The clinical notes sidebar sits beside the note or letter you're writing and keeps key information about the patient in view, so you don't need to leave the page to look it up. It has three tabs: History, Client Details and Files. You can choose what it shows and how it's arranged.
Opening the sidebar
Select Show Sidebar at the top of the Clinical Notes tab, or in the toolbar while you're writing a note. When you're writing a letter from the patient's Files tab, the same button appears in the letter toolbar. On smaller screens, the button shows as an icon only, and the label appears when you hover over it. Select Hide Sidebar to close it again. PracSuite remembers whether you left it open.
To change its width, click and drag the divider on its left edge.
Tabs
History: The patient's previous clinical notes, available while you're writing a note or letter. See below.
Client Details: Patient details, appointments, account information, recalls and tasks. This tab is hidden if your role can't view any of its sections.
Files: Files uploaded to the patient record, which you can view and preview.
The Client Details tab
The Client Details tab is made up of sections you can collapse and expand: Client, Appointments, Account, Recalls and Tasks. The tab and the first section use your clinic's descriptor, so they may appear as Patient Details and Patient, or Customer Details and Customer.
Client
Shows key details such as name, date of birth and age, sex, gender, pronouns, mobile, home and work phone, email, address, GP and file number. You can also see whether treatment consent and the privacy policy have been recorded, with the date. If a consent came from a form or an uploaded document, you can open it from the sidebar. Choose which fields appear in the sidebar settings. A few are off by default.
Appointments
Visit counts: Past, upcoming and total appointment counts at a glance. Hover over the past count to see how many appointments were attended, cancelled or missed. Cancelled and missed appointments are not included in the counts.
Visit numbers: A carousel shows the patient's previous and upcoming appointments, each numbered so you can see straight away which visit it is, such as their fifth session. Today's appointment is highlighted. You can turn the numbers off in the sidebar settings.
Only your appointments: By default the counts and carousel only include your own appointments with the patient. Visit numbers reflect what's being shown, so they will change if you turn this off to see every practitioner's.
Account: Use the account dropdown to show appointments for one account or all accounts. This is separate from the Account section's dropdown.
Account
The Account section shows information for one of the patient's accounts at a time. When you open a clinical note from the appointment book, it opens on that appointment's account. Otherwise it uses the patient's default account. Use the dropdown to switch accounts. For more on how accounts and notes work together, see Associating a Clinical Note with an Account.
Balance: The account balance, plus unissued, current and overdue amounts.
Referring doctor: Name, referrer type, provider number, organisation, contact details, referral date and expiry. This only appears if the account has a referring doctor.
Treatment plans: This only appears if the account has treatment plans. See below.
Treatment Plans in the sidebar
Each plan shows its progress in the same way as on the invoicing screen, including funding periods where they're used. Use the dropdown above the plans to choose what the figures include:
Include today's appointments: Counts uninvoiced appointments up to the end of today, so today's appointment counts even if it hasn't been invoiced yet.
Include future appointments: Counts all upcoming appointments as well, including today's. This works the same way as including future appointments on the patient's Accounts tab.
Include only past invoiced items: Shows only what has already been invoiced.
This helps you see whether booked work is about to use up a plan before it's billed. The figures include appointments with every practitioner on the account, not just yours. The sidebar opens on "Include today's appointments" unless you've turned that off in the settings.
Recalls and tasks
Both sections show the patient's items, with overdue ones highlighted, and the Tasks header shows how many are overdue. Select an item to open and edit it without leaving your note. If your role allows it, use the + button in the section header to add a new one. For more, see How to Add a Patient Recall and How to Create a Patient Task.
The History tab
The History tab shows the patient's previous clinical notes while you write a new one, with the account shown for each note. Select Show Filters to open the filter options, and Hide Filters to close them again. You can filter by:
A search term
Date range
Treating practitioner
Profession
Type
Tags
Account
When you open notes from an appointment, the Account filter starts on that appointment's account (see Filter clinical note history to appointment account in the settings below). Select Collapse All or Expand All to close or open every note in the list. You can also copy a previous note into the one you're writing, as described in How to Copy a Clinical Note.
Customising the sidebar
Select the cog icon at the top of the sidebar to open Configure Client Details Pane. Your settings are saved for your own login.
General settings
Default tab on open: Choose History or Client details.
Show count on clinical note entries: Shows a visit number badge on each clinical note entry. When any filter is applied in the History tab, the numbers reflect those filters, and hovering over a badge says so.
Account on new clinical notes: Set the account automatically, or leave it blank.
Filter appointment carousel to appointment account: When you open notes from an appointment, the Appointments section is filtered to that appointment's account. Turn this off to always show all accounts.
Filter clinical note history to appointment account: When on, the History tab only shows notes for that appointment's account. If you open a patient without an appointment, it shows all notes.
Customise sections
Turn each section on or off, and choose which fields appear in it.
Drag sections into the order you prefer. The Client section always stays at the top.
Use Collapse All or Expand All to open or close every section's options.
Section options include:
Appointments: Only show appointments booked with me, and show the appointment number in the carousel.
Account: Automatically include today's appointment in treatment plan calculations.
Recalls: Show active recalls only, highlight overdue recalls, and show recalls assigned to me by default.
Tasks: Show an overdue badge, show completed tasks, and show tasks assigned to me by default.
The "booked with me" and "assigned to me" options need a practitioner linked to your user account. If you don't have one, they are unavailable and the settings say why.
What you can see depends on your role
The sidebar follows your role permissions. If your role can't view something, it doesn't appear in the sidebar or in the settings:
Sections are hidden if your role can't view them, and the Client Details tab is hidden if none of its sections are available.
Phone numbers, email and address each follow their own permission.
The account balance has its own permission, so the rest of the Account section can still show without it.
The + buttons for recalls and tasks only appear if your role can add them.