A charting UI reads patient-level data that persists across visits and encounter-level data created during each visit. This page is a reference: the first half covers longitudinal patient context (summary, demographics, devices), the second covers encounter-time resources (Observations, Conditions, Allergies, external documents). Each major resource has its own section. For visit orchestration and the SOAP-aligned template pattern, see Visit Templates and the SOAP Approach.
The Charting Decision Guide walks through requirements questions and FHIR modeling decisions for charting — use it alongside these docs.
Charting is one of the most important features of an EMR – and one of the hardest to get right. Clinicians have strong opinions shaped by training, specialty, and years in other systems. The surface experience varies enormously: dense structured forms in some products, narrative-first layouts in others. Underneath all of it, the record still has to support safe care and downstream data use.
Most clinical products still organize encounter documentation around some variant of SOAP – Subjective, Objective, Assessment, Plan – even when the screen does not label the sections that way. Visit templates are how Medplum ties that workflow to FHIR: instead of a single undifferentiated note, you instantiate a PlanDefinition per visit type so clinicians get the right questionnaires and order tasks when the encounter opens (Care Templates in Medplum Provider are this concept in the UI).