Encounter
Definition
An encounter 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 has many encounters over time, so the patient record is the chart and each encounter is a dated chapter in it.
Key Attributes
| 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 |
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.
Your deployment decides which types staff can select, and which type is offered first.
Care Team
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.
Status
| Status | Description |
|---|---|
| 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 |
Care records every change of status with the time of the change, so the episode stays auditable.
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.
Your deployment sets a time limit for a restart, and a maximum number of open encounters for one patient in one facility.
Related
- Flow: Create an encounter
- Flow: Close an encounter
- Concept: Patient
- Concept: Condition
- Concept: Observation
- Concept: Notes
- Reference: Encounter