Complaints allow you to record the reason a patient is seeking care directly on an appointment. A complaint can include information such as the condition or injury, onset date, diagnosis, referral details, assigned practitioners, and current status.

Clinics and practitioners can choose how they use these fields based on their workflows and documentation needs.

When to Use This

Use this article when you want to:

• Create a new complaint, injury, or condition from an appointment.
• Record a patient's reason for seeking care.
• Add complaint details that can be used for future appointments and charting.

What You Need

• The relevant complaint information you want to record.
• Complaints must be enabled: 
  1. Go to Settings 
  2. Under System & Company Settings, select General 
  3. Select Patients 
  4. Go to the Medical Profile section
  5. Find Complaints and set to Enabled
  6. Click Save 

Contact your clinic administrator if you don't have access to Settings > System & Company Settings > General 

Permissions

You must have permission to book and edit appointments. 

Contact your clinic administrator if you don't have the required access. 

Instructions

Create a New Complaint from an Appointment

1. Open the appointment 
2. Scroll to Complaints and click Add 

3. Complete each of the relevant fields. See Complaint Fields Explained below for details about each field.

4. Click Save to save the complaint
5. Close the complaint window
6. Click Refresh in the appointment window

7. Click the down arrow and select the complaint you just created. 

8. Save the appointment after entering the rest of the relevant details. 

Complaint Fields Explained 

The following sections describe the information you can record in each complaint field. Complete the fields that are relevant to your clinic's workflow and documentation needs.

Title

Enter a name that makes the complaint easy to recognize. This title appears in the complaint list when selecting a complaint for future appointments.

Onset Date

Enter the date when the symptoms or condition first began. This date appears next to the complaint title in the selection list.

Medical Diagnosis

Enter any medical diagnoses you want to include in the complaint record.

Onset Location

Record the body region where the symptoms or condition first occurred.

Laterality

Indicate which side of the body is affected: left, right, or both.

ICD Code

Search for and select the ICD code associated with the complaint.

Treating Practitioner

Select the practitioner responsible for managing and providing treatment for the complaint.

Requested Practitioner

If the patient has requested a specific practitioner, select that practitioner from the list.

Referring Practitioner

Enter the external practitioner who referred the patient to your clinic, if applicable.

Referral Category

Select the referral category that applies.

Referral Type

Select an existing referral type. 

Details

Record any additional information that may be relevant to the complaint.

Priority

Select the complaint's priority level from the dropdown menu. Available options are: 

• Low
• Medium
• High
• Urgent

Status

Select the status that best reflects the complaint's current state:

• Active: The complaint is currently active.
• Inactive: The complaint is marked as inactive.
• Discharged: The complaint has been discharged.

Result 

Once the appointment is saved, the complaint is linked to the appointment and appears in the patient's Patient Profile > General > Active Complaints.

The complaint can also be selected when creating future appointments and completing charts. 

Things to Know

• You can record as much or as little complaint information as is relevant to your clinic's workflow.
• Complaint titles are used to identify complaints when selecting them for future appointments.
• The onset date helps distinguish between complaints, especially when a patient has multiple conditions.

Priority and status can be used to help organize and track complaints.

A complaint can be selected for future appointments and charting once it has been saved.

The available referral and practitioner options may depend on your clinic's setup.

Troubleshooting

I can't find the complaint I just created.

Try the following:

1. Make sure you clicked Save in the complaint window.
2. Close the complaint window.
3. Click Refresh in the appointment window.
4. Click the down arrow in the Complaints section to check the list again.

I can't select a practitioner or referral option.

Check whether the practitioner or referral information has been added to your clinic's setup. You may need to contact your clinic administrator for help.

I can't create or save a complaint.

Check that you have Complaints enabled in Settings > System & Company Settings > General > Patients > Medical Profile > Complaints. If the issue continues, contact your clinic administrator.

Related Articles 

How to Add a Complaint in the Patient Profile

How to Book an Appointment