As a service provider, Progress Notes are important documents not only for ensuring the high standard of care for the patient but also to support the Provider Payment Assurance Program. So how does Comm.care help you quickly create high professional Progress Notes?

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1. Introduction to Progress Notes

What are Progress Notes?

Progress notes are documents created by support workers at the end of a shift as proof of service delivery. Progress Notes constitute a legal record and are an essential part of the Client File. The terms "case notes" or "support logs" are sometimes used interchangeably to refer to progress notes.

The purpose of progress notes is to record the support delivered on each shift or visit to update the status of your patients and their illnesses. Therefore, you, as a healthcare service provider, can track patients’ progress towards their goals.

Why is it so crucial for Healthcare service providers?

It is a part of records of support delivered that is required by the Provider Payment Assurance Program to get paid.

Information from progress notes can be used to write client NDIS progress reports to help NDIS review participant care plans and guide the carers whose work it is to implement participant goals.

Service providers use it to share information between care teams and participant families to keep track of changes in patient status, routines and needs.

Progress Notes are compulsory to report incidents (and alleged incidents) to the NDIS Commission, either directly or via a supervisor, manager, specified person, or member of the provider’s key personnel.

2. How To Write Standard Progress Notes

At the end of every shift, it is recommended to record progress notes, which can either be handwritten or typed. With Comm.care you can record it easily and quickly access them.

To be effective, Progress Notes must be objective: you must report information that is measurable. Subjective documentation which reflects your opinions or assumptions is not recommended as it cannot be evaluated.

All Progress Notes must include necessary information as follow:

• Date and time of notes.
• Participant’s name/participant’s reference number (previously NDIS number)
• Details of any reportable/significant incidents occurred, including those involving peers or others, and including details of witnesses if there are any.

Here are some guidelines to consider when making progress notes:

• Avoid abbreviations.
• If writing in the paper record, use blue or black ink; for errors, draw a line through the erroneous entry and initial.
• Rote cutting and pasting from previous notes without editing and updating is not permitted; using another provider’s observations or assessments is unethical and unprofessional.
• Write down events in the order in which they happened.
• Write concisely, accurately and include enough information that others can understand what happened.

3. How does Comm.care help you create high professional Progress Notes?

Easily record progress notes

With Comm.care, you can create a progress note for each participant in Circles. You just need to complete the fields within the Progress Note and make sure you complete these as a minimum so your Manager will love you! Other fields, depending on the service type (NDIS, or DSS) Comm.care will show you their related fields.

Quickly share and Collaborate with carers

Communicate better between care team members and never miss important updates by sharing notes and progress updates in Comm.care with just a few clicks.

Ensure all records are up-to-date for Audit purposes

It is possible to share Progress Notes across both NDIS and non-NDIS funded participants. The documents should be maintained as such that they are easy to share within the formal and informal circle of care for the participant. Comm.care securely stores all documents, including Progress Notes, in a cloud-based server to mitigate the risk of information loss, theft, or damage. This system ensures that the documents are easily accessible and extractable within teams. The timeline feature of Comm.care gives a 'single-view' of all the documents of the participants for the ease of access to teams as well as to maintain data for auditing purposes.

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