Encounters are incidences of support between a provider and a school community member. Documentation of these student visits, faculty visits, and indirect support is done in the Encounters section of August. Encounters can range from simple, single-interaction events to those that are complex, multi-interaction events of different notes and/or stakeholders.

This article walks through the core setup of an encounter: properties (subject(s), encounter type, etc.), notes, messages, and timeline.

Subject - The student or faculty member or section of students that is the primary subject of an encounter. Clicking the "link-out" button to the left of the subject's name will open their card.

Assigned - The user currently assigned to handle the encounter. Encounters are automatically assigned to the user who opened the encounter, but can be reassigned to other users both in and outside of their department depending on the encounter type.

Encounter Type - The encounter type selected when the encounter was created.

Opened by - The user who initialized the documentation for the encounter.

Status - Encounters can be open, closed, cancelled, locked, and archived. Encounters that are locked cannot be unlocked, so this is recommended for rare cases of potential liability, it is meant to freeze the documentation at a point in time. Closing an encounter will close all notes within it.

Notes are the provider-written documentation within encounters. There are different note types available in the different types of encounters that align with the type of documentation typically required for that type of support. There are also different note types within encounters so that providers who prefer different formats can use their preferred documentation style.

Time & duration - Notes take time and can also take duration. The encounters time(s) will be pinned to the underlying notes times.

The time picker in the encounters experience is extremely flexible: a practitioner can write numbers like usual, but can also write something like "Next Tuesday at 3" and the system will recommend a proper date and time. The time associated with an encounter is tied to the notes within it. So the start time of an encounter is the time of the beginning of the first note, and the end time is the end time of the last note within it.

Present - the Present field is to record anyone involved in an encounter, including but not limited to the subject. Subjects are automatically added as present in a note. A common example would be that a student has a problem that is documented in a clinic visit note, and then the practitioner consults with a faculty member about the event. The practitioner can document the faculty consult as a separate note, with the faculty member as present within the same encounter with the student remaining as the subject.

A common example is when a student has a concern that is documented in a clinic visit note, and then the practitioner consults with a faculty member about the event. The practitioner can document the faculty consult as a separate note, with the faculty member as a party within the same encounter with the student remaining as the subject.

Practitioners can also build up notes by adding forms to notes to provide additional observations, action steps, or other types of information that they want to collect within a note.

In the event that during encounters a message needs to be sent to the parents/guardians of the student, the Messages tab allows you to create a new thread easily. To see step-by-step directions on sending a message directly within an encounter, click here!

The timeline within an encounter allows you to view all activity related to the encounter, such as updates, new notes, and status changes.
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There are three ways to access historical encounters in the platform.

Please do not hesitate to reach out to the August Schools Support Team at via live chat with the "Help" icon or via email at [email protected].