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Patient Notes

Patient notes allow staff members to record and manage important information about patients that is only visible to staff. Notes are useful for documenting patient communications, preferences, special considerations, or any other information that should/can be tracked internally.

Overview

Patient notes provide the following capabilities:

  • Add notes - Create new notes for a patient
  • Update notes - Edit existing note content and visibility
  • Delete notes - Permanently remove notes
  • Hide notes - Mark notes as hidden by default (requires clicking to reveal)
  • Unhide notes - Make hidden notes visible by default

Adding a Patient Note

To add a new patient note:

  1. Go to the patient’s profile page.
  2. Find the Patient Notes section in the sidebar.
  3. Click the pen icon to add a new note
  4. A modal will appear with the following options:
    • Note - An area where you can enter your note
    • Hide note by default - A small toggle to control the visibility of the note
      • Checked = Note will be hidden (shows “This note is hidden” and requires a click to reveal)
      • Unchecked = Note will be visible by default (displays content immediately)
  5. Enter your note content in the Note area
  6. Choose whether to hide the note by checking or unchecking the checkbox
  7. Click the “Add note” button to save

What happens after adding:

  • The note is created and appears in the sidebar
  • The note will either be shown (visible) or hidden in the sidebar, depending on the “Hide note by default” setting.

Updating a Patient Note

To edit an existing patient note:

  1. Go to the note you want to update in the patient note on the sidebar.
  2. Click the menu (three dots) button on the right side of the note
  3. Select “Update note” from the dropdown menu
  4. The note will switch to edit mode, showing:
    • A text area with the current note content
    • A checkbox for “Hide note by default”
    • Save and Cancel buttons
  5. Make your changes to the note content
  6. Toggle the “Hide note by default” checkbox if you want to change the visibility:
    • Checked = Note will be hidden (requires click to reveal)
    • Unchecked = Note will be visible by default
  7. Click “Save” to save your changes, or “Cancel” to discard them

What happens after updating:

  • The note text and/or visibility is updated
  • The note displays according to its new visibility setting

Deleting a Patient Note

To permanently delete a patient note:

  1. Find the note you want to delete in the patient notes on the sidebar.
  2. Click the menu (three dots) button on the right side of the note
  3. Select “Delete note” from the dropdown menu (shown in red/danger color)
  4. A confirmation modal will appear asking “Are you sure you want to delete this note?”
  5. Click “Delete note” in the modal to confirm, or close the modal to cancel

What happens after deleting:

  • The note is permanently removed from the system
  • The note will no longer appear in the patient notes list
  • This action cannot be undone

Hiding a Patient Note

Hidden notes are notes that don’t display their content by default - they show “This note is hidden” with a reveal button instead. This is useful for sensitive information that you want to keep in the record but don’t want immediately visible.

To hide a note when creating it:

  1. When adding a new note, check the “Hide note by default” checkbox before saving
  2. Click “Add note”
  3. The note will be created in a hidden state

To hide an existing note:

  1. Find the visible note you want to hide on the sidebar
  2. Click the menu (three dots) button on the right side of the note
  3. Select “Update note” from the dropdown menu
  4. In the edit form, check the “Hide note by default” checkbox
  5. Click “Save”

What hidden notes look like:

  • The note displays as: “This note is hidden.”
  • A reveal button (eye icon) is shown next to the message
  • The note content is not visible until the reveal button is clicked

Unhiding (Revealing) a Patient Note

There are two ways to work with hidden notes:

Temporarily Reveal (View Only)

To temporarily view a hidden note without changing its hidden status:

  1. Find the hidden note (it will show “This note is hidden.”) on the sidebar
  2. Click the reveal button (eye icon) next to the message
  3. The note content will display temporarily
  4. The note will return to the hidden state when the page reloads

Use this when: You just need to quickly check the content without permanently changing the visibility.

Permanently Unhide (Make Visible)

To make a hidden note visible by default:

  1. Find the hidden note (it will show “This note is hidden.”) on the sidebar
  2. Click the reveal button (eye icon) to temporarily show the content (if needed)
  3. Click the menu (three dots) button on the right side of the note
  4. Select “Update note” from the dropdown menu
  5. In the edit form, uncheck the “Hide note by default” checkbox
  6. Click “Save”

What happens after unhiding:

  • The note content is visible by default
  • No reveal button is needed to see the content
  • The note behaves like any other visible note
  • You can hide it again later if needed