How to Use the Clinical Notes Worklist

The Clinical Notes Worklist allows you to view and manage a list of patients that have unsigned clinical notes, no clinical notes created for relevant clinical events that have occurred, or both. 

Note: Keep in mind that this list is meant to assist you in keeping track of needed actions, but it is not foolproof. The system cannot read, understand, or judge the intention of a note (e.g., it cannot recognize if a note is missing one of the patient's completed procedures, etc.). 

To access the list, navigate to Location (or All Locations) > To Do > Clinical Notes Worklist.

The list includes the Patient Name, Age (DOB), if Notes are Needed, if Notes need To Be Signed, Last completed Appointment (if one exists) and their Preferred Provider.

The worklist is location-based (except if accessing from the All Locations tab). Patients appear on the worklist when their missing or unsigned clinical notes are associated with the given location (i.e., if a procedure was completed in Location A (but no note was created), then the patient appears on the Clinical Notes Worklist for Location A). 

The list defaults to all patients that need action, but you can filter the list to show patients with notes that are:

• Needed:
  --The patient has clinical events (i.e., scheduled or completed appointment, a completed procedure, or procedures posted to the ledger) for the location with today's date (or the selected date) as the service date, and a clinical note is not created for that date.
  --When the patient is selected, there is a single listing for each grouping of events that are missing a clinical note. For example, there is a listing for an appointment, a separate listing for any completed procedures, etc.
  
• Unsigned: For the selected date, the patient has clinical notes written that are not signed.
  Note: This could include patients who do not have an appointment or completed procedures today but had a note entered (e.g., a Post Op call or a patient that called in with a question or to report pain they are experiencing).

Select Both if you want to show both Needed and Unsigned clinical notes.

Date Filter

The date defaults to today, but you can use the arrows or Calendar icon to select a different date. The worklist displays patients who need notes or need notes signed on the selected date. For example, if an appointment was completed last week and a note was written (but not signed), then they appear on the Clinical Notes Worklist for that day last week and not today's list.

Notes for Provider Filter

You can also select to display notes for All Providers or select specific providers. The list defaults to the provider that is logged in unless the logged in user is not a provider; in which case the list defaults to All Providers. 

This filter uses the provider assigned to the appointment, the production provider for completed work, or the patient’s preferred provider if the notes were added with no other context (e.g., a Post Op call).

Note: For practices with multiple locations or practices with multiple doctors who see each other’s patients, you might want to use the Clinical Notes Worklist from the All Locations tab and default to All Providers to ensure that all of the necessary note actions are taken.

Patient Line Item Actions

Click on a line item to view further details and take action.

From here, you can:

• Click on the Patient Name to access the patient's mini card
• View the status of the note (e.g., No notes exist or Note is unsigned)
• Click the Pencil icon to:
  --Author (and potentially also sign) a clinical note in cases where the patient was missing a note for the selected date
  --Edit an existing clinical note
  --Review and sign an existing clinical note
• Navigate to the Patient Record or Patient Chart

When the necessary actions are taken, the patient is removed from the list (e.g., if a patient has an unsigned clinical note and it is signed). A refresh might be required in order for the patient to be removed from the list; it is not instantaneous.

Note: 
--If the patient is on the worklist and has multiple unsigned clinical notes for the selected date, then each of these notes needs to be signed. Signing one note does not remove the unsigned condition on another note.
--If the patient is on the worklist and has missing clinical notes for the given date, creating one clinical note for that date will meet the necessary conditions and take care of any and all Notes Needed flags for that patient for that date.
--The Clinical Notes Worklist includes missing or unsigned clinical notes in the Hard Tissue Chart (US) / Dental Chart (UK), Clinical Chart (EMR), and Orthodontic Clinical Summary. Any missing or unsigned clinical notes in the Perio Chart or Soft Tissue Exams are not included in the list.
--The list includes top-level (date-level) clinical notes and does not factor in the event-level clinical notes (e.g., note added to a specific finding or procedure). 

For more information on signing Clinical Notes, see How to Add Event-Based Clinical Notes.