Patient and care teams

The Front Desk Coordinator opens a patient record with a patient number, display name, birth date and contact phone. The assigned clinician gives the team a starting point for the next visit. A patient can have several encounters over time; each one keeps its own clinician and schedule. When a patient calls about an upcoming visit, staff can find the patient and then open the relevant encounter instead of treating the phone call as a new episode of care.

Consent has its own purpose, version, signed date, expiry date and document. The Care Coordinator reviews the particular consent needed for a visit. A patient-level consent status gives a quick signal, while the consent record keeps the signed evidence and its current state. If a patient withdraws a consent, the coordinator records Withdrawn on the relevant consent and checks what work is affected before the next visit proceeds.

• Identity. The patient number and contact details belong to the patient record.
• Purpose. A consent record identifies the decision, document and applicable dates.
• Access. A care-team assignment ties a clinician to a patient for a stated purpose and effective period.

Decide who may register patients and who reviews consent documents. Name the Care Coordinator responsible for keeping assignments current. Agree how a clinician’s People record links to their user identity, and how the team handles an assignment that has ended. Clinical privilege verification is a separate decision from patient assignment; a person may be on the care team without every privilege being Verified.

Consider a returning patient whose assigned clinician has changed. Front desk confirms the patient number and contact information, then schedules the new encounter with the working clinician. The Care Coordinator records a new Active assignment with its access purpose and effective date and ends the old one when appropriate. Before the encounter moves into clinical work, the Clinical Lead checks the clinician’s privilege evidence and current dates. The patient stays one patient, and the new visit keeps a clear clinician. This case should also be rehearsed when consent has expired or been withdrawn so the person making the decision sees the exact record that needs attention.

• Pending Consent — Review consent decisions before the associated visit.
• Active Care Teams — Check the clinician, purpose and effective period for patient access.
• Scheduled Visits — Open the encounter after patient setup is complete.

Use patient preparation before a visit, then continue to the visit. Review roles when setting access.