| Class | Meaning |
| Status | Description |
| --- | --- |
| `imp` | Inpatient — admitted to a bed |
| `amb` | Ambulatory — outpatient or clinic visit |
| `emer` | Emergency — emergency department presentation |
| `obsenc` | Observation — short-stay monitoring |
| `vr` | Virtual — teleconsultation |
| `hh` | Home health — care delivered at the patient's home |

Priority runs from `routine` through `urgent`, `emergency`, `ASAP`, and `stat`, with workflow values such as `elective` and `preop` for scheduled care. As with status, a change in class is recorded in its own history.

## How it connects

The encounter is the hub that most clinical work hangs off:

- **Patient** — every encounter belongs to exactly one [patient](../clinical/patient), set when it is created and never changed.
- **Facility and location** — it is anchored to a [facility](../../references/facility/facility.mdx) and tracks the [location](../../references/facility/location.mdx) the patient currently occupies within it, with a full location history behind that.
- **Booking** — an encounter can originate from a scheduling [booking](../../references/scheduling/booking.mdx), linking the appointment that brought the patient in to the episode that followed.
- **Organizations** — each encounter is associated with one or more facility [organizations](../../references/access-governance/organization.mdx), and that association is what drives who can see and act on it.
- **Clinical records** — [conditions](../clinical/condition.mdx), [observations](../clinical/observation.mdx), [service requests](../clinical/service-request.mdx), medication orders, and [notes](../clinical/notes.mdx) are all recorded in the context of an encounter.

## Permissions
| Planned | The episode is scheduled but has not started |
| In Progress | Staff see or treat the patient now |
| On Hold | Care is paused, for example while the patient waits for a bed |
| Discharged | The patient has left the facility |
| Completed | The episode is finished |
| Cancelled | The episode was called off before care started |
| Discontinued | The episode was stopped and does not resume |
| Entered in error | The encounter was created by mistake |
| Unknown | The status of the episode is not known |

Access to encounters is permission-controlled, and every action on the encounter endpoint is reserved for clinical roles. Listing and retrieving an encounter is also granted when the user can view the underlying patient.
Care records every change of status with the time of the change, so the episode stays auditable.

| Permission | Description | System Roles |
| --- | --- | --- |
| `can_create_encounter` | Open a new encounter for a patient under a facility | Admin, Doctor, Nurse, Facility Admin |
| `can_list_encounter` | List encounters within a facility (clinical data is not exposed through this permission) | Admin, Doctor, Nurse, Facility Admin |
| `can_read_encounter` | Retrieve an encounter's non-clinical details | Admin, Doctor, Nurse, Facility Admin |
| `can_write_encounter` | Update an encounter, manage its organizations, set facility identifiers, assign care-team members, and restart a completed encounter | Admin, Doctor, Nurse, Facility Admin |
Completed, Cancelled, Discontinued, and Entered in error are the closed statuses. A closed encounter accepts no new clinical records. Staff with permission to update the encounter can reopen a closed encounter with **Restart Encounter**.

Roles are granted to users through their organization, facility, and patient memberships, and permissions cascade down the organization tree — a role held at a parent organization applies to the facilities and encounters beneath it.
:::note
Your deployment sets a time limit for a restart, and a maximum number of open encounters for one patient in one facility.
:::

## Related

- Reference: [Encounter (technical)](../../references/clinical/encounter.mdx)
- Flow: [Create an encounter](../../flows/clinical/create-an-encounter.mdx)
- Flow: [Close an encounter](../../flows/clinical/close-an-encounter.mdx)
- Concept: [Patient](../clinical/patient)
- Concept: [Condition](../clinical/condition.mdx)
- Concept: [Service request](../clinical/service-request.mdx)
- Concept: [Observation](../clinical/observation.mdx)
- Concept: [Notes](../clinical/notes.mdx)
- Reference: [Encounter](../../references/clinical/encounter.mdx)
Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
@@ -0,0 +1,69 @@
---
sidebar_position: 4
---

# How to assign a location to an encounter

## Overview

This flow describes how to record the place in the facility that the patient occupies during an [encounter](../../concepts/clinical/encounter.mdx). Care keeps the full location history of the encounter.

## Pre-requisites

- The encounter is open, and you record the location for that encounter.
- Your administrator has set up the locations and the beds of the facility.
- You have the permissions listed below.

## Permissions

| Permission | Access |
| --- | --- |
| Update Encounter non clinical | Assign a location to the encounter |

Admin, Doctor, Nurse, and Facility Admin hold this permission. Your administrator grants a role to you through a department of the facility.

## Steps

### 1. Open the encounter

Select **Patients** in the facility menu. Select the patient, then select the encounter.

The overview page of the encounter opens.

### 2. Open the location panel

Open the **Actions** panel, then select **Update Location**.

The **Update Location** panel opens on the **Assign Location** tab.

### 3. Select the location

Select the location, then select the bed.

Care shows the beds that are free, the beds that are held, and the beds that another patient occupies.

### 4. Confirm the assignment

Select **Assign bed now** to move the patient to the bed now.

Select **Schedule for later** to plan the bed for a later time.

Select **Add reserved bed** to hold the bed for the patient.

## Expected Outcome

- The encounter shows the new location of the patient.
- Care adds the change to the location history of the encounter.
- Select the **Location History** tab of the panel to read the full history.

