Discharge & communications
Send owners a clear summary of what happened and what comes next.
The SOAP note is the clinical record for your team. The discharge summary is the owner-facing document — plain language, focused on instructions and next steps. The two are kept separate so you can include clinical detail in the SOAP without overwhelming the owner.
How discharge works
When a vet signs and finalizes a visit, Chartling automatically generates a discharge summary draft. On Intelligence and Practice tiers, the draft is written by AI based on the signed SOAP content. The draft is held for review before delivery — it is never sent automatically without staff confirmation.
Reviewing and sending a discharge
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Finalize the visit
The vet signs the SOAP note. The visit moves to Signed status and a discharge draft is generated in the background.
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Open the discharge draft
From the visit record, click Review discharge. The AI-drafted summary shows the diagnosis, medications sent home, care instructions, and recommended follow-up.
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Edit if needed
The discharge is fully editable before sending. Add, remove, or rewrite any section. You can also attach files (e.g. a handout or post-op care sheet) from this screen.
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Send
Click Send discharge. If the client has a portal account, the summary appears there immediately. If they have email on file, a delivery email is sent. If your clinic has SMS enabled, a brief notification SMS is sent pointing them to the portal or email.
What owners see
The discharge summary delivered to owners includes:
- Visit summary — what was found, in plain language
- Medications — each drug, dose, and frequency in owner-friendly terms
- Home care instructions — wound care, activity restrictions, dietary changes
- Follow-up — recommended recheck date or "call if" conditions
- Lab results summary — only if the vet chose to include it
Owners do not see the raw SOAP note, clinical shorthand, or any internal staff notes.
Discharge and cosign
If a SOAP note requires a cosign (e.g. a supervised vet), the discharge is held until the cosign is complete. The owner won't receive the discharge until the supervising vet has countersigned the note. This prevents premature communication before the clinical record is confirmed.
FAQ
No — once sent, the discharge is locked to preserve a consistent record of what the owner was told. If you need to correct something, send a follow-up message through the Messaging feature, or call the owner. If the error is clinical, it should be noted as an addendum to the SOAP note as well.
If a client has no email and no portal account, the discharge remains available in Chartling for printing. Click Print discharge from the visit record to generate a formatted PDF to hand to the owner at checkout.
No. The discharge is sent once, via whichever channels are set on the client's profile. The portal and the email both show the same content — there's no duplication.
Yes. In Settings → Visit defaults → Discharge, you can turn off AI draft generation. The discharge form will open blank and you can write it from scratch. AI drafts remain available on demand — you can turn them back on at any time.