Care follow-up

A care task has a patient, a named assignee, a task description, a due date and a status. This is where a clinician records work that must continue after a visit. The assignee should be the person expected to take the next action, not merely the clinician who wrote the note. A task marked completed can carry a completion time; an escalated task remains visible for attention.

Care-team assignments describe a different relationship: who is attached to a patient for a stated access purpose and effective period. Use those assignments to keep responsibility and access clear. A care task can then direct a specific action to a member of that team. The task and assignment should agree about who can perform the work, especially if responsibility changes during a care episode.

• Action. Describe one follow-up action in words the assignee can act on.
• Owner and due time. Name the person responsible and a due date that matches clinical practice.
• State. Keep open, in-progress, completed, escalated and cancelled work distinct.

The follow-up list lets a coordinator and clinician see work that has not reached completion. The assignee should review the encounter note and patient context before acting, then update the task when the actual work is done.

Decide who assigns a task, who may change its assignee, and what qualifies as escalation. Agree whether an overdue open task is handled by the original assignee or a coordinator. Set a standard for concise task text: it should identify the action and enough context to find the relevant patient and encounter, without duplicating a whole clinical note.

Rehearse a task that cannot be completed by the planned due date. The assignee should set the state to escalated and communicate the issue through the clinic’s operating practice. Another person reviewing the list should know the task is still active and see who currently owns it.

After a visit, a clinician wants the patient contacted about a follow-up measurement. The clinician creates a care task against the patient and assigns it to the responsible person with a due date. The assignee reviews the encounter note, begins the work and marks the task in progress. Once the contact is made and the needed result recorded, the task becomes completed with its completion time.

If the patient cannot be reached, the assignee does not close the task merely because an attempt was made. They keep it open or escalate it under the clinic’s rule. That distinction helps the next shift understand what still needs attention.

• Follow-up work — Review open, in-progress and escalated tasks with owner and due date.
• Encounter board — Return to the visit that prompted the work.

See note and follow-up and access and governance.