Clinical documentation system for use by multiple caregivers

Abstract

A computer-based system for recording, storing, and accessing clinical documentation in an acute care setting is provided. In an embodiment of the invention, a single electronic database or repository for storing clinical patient notes, provides multiple points of read/write access via a user interface operating on one or more client computers that are in real-time communication with the repository.

1 . A system for documenting patient information from multiple caregivers comprising: 
 a database for storing free-text patient notes as records linked to a patient, different types of caregivers, and timestamps; and    a user interface operating in a first mode to display a longitudinal view of the records for a given patient according to timestamp order for all caregivers, and in a second mode to display a longitudinal view of the records for a given patient according to timestamp order for a single caregiver.    
     
     
         2 . A system for documenting patient information from multiple caregivers comprising: 
 a database for storing free text patient notes as records linked to a patient and to a first timestamp indicating a date of writing of the patient record by a given caregiver; and    a user interface operating to select for viewing by the given caregiver patient notes from multiple caregivers having a first timestamp after a latest timestamp of a patient record written by the given caregiver.