Encounter Category

The following data elements pertain to information about an interaction between a person and a health care provider. An encounter is a discrete, time-bound interaction between a patient (or group of patients) and 1 or more health care providers, occurring for the purpose of providing health care services related to 1 or more health concerns.

Encounters may occur in person or virtually and are typically coordinated or managed by a single responsible health care organization. An encounter may include services delivered across multiple settings (e.g., emergency department visit to inpatient admission). While organizations may use Encounter information data elements at varying levels of granularity, for analytical purposes, an encounter shall encompass the period from intake through to the conclusion of care activities associated with that visit as managed by a single organization.

This version of the data elements and terminologies includes data elements to support standardized triage assessments. The initial focus is on the Canadian Triage and Acuity Scale (CTAS), which is commonly used in emergency departments and pre-hospital settings. Some provinces and territories capture additional information, such as CTAS score overrides and the associated reason for the override. These will be considered for inclusion in future versions.

Data elements in this category

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