[PATIENT CHART] Encounter notes - Implementation of a system allowing to visually assess the importance or priority of a note

Affected user(s):

Users: Healthcare professionals (primarily doctors and nurses).

The need originates from users who frequently consult notes in patient records (sections like “Clinical Notes” or “Patient Record”).

The need could impact the majority of clinics, especially those managing a high volume of patients or shared notes among multiple care providers.

Task affected:

Consultation and management of notes within patient records.

The idea is to allow users to highlight certain important pieces of information (e.g., bold, italics, text or background color) to flag critical or high-priority items directly within the note content.

Impact:

Users often have to re-read long notes or multiple entries to find key information.

The ability to visually format text would save time and reduce the risk of missing critical information.

The impact would be better readability, clearer prioritization of information, and increased efficiency when reviewing patient records.

Current state:

Currently, notes only allow plain text with no formatting.

Users work around this limitation by manually adding symbols (e.g., “!!!”, “IMPORTANT”, “CRITICAL NOTE”) or creating internal conventions, which are visually limited and non-standardized.

Competition consideration:

Some competing EMRs (e.g., TELUS PS Suite, Oscar Pro) already allow basic text formatting (bold, italics, highlighting) in their notes or comment sections, which helps distinguish critical information more easily.