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122 changes: 76 additions & 46 deletions versioned_docs/version-3.0/concepts/clinical/encounter.mdx
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# Encounter

An **encounter** is a single episode of care between a patient and a facility — an outpatient visit, an admission, an emergency presentation, or a virtual consultation. It is the working context for clinical activity: while an encounter is open, the orders, observations, medications, and notes recorded for the patient are gathered under it.
## Definition

## What it represents
An **[encounter](https://build.fhir.org/encounter.html)** in Care 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. Care groups the clinical
records of that episode under the encounter.

In Care's FHIR-aligned model, an encounter maps to the **Encounter** resource. It answers four questions about one episode: what kind of interaction it is, where and when it happens, who is on the care team, and — for admissions — how the patient arrived and left.
One patient has many encounters over time. The
[patient](../clinical/patient) record is the thread that joins them.

An encounter is not the patient and not the whole medical record. One patient accumulates many encounters over time; each encounter is the bounded slice of activity for a single episode, and the [patient](../clinical/patient) record is the thread that ties them together. Think of the patient as the chart and each encounter as a dated chapter within it.
## Key Attributes

## Lifecycle

An encounter carries a status that reflects where the episode stands. It opens as `planned` or `in_progress`, runs through active care, and ends in exactly one terminal state. Care records every transition in a status history, so the journey stays auditable.
| Components | What it captures |
| --- | --- |
| Date and Time | The time the episode starts. |
| Type of Encounter | The kind of episode: Ambulatory, Emergency, Inpatient, Observation, Home Health, or Virtual. |
| Status | The stage the episode is at. |
| Priority | The urgency of the episode, for example Routine, Urgent, or Emergency. |
| Departments | The facility departments that the encounter belongs to. Care uses these departments to control access. |
| Tags | The labels that staff attach to the encounter. |
| Location | The location that the patient occupies in the facility, with the full location history. |
| Care Team | The users who care for the patient in this episode, each with a role. |
| Hospital Identifier | The identifier that the facility gives the episode, for example an inpatient number. |
| Hospitalization Details | The admission and discharge details of an inpatient, observation, or emergency episode. |
| Discharge Summary Advice | The advice that a clinician records for the patient at discharge. |

### Type of Encounter

| Type | Description |
| --- | --- |
| Ambulatory | The patient visits for outpatient care. |
| Emergency | The patient needs immediate attention. |
| Inpatient | The facility admits the patient to a bed. |
| Observation | The facility keeps the patient under observation. |
| Home Health | Staff give care at the home of the patient. |
| Virtual | The clinician sees the patient in a teleconsultation. |

```text
planned ──▶ in_progress ──▶ discharged ──▶ completed
▲ │
└───┘ on_hold (pause, then resume)
```
Note: Your deployment configures which types of encounter Care shows, and which type
Care selects first.

- **planned** — the episode is scheduled or expected but has not started
- **in_progress** — the patient is actively being seen or treated
- **on_hold** — care is temporarily paused (for example, awaiting results or a bed), then resumes
- **discharged** — the patient has left the facility; closing paperwork may still be in flight
- **completed** — the episode is finished and finalized
### Hospitalization Details

An episode can also end early without reaching `completed`: **cancelled** (called off before meaningful care), **discontinued** (stopped and will not resume), or **entered_in_error** (created by mistake and voided). These, along with `completed`, are the terminal states — once an encounter reaches one, it stops accumulating new clinical activity.
Care shows these details only for an Inpatient, Observation, or Emergency encounter:

## Classification
- **Re-admission** — the patient returns for the same problem.
- **Admit Source** — where the patient comes from, for example From outpatient
department or Transferred from other hospital.
- **Discharge Disposition** — where the patient goes at discharge, for example Home or
Other health care facility.
- **Discharge Date and Time** — the time the episode ends.
- **Diet Preference** — the diet the patient needs, for example Vegetarian or Halal.

Two independent axes describe an encounter. **Class** answers "what kind of visit is this?" and **priority** answers "how urgent is it?". The two are set separately, so an inpatient admission can be routine and an outpatient visit can be an emergency.
### Status

| Class | Meaning |
| Status | Description |
| --- | --- |
| `imp` | Inpatient — admitted to a bed |
| `amb` | Ambulatory — outpatient or clinic visit |
| `emer` | Emergency — emergency department presentation |
| `obsenc` | Observation — short-stay monitoring |
| `vr` | Virtual — teleconsultation |
| `hh` | Home health — care delivered at the patient's home |

Priority runs from `routine` through `urgent`, `emergency`, `ASAP`, and `stat`, with workflow values such as `elective` and `preop` for scheduled care. As with status, a change in class is recorded in its own history.