## Related

Concepts:

- [Encounter](../../concepts/clinical/encounter.mdx)

Flows:

- [Create an encounter](./create-an-encounter.mdx)
- [Close an encounter](./close-an-encounter.mdx)
- [Manage the care team of an encounter](./manage-the-care-team-of-an-encounter.mdx)
82 changes: 82 additions & 0 deletions versioned_docs/version-3.0/flows/clinical/close-an-encounter.mdx
Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
@@ -0,0 +1,82 @@
---
sidebar_position: 3
---

# How to close an encounter

## Overview

This flow describes how to close an [encounter](../../concepts/clinical/encounter.mdx) when the episode of care ends. A closed encounter accepts no new clinical records.

## Pre-requisites

- The encounter is open, and you record the completion for that encounter.
- You recorded the clinical information of the episode, because a closed encounter accepts no new records.
- If the encounter is an Inpatient encounter, you complete the discharge details first.
- You have the permissions listed below.

## Permissions

| Permission | Access |
| --- | --- |
| Update Encounter non clinical | Change the status of the encounter to Completed |

Admin, Doctor, Nurse, and Facility Admin hold this permission. Your administrator grants a role to you through a department of the facility.

## Steps

### 1. Open the encounter

Select **Patients** in the facility menu. Select the patient, then select the encounter.

The overview page of the encounter opens.

### 2. Select the close action

Open the **Actions** panel on the overview page.

For an Inpatient encounter that is not yet Discharged, the panel shows **Mark for discharge**. For every other encounter, the panel shows **Mark as Completed**.

### 3. Record the discharge details

Follow this step only for an Inpatient encounter that is not yet Discharged.

Select **Mark for discharge**. Care opens the encounter questionnaire and sets the status to Discharged.

| Components | What it captures |
| --- | --- |
| Discharge Disposition | Where the patient goes after the facility |
| Discharge Summary Advice | The advice that the patient takes home |
| Diet Preference | The diet of the patient during the admission |
| Re-Admission | Whether this admission repeats an earlier one |

Select **Submit**. Care records the end of the episode.

Return to the **Actions** panel, then select **Mark as Completed**.

### 4. Confirm the completion

Care asks you to confirm. Select **Mark as Complete**.

If the encounter comes from an appointment, Care warns that the action also closes the appointment and the token.

## Expected Outcome

- The status of the encounter changes to Completed, and Care records the end time.
- Care confirms with the message "Encounter Completed".
- The encounter accepts no new clinical records.
- If the encounter comes from an appointment, Care closes the appointment and the token.
- Staff with permission to update the encounter can reopen it with **Restart Encounter**, within the time limit that your deployment sets.

## Related

Concepts:

- [Encounter](../../concepts/clinical/encounter.mdx)
- [Patient](../../concepts/clinical/patient)

Flows:

- [Create an encounter](./create-an-encounter.mdx)
- [Assign a location to an encounter](./assign-a-location-to-an-encounter.mdx)
- [Manage the care team of an encounter](./manage-the-care-team-of-an-encounter.mdx)
91 changes: 91 additions & 0 deletions versioned_docs/version-3.0/flows/clinical/create-an-encounter.mdx
Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
@@ -0,0 +1,91 @@
---
sidebar_position: 2
---

# How to create an encounter

## Overview

This flow describes how to start an [encounter](../../concepts/clinical/encounter.mdx) for a patient at your facility. The encounter becomes the working context for the clinical records of that episode.

## Pre-requisites

- The patient is registered in Care, and you open the encounter for that patient.
- You are a member of the facility, and of at least one department in it.
- If you start the encounter from an appointment, the patient has a booked or a checked-in appointment at the facility.
- If the patient already has open encounters at the facility, the number of open encounters is below the limit that your deployment sets.
- You have the permissions listed below.

## Permissions

| Permission | Access |
| --- | --- |
| Can Create encounter | Create an encounter for a patient at the facility |

Admin, Doctor, Nurse, and Facility Admin hold this permission. Your administrator grants a role to you through a department of the facility.

## Steps

### 1. Open the patient

Select **Patients** in the facility menu. Search for the patient, then select the patient.

The patient home page opens.

### 2. Start the encounter

Select **Create Encounter**. Press <kbd>E</kbd> on the patient home page for the same result.

The **Initiate Patient Encounter** panel opens.

If you start from an appointment, open the appointment and select **Create Encounter** there. Care links the encounter to that appointment.

### 3. Describe the episode

Complete the fields in the panel.

| Components | What it captures |
| --- | --- |
| Date and Time | The start of the episode. A future date is allowed only for a Planned encounter |
| Type of Encounter | Inpatient, Ambulatory, Observation, Emergency, Virtual, or Home Health |
| Status | Planned, In Progress, or On Hold |
| Priority | The urgency of the episode, for example Routine or Emergency |
| Tags | Labels that your facility applies to group encounters |
| Department | The department that is responsible for the episode |

:::note
Your deployment decides which types of encounter staff can select, and which type is offered first.
:::

### 4. Select a department

Select **Select Department**, then select at least one department of the facility.

The departments you select decide who can see and act on the encounter.

### 5. Save the encounter

Select **Create Encounter**.

Care confirms with the message "Encounter created successfully", and opens the encounter.

## Expected Outcome

- Care creates the encounter with the status you selected.
- Care opens the updates page of the encounter.
- The encounter accepts observations, orders, medicines, and notes.
- If you started from an appointment, Care links the appointment to the encounter.

## Related

Concepts:

- [Encounter](../../concepts/clinical/encounter.mdx)
- [Patient](../../concepts/clinical/patient)

Flows:

- [Create a patient](../../flows/clinical/create-patient)
- [Close an encounter](./close-an-encounter.mdx)
- [Assign a location to an encounter](./assign-a-location-to-an-encounter.mdx)
- [Manage the care team of an encounter](./manage-the-care-team-of-an-encounter.mdx)
Loading
Loading