Recording and Managing Allergies

This guide walks you through recording, editing, and reviewing a patient’s allergies in the Clinical section of the Patient Chart.

Before you start

You’ll need to have a patient chart open. The allergies table lives under the Clinical section of the Chart Navigation.

How to record a new allergy

1. Open the patient’s chart and go to the Allergies table.
2. Select Add Allergy. This opens the Allergy modal.
3. Enter the Allergen / Substance.
4. Add at least one Reaction. Select the manifestation (for example, hives), and optionally set:
   • Severity (Mild, Moderate, Severe)
   • Onset
   • Description (this covers reaction description, exposure route, and any free-text notes about the reaction)
5. If needed, select + Add another reaction to record additional reactions for the same allergen.
6. Set Criticality if known (Low, High, or Unable to Assess). Leave it blank if criticality hasn’t been assessed.
7. Confirm the Clinical Status — this defaults to Active.
8. Add a Note if you want to capture free-text context about the allergy.
9. Review the Additional Information section if you need to set fields such as Verification Status, Category, or Asserter. Most of the time you can leave these at their defaults.
10. Select Save.

The new allergy appears in the table, sorted automatically (see How allergies are sorted below).

How to edit an existing allergy

1. In the Allergies table, select the allergen you want to update.
2. The Allergy modal opens, pre-filled with the existing information.
3. Make your changes and select Save.

How to document “No Known Allergies” (NKA)

Use this when a patient has been asked about allergies and confirmed they have none. This is different from leaving the allergy list blank.

1. Select Add Allergy to open the modal.
2. Select No known allergies. The rest of the modal collapses, since reaction and substance details don’t apply.
3. Select Save.

If the patient already has allergies recorded: you’ll see a warning that documented allergies already exist. If you continue and save NKA anyway, the previously recorded allergies are removed from the active chart view (their status is updated to refuted behind the scenes — the record isn’t deleted, just marked as no longer valid).

If NKA was previously documented and you try to add a real allergy: you’ll see a warning that NKA is already on file. If you continue, the prior NKA entry is updated to refuted and your new allergy is saved.

How to search and filter the allergy list

• Search by Name: Use the search box to find an allergy by allergen name.
• Filter by Criticality: Narrow the list to High, Low, or Unable to Assess.
• Filter by Status: Narrow the list to active, inactive, or resolved allergies.
• Filter by Severity: Narrow the list by reaction severity. Because one allergen can have multiple reactions with different severities, an allergen stays visible as long as any one of its reactions matches the severity you selected.
• Filter by Verificaiton Status: Narrow the list by verification status such as confirmed or refuted.
• Sort: Select a column header to sort by Allergen, Criticality, or Status.

Understanding what you’re looking at

Allergy fields

Field	What it means
Allergen	The substance the patient is allergic to. Prefered vocabulary is SNOMED. Required field
Status	Whether the allergy is currently Active, Inactive, or Resolved. Defaults to Active for new allergies
Criticality	How severe the potential risk is: High, Low, or Unable to Assess
Reaction	The reaction(s) the patient has had
Last occurence	Last known occurence of a reaction
Severity	How severe the reaction was: Mild, Moderate, Severe
Onset	When the allergy or intolerance was identified
Description	Free text description of reaction event as a whole
Note	Free text field to document any information related to the allergen not captured in other fields
Verification status	Assertion about the certainty associated with the propensity of a reaction to the identified substance. Defaults to Confirmed
Type	Underlying physiological mechanism for the reaction. Options are Allergy (default) or Intolerance
Category	Category of the identified substance, e.g. Food, Medication, Environment, or Biologic
Recorder	The user who documented the allergy entry
Date recorded	Date the allergen was recorded. Defaults to current day for new allergies
Asserter	Source of the information about the allergy, e.g. the patient
Linked encounter	Links to encounter notes where allergy was documented via macro

How allergies are sorted

By default, the table sorts allergies by Criticality first (High, then Low, then Unable to Assess, then unspecified), and within the same criticality level, alphabetically by allergen name.

What the empty states mean

The table can show two different messages when there’s nothing to display — it’s important to know which one you’re looking at:

• “No allergies recorded” — Nothing has been documented for this patient at all. No one has confirmed whether the patient has allergies or not.
• “No Active Allergies Recorded” — The patient does have allergy information on file, but nothing matches the table’s default view (active, unconfirmed or confirmed allergies). This can happen if all recorded allergies are inactive or resolved.

If you’re not sure which state you’re seeing, check whether any filters are applied — clearing filters will show you the full picture of what’s on file for the patient.

Troubleshooting

I can’t find an allergy I know was documented. Check your active filters (Criticality, Status, Severity, and any search text). A filter may be hiding it. Clear all filters and search again.

I tried to document NKA but got a warning. This means the patient already has allergies recorded. Confirm with the patient before proceeding — saving NKA will mark those existing allergies as refuted.

I tried to add an allergy but got a warning about NKA. The patient previously had “No Known Allergies” documented. Saving your new allergy will update that NKA record to refuted, since it’s no longer accurate.