## How it connects

The encounter is the hub that most clinical work hangs off:

- **Patient** — every encounter belongs to exactly one [patient](../clinical/patient), set when it is created and never changed.
- **Facility and location** — it is anchored to a [facility](../../references/facility/facility.mdx) and tracks the [location](../../references/facility/location.mdx) the patient currently occupies within it, with a full location history behind that.
- **Booking** — an encounter can originate from a scheduling [booking](../../references/scheduling/booking.mdx), linking the appointment that brought the patient in to the episode that followed.
- **Organizations** — each encounter is associated with one or more facility [organizations](../../references/access-governance/organization.mdx), and that association is what drives who can see and act on it.
- **Clinical records** — [conditions](../clinical/condition.mdx), [observations](../clinical/observation.mdx), [service requests](../clinical/service-request.mdx), medication orders, and [notes](../clinical/notes.mdx) are all recorded in the context of an encounter.
| Planned | Staff expect the episode, but the episode has not started. |
| In Progress | A clinician sees or treats the patient now. |
| On Hold | Care pauses, for example to wait for a bed, and resumes later. |
| Discharged | The patient leaves the facility. Staff can still complete the paperwork. |
| Completed | The episode is finished. |
| Cancelled | Staff call the episode off before care starts. |
| Discontinued | Staff stop the episode, and the episode does not resume. |
| Entered in error | Staff create the encounter by mistake. |
| Unknown | The stage of the episode is not known. |

Completed, Cancelled, Discontinued, and Entered in error are closed statuses. A closed
encounter accepts no new clinical records. A user with a role that can update an
encounter can restart a Completed encounter within the time limit that your deployment
sets.

Care keeps a history of every status change and every type change.

## Permissions

Access to encounters is permission-controlled, and every action on the encounter endpoint is reserved for clinical roles. Listing and retrieving an encounter is also granted when the user can view the underlying patient.
Care grants roles to a user through the facility departments that the user belongs to.
Permissions cascade down the department tree. A role that a user holds at a parent
department applies to the departments below it.

| Permission | Description | System Roles |
| --- | --- | --- |
| `can_create_encounter` | Open a new encounter for a patient under a facility | Admin, Doctor, Nurse, Facility Admin |
| `can_list_encounter` | List encounters within a facility (clinical data is not exposed through this permission) | Admin, Doctor, Nurse, Facility Admin |
| `can_read_encounter` | Retrieve an encounter's non-clinical details | Admin, Doctor, Nurse, Facility Admin |
| `can_write_encounter` | Update an encounter, manage its organizations, set facility identifiers, assign care-team members, and restart a completed encounter | Admin, Doctor, Nurse, Facility Admin |
| Can Create encounter | Start an encounter for a patient at a facility | Admin, Doctor, Nurse, Facility Admin |
| Can list encounters | List the encounters of a facility. This permission gives no access to clinical data. | Admin, Doctor, Nurse, Facility Admin |
| Can Read encounter | Open one encounter and read the details that are not clinical | Admin, Doctor, Nurse, Facility Admin |
| Can Read encounter related clinical data | Read the clinical records of the encounter | Admin, Doctor, Nurse, Facility Admin |
| Update Encounter non clinical | Update the encounter, manage its departments and identifiers, set the care team, and restart a closed encounter | Admin, Doctor, Nurse, Facility Admin |
| Update Encounter related clinical data | Update the clinical records of the encounter | Admin, Doctor, Nurse, Facility Admin |
| Can submit questionnaire about patient encounters | Submit a questionnaire against the encounter | Admin, Doctor, Nurse, Staff, Facility Admin |

Roles are granted to users through their organization, facility, and patient memberships, and permissions cascade down the organization tree — a role held at a parent organization applies to the facilities and encounters beneath it.
A user who can view the patient can also list and open the encounters of that patient.

## Related

- Reference: [Encounter (technical)](../../references/clinical/encounter.mdx)
- Flow: [Create an encounter](../../flows/clinical/create-an-encounter.mdx)
- Flow: [Assign a location to an encounter](../../flows/clinical/assign-a-location-to-an-encounter.mdx)
- Flow: [Close an encounter](../../flows/clinical/close-an-encounter.mdx)
- Concept: [Patient](../clinical/patient)
- Concept: [Condition](../clinical/condition.mdx)
- Concept: [Service request](../clinical/service-request.mdx)
- Concept: [Notes](../clinical/notes.mdx)
- Reference: [Encounter](../../references/clinical/encounter.mdx)
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# How to assign a location to an encounter

## Overview

This flow describes how to record the location that a patient occupies during an
[encounter](../../concepts/clinical/encounter.mdx). Care keeps the current location and
the full location history of the encounter.

