Encounter management

A coordinator schedules the visit with a patient, clinician, visit type and scheduled date. Arrival moves the encounter into active work. The Clinical Coordinator records when the visit starts; the Licensed Clinician adds observations and notes linked to that encounter. The coordinator uses the schedule to distinguish visits that are planned, underway or awaiting review.

• Appointment. Keep the patient, clinician, visit type and scheduled date on one encounter.
• Progress. The Clinical Coordinator records arrival and the start of an active visit.
• Review queue. A visit awaiting review stays visible with its linked evidence.

An encounter is the common reference for notes, observations and charges from a visit. The schedule shows planned and active work, while the review list shows encounters whose status has reached awaiting review. A visit that points to the wrong patient can misplace all of those linked records. The coordinator checks both patient and clinician before arrival, and the reviewer reads the linked evidence before the coordinator records completion.

Agree visit types, the point at which a visit is marked arrived, and who closes encounters after review. Decide how cancelled visits are documented. Use the scheduled, started and ended dates consistently so an encounter timeline remains readable.

Rehearse a scheduled visit that arrives and another that is cancelled. Agree when the coordinator records arrival, start and end dates, and who checks a visit before it is completed. Include an encounter with a mistaken clinician assignment so the team practices correcting the link before notes are entered. Confirm the clinician can read the encounter even though status changes belong to the coordinator.

Rehearse a patient arriving for a consultation. Confirm the scheduled encounter names the right clinician, mark it arrived, then have the clinician start the visit. Add a note and observation against that encounter. Put the encounter into awaiting review, inspect the linked evidence, and finish it only after the responsible person has checked the case.

Let the Clinical Coordinator advance the visit and ask the Licensed Clinician to locate it before adding a note. The Clinical Reviewer then inspects the linked evidence in Encounters Awaiting Review. If the patient or clinician link is wrong, the coordinator corrects it and asks the reviewer to reopen the record. Record an end date only after the team has checked what happened.

• Encounter Schedule — See scheduled, arrived and active visits with patient, clinician and visit dates.
• Encounters Awaiting Review — Find visits waiting for a reviewer to inspect linked clinical evidence.

See consultation intake, clinical review, follow-up coordination and service billing for the handoffs between these records.