Charting for Students or Interns
OutSmart has built-in tools for students and interns who work under a supervising practitioner’s licence. When the feature is turned on for a student account, the Lock button in the chart editor is replaced by a Request Review button. Finished charts go to a chosen supervisor, who reviews, comments, and ultimately signs the chart. Until the supervisor signs, the chart sits in the student’s and supervisor’s Incomplete Charts dashboard cards as outstanding work.
Only the student needs to turn the feature on. The supervisor doesn’t change any settings in their own account.
Turning On the Student Workflow
This step is done once on the student’s account.
- Open the Main Navigation Menu and choose Smart Charts.
- Open the Settings tab.
- Turn on supervisor review and signing.
From now on, every chart the student creates uses the review workflow instead of self-signing.
Requesting a Review (Student)
When the student finishes a chart:
- In the chart editor, look at the top toolbar. The usual Lock icon has been replaced by a Request Review icon.
- Click Request Review.
- A list of practitioners at the clinic opens. Pick the supervisor who should review this chart. (Only one supervisor per request.)
- Click Assign.
OutSmart redirects to the dashboard. The chart now sits in the student’s Incomplete Charts dashboard card flagged as awaiting review. It also appears in the supervisor’s Incomplete Charts card with a Review Requested button next to it.
If you don’t have the Incomplete Charts card on your dashboard, add it from the dashboard card menu — see SOAP Charts: Incomplete Charts / Recent Charts.
Reviewing and Signing (Supervisor)
The supervisor sees the student’s request in their own Incomplete Charts dashboard card.
- Click Review Requested on the chart’s row. The chart opens for review.
- At the bottom right of the chart are two icons:
- Signature — sign the chart immediately. Once signed, the chart is final.
- Comments — open the comments panel and leave feedback for the student.
Leaving comments instead of signing
If the chart needs changes before you’ll sign it:
- Click the Comments icon.
- Write feedback for the student in the panel. Comments are visible only to the supervisor and the student — not to the patient, not to admin staff.
- Click Submit For Review. The student is notified.
The chart stays in both Incomplete Charts cards until the supervisor signs. The student can re-open the chart, see the comments, make changes, and request review again. You can go back and forth as many times as needed.
How the Student Sees Supervisor Comments
A supervisor’s comments show up in several places for the student:
- The Incomplete Charts dashboard card — the chart row indicates a completed review
- The read-only view of the chart — comments inline with the chart content
- The Alerts / Notes section of the chart editing interface — visible while editing
- The Notes section of the Patient Workspace
- The Recent Notes dashboard card
That last one means clinic-wide note streams include the supervisor’s feedback by design — the comment is treated like any other patient note.
When the Chart Is Signed
Once the supervisor clicks the Signature icon:
- The chart becomes final and locks. Neither the student nor the supervisor can edit it without unlocking.
- The chart disappears from both Incomplete Charts dashboard cards.
- The chart is treated like any other locked chart in the patient’s record.
If a correction is genuinely needed after signing, follow the standard process for editing a locked chart — see Locking and Unlocking a Chart. The chart’s audit trail records every change.
Related Pages
- Charting Preferences — where the student turns the review workflow on
- Locking and Unlocking a Chart — what signing does to a chart
- SOAP Charts: Incomplete Charts / Recent Charts — the dashboard card that surfaces review requests for both students and supervisors