The Predictive SOAP Note

The SOAP note is the standard method for documenting and communicating patient information and evaluation. The SOAP note as it is being used today is very static and historical, only to be filed away in an ever growing filing cabinet. At most, it seems like, acupuncturists are only viewing the last session’s notes in preparation for the most current session. However, this seems like a great waste of data that could be used to provide more insight into the patient’s health and treatment progress.

What if SOAP notes were predictive?

The predictive SOAP note is the idea that if we combine the right tools with the right data, we can start to explore some interesting ideas around communicating patient care and progress to bring about better patient care and satisfaction. An additional tool to complement an acupuncturists’ current patient workflow.

An example of this is the ability visually communicate a patient’s treatment progress, as seen in the chart below, which shows a patient’s treatment progress over time and multiple visits.