Opening an Encounter

To add data, you must first start a new encounter. This is like opening a consultation in your practice. You can then add data to the encounter by selecting the relevant data entry category(s).

You must save the encounter for the data to write back to the patient record.

You can leave an encounter open and navigate to other screens, returning to the encounter via Encounters - Overview but you must remember to close the encounter within 30 days, or it will be deleted.

It is good practice to check for any open encounters before finishing your visits.

To open an Encounter:

1. Select a patient from your Appointments Today, Patient Search or Downloaded Patients screen, the patient record opens on the Patient Summary screen.
2. Select Add New Encounter .
3. Select the encounter type from the list. The default is Acute Visit, the other options are:
   • Clinic
   • Emergency consultation
   • Follow-up/routine visit
   • Surgery Consultation
   • Telephone call from a patient
   • Telephone call to a patient
   • Emergency consultation
   • Home visit
   • Nursing home visit
   • Residential home visit
   • Third party consultation
   • Other
4. Next, select Add to enter further data. You can either search for a clinical term, drug or select a data entry form from the list.
   • Searching for Read codes - See Adding Clinical Terms.
   • Common Observations - See Adding Common Observations.
   • Adding Medication - See Add Medication.
5. Finally, select Save to close the Encounter.

The data recorded in the Encounter is sent back to the patient's clinical system.