## Pre-requisites

- The encounter is open. If there is no encounter,
[create an encounter](./create-an-encounter.mdx) first.
- The encounter is not closed. Care blocks updates to a closed encounter.
- An administrator has set up the locations and beds of your facility.
- You have the permissions listed below.

## Permissions

| Permission | Access |
| --- | --- |
| Can Read encounter | Open the encounter |
| Update Encounter non clinical | Assign, move, or end the location of the patient |

## Steps

### 1. Open the encounter

From the facility dashboard, select **Encounters**. Select the encounter.

### 2. Open the location panel

Select **Assign Location**. The **Update Location** panel opens.

:::note
The keyboard shortcut **l** opens **Assign Location**. The shortcut **shift+e** opens
the command dialog, which lists every encounter action.
:::

### 3. Select a location

Select the **Assign Location** tab. Select the location, then select the bed.

To find a bed, enter the name of the bed in the search box. To hide the beds that are in
use, turn on the available filter.

### 4. Confirm the bed

Select the bed to assign it now, or schedule the bed for a later time.

If the current patient of the bed leaves soon, Care shows **Confirm Selection**. Select
**Proceed** to take the bed.

If the bed is in use and the free time is not known, Care shows **Bed Occupied**. Select
**Close**, then select a different bed.

### 5. Check the history

Select the **Location History** tab. The tab lists every location of the encounter, with
the newest first.

## Expected Outcome

- The encounter shows the new location of the patient.
- Care adds the location to the location history of the encounter.
- Staff who have access to that location can now see the encounter.

## Related

Concepts:

- [Encounter](../../concepts/clinical/encounter.mdx)

Flows:

- [Create an encounter](./create-an-encounter.mdx)
- [Close an encounter](./close-an-encounter.mdx)
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# How to close an encounter

## Overview

This flow describes how to end an
[encounter](../../concepts/clinical/encounter.mdx) when care for the episode is
finished. A closed encounter accepts no new clinical records.

## Pre-requisites

- The encounter is open, and the encounter is not closed already.
- Staff record the clinical data of the episode. Care blocks new records after you close
the encounter.
- If the patient occupies a bed, staff end the location stay.
- You have the permissions listed below.

## Permissions

| Permission | Access |
| --- | --- |
| Can Read encounter | Open the encounter |
| Update Encounter non clinical | Change the status of the encounter and record the discharge details |

## Steps

### 1. Open the encounter

From the facility dashboard, select **Encounters**. Select the encounter.

### 2. Open the encounter details

Select **Update Encounter Details**. The encounter form opens.

:::note
The keyboard shortcut **shift+u** opens **Update Encounter Details**.
:::

### 3. Discharge the patient

In the **Discharge Patient** panel, select **Mark for discharge**. Care sets the status
to Discharged.

Note: After the status is Discharged, you cannot change the status in this form.

### 4. Record the discharge details

For an Inpatient, Observation, or Emergency encounter, complete the **Hospitalization
Details** section:

| Components | What it captures |
| --- | --- |
| Re-admission | Whether the patient returns for the same problem. |
| Admit Source | Where the patient comes from, for example From outpatient department. |
| Discharge Disposition | Where the patient goes, for example Home or Other health care facility. |
| Discharge Date and Time | The time the episode ends. |
| Diet Preference | The diet that the patient needs. |

Enter the advice for the patient in **Discharge Summary Advice**.

Note: Your deployment can set the discharge disposition that Care selects first.

### 5. Complete the encounter

Select **Mark as Completed** in the encounter actions. Care shows the **Mark as
Complete** dialog.

If the encounter still needs a discharge, the action shows as **Mark for discharge**.

Read the message in the dialog. Care can also close the appointment and the token of the
patient.

Select **Mark as Complete** to confirm. To keep the encounter open, select **Cancel**.

:::note
The keyboard shortcut **m c** opens the **Mark as Completed** action.
:::

### 6. Open the discharge summary

Open the **Reports** panel of the encounter. Select the discharge summary template of
your facility. Care shows the report for the encounter.

## Expected Outcome

- The encounter status is Completed.
- Care blocks new clinical records against the encounter.
- The discharge summary advice shows in the summary of the encounter.

:::note
To reopen a Completed encounter, select **Restart Encounter** in the encounter actions.
Care allows a restart only within the time limit that your deployment sets.
:::

## Related

Concepts:

- [Encounter](../../concepts/clinical/encounter.mdx)

Flows:

- [Create an encounter](./create-an-encounter.mdx)
- [Assign a location to an encounter](./assign-a-location-to-an-encounter.mdx)
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