The Case Notes module of Catalyst enables users to store electronic case notes for clients. Notes for individual or group appointments can be electronically stored with the rest of the client file. The same level of encryption (data security) that applies to Catalyst, applies to Case Notes.
The Case Notes can be directly entered in text form or uploaded to Catalyst as attachments. The accepted file formats are Microsoft Word documents (.doc, docx), portable document files (Pdf), text files (.txt) or scanned documents in .jpg, .jpeg, .png, .gif image formats.
Case Note Indicator
If a client has Case Notes, there will be an indicator on the Client Information screen.
Access Points for Case Notes
There are five different screens in which the Case Notes module can be accessed from:
Client Information page
Admission Information page
Program Information page
Activity Log – Add/Edit Appointment Page
Activity Log – Group Attendance Page
Notes History Tab
From the Client Information page, Case Notes will automatically default to the Notes History tab; for all other access locations, Case Notes will default to the Create Note tab. To access Notes History from another access point click on the Notes History tab within the open Case Note window. This tab has a search section and a history table.
Search notes history parameters
The search section includes the search fields below to filter the notes that have already been entered for the client. The search is dependent on user privileges to programs and Case Notes.
From Date (day/month/year hours/minutes format) – can be picked from the pop-up calendar.
To Date (day/month/year hours/minutes format) – can be picked from the pop-up calendar.
Admission – available list of all admissions for selected client.
Program – available list of programs affiliated to the admission of selected client.
If no admission is selected, the program list will contain the programs for all of the selected client’s admissions – dependent on user privileges.
Author – the list of providers that have user privileges to write the Case Notes, as well the user privileges for the selected program
If no program is selected the list will contain all the agency users that have Case Note privileges and have the Author privilege.
Entered by – allows a search by user id (partial search works too)
Entered on – allows a search by the date the note was entered on
Search for note title – allows for searches on the note title (partial search works, for example if the title of the note is “Testing Today”, search on “Testing” will retrieve the note as well as searches on “Today” or “Testing Today”)
Search for note content (excluding any possible attachments) – allows for searches on the note text, but does not include notes included in an attachment
Once the search parameters have been entered, clicking on Search Notes will perform the search, or Clear Search will clear the search parameters for a new search.
History Table
The table with the notes contains an expandable row for each note or sub-note. The notes are sorted by Case Note Date in descending order. The most recent note will be at the top of the table.
Expanding a row will reveal additional note information, and action buttons such as View Note, Edit Note and Add Sub-note. The sub-note option is only available once the ‘Edit Note’ grace period has passed. The Type column will specify if the note is a Group or Individual Case Note. The Admission column is not relevant for group notes, and a zero will appear.
Sorting the Program List
This feature allows the sorting of program lists in Case Notes and provides ease of use when there are many programs within a client’s admission. The program sort defaults to sort in ascending order. By changing the selection to Y, the list will display in descending order - the sorting of the programs reverses.
- To turn the sort feature on or off, go to Catalyst >Admin > Administration > Agency Preferences
- Change the selection in the Sort Admission Programs - Last on Top from N to Y.
Printing Case Notes
There are two options for printing Case Notes:
Print (one note at a time)
Print all Notes
To print one note at a time:
Selecting the View Note option from the History Note Screen.
Click the Print button to the right of the note.
The note will then appear on the screen as it will print. Click Print at the bottom of the screen.
To print all notes at once:
Click the Print All Notes button (available on all the Case Notes screens).
The notes will be displayed from the most recent date of input regardless of the size of the note. Scroll to the bottom of the page and click the Print button.
Customizing Themes
Case Notes allows the user to choose a theme in which the module will be displayed in. When a theme is chosen, it will be saved to the system on your profile. There is a default theme for first time users. The Theme drop down list is located in the bottom right corner of the screen.
Business Rules
Case Notes allows notes for clients without an admission for Occurred, Entry Services Activity Types (Entry Services – Direct face-to-face; Entry Services – Direct non face-to-face; Entry Services - Indirect). A client without any admission can have only Entry Services notes. The Case Notes/Create Note will display in this mode until the client is admitted.
After entering an Entry Service note for a client with an admission, the program will revert to adding a regular client case note.
Case Notes can be written for terminated programs and discharged admissions.
A note cannot have a date prior to the program start date, but can be later than the termination.
The note date cannot be in the future.
When accessing notes from the Client Info page the open admission number will be defaulted when you create a new note.
When accessing notes from the Admission Info page, the admission number will default to the current admission
When accessing the notes from the Program Info page, the admission and program numbers will be default to the current numbers.
When you create a note from AL for an occurred appointment, the note date will be taken from the appointment date and cannot be edited.
If you change the status of an activity to ‘Not Occurred’ from occurred when it is attached to a case note, you will get a message that a note is attached and will be deleted if you continue. For the deletion to succeed you must have the ‘Delete’.
Case notes can be edited and deleted within a pre-determined grace period set by each agency. As a start, DATIS will default the grace period to 48 hours. This setting can be changed in the Agency Preferences screen.
When deleting a client program that is attached to a Case Note, the note will be deleted.
Changing a client’s program of an occurred activity that is attached to a Case Note is allowed if the user has the privilege to edit/update Case Notes AND the edit grace period has not been exceeded. A message will pop up to inform of the impact on the note.
A client merge will merge the case notes of the two clients.
The user logging on to Catalyst must have access to the Program linked to the Case Note, in order to see the note or the notes history. In addition to this, an Author must have access to the program(s) linked and have the Author privilege checked in the user
