Prep a visit before the patient sits down

Why it matters

Everything you need for a visit is usually already in the chart. The work is finding it before the patient sits down.

Tabflows gives you two ways to gather it. AI Patient Summary is a Magic Button, one of the one-click buttons Tabflows places beside the work they act on (the settings call them smart buttons). It builds one fixed prep summary from what Tabflows already holds for the patient whose chart you have open. Sidekick, Tabflows' AI assistant for patient and clinic work, builds any other prep you ask it for.

Both compress the record. A summary is never the record itself, and it decides nothing clinical for you. The chart stays the source for every detail, including any that never reached the summary, so treat a summary as the place your review starts.

AI Patient Summary on the chart

Where it appears

On a patient chart in Cerbo or Elation, the only two places it appears. The button reads Click for AI Patient Summary, carries the Tabflows mark and has an arrow beside it. You don't install it: Tabflows presents it beside the chart you already have open.

When it works

It stays greyed out until the patient on screen is linked and loaded in Tabflows, so link the patient first if it looks inactive.

The Hide smart buttons setting does not affect it. That switch hides the AI DRAFT bar in Spruce, the AI task recommendation lightbulb and Referral Assist, and leaves this button in place.

If you don't see the button at all, you are in an EMR other than Cerbo or Elation, or Sidekick isn't turned on for your account. Sidekick or a magic button isn't showing up covers the rest.

What you get

Pressing it opens Sidekick, which runs a fixed visit-prep workflow (its card reads Pre-visit summary) and returns one copyable summary card. The card opens with the patient, age, date and chief complaint, then covers:

• Relationship and personal details
• Critical alerts, such as allergies and major active conditions
• Context and history, including interval history, "hidden" patterns such as slow deterioration or missed follow-up, and the last relevant vitals
• Monitoring items, with each condition's status, trend and last value
• Medication reconciliation, with the active list and adherence

The workflow tells Sidekick to say when an important section has no data. A section without that note can still be incomplete. Copy what's useful into your note.

What it won't do

It is set up to read, and only read. The workflow tells Sidekick not to write to the EMR, and not to create a note, document, Task or message unless you ask for one afterward. Nothing from the summary lands in the chart unless you copy it there.

In Elation, Sidekick can also write it as a non-visit note if you ask, once you approve its preview.

It works from what Tabflows has already synced for the patient and does not pull fresh data first, so a very recent chart change may be missing.

Shape the prep with Sidekick

When the fixed card isn't the prep this visit needs, keep going in the chat AI Patient Summary opened, or open Sidekick yourself. Either way, the prep takes five steps:

1. Connect the correct patient.
2. Confirm the expected patient sources are available and fresh.
3. Ask for the time period and format you need.
4. Review the summary against the chart.
5. Ask a follow-up for missing detail or a shorter format.

One request can cover the usual ground: "Create a concise visit-prep summary for tomorrow. Include recent concerns, medication changes, relevant labs, overdue health maintenance, unresolved follow-up, and five questions to confirm."

Why the sources come first

The second step matters because Sidekick answers from what Tabflows has synced. It is told to flag a gap when your clinic uses a system where this patient has no linked record.

If the chart changed since Tabflows last synced it, ask Sidekick to pull fresh data. It shows an approval card first, and nothing runs until you approve it. Pulls need the Tabflows Chrome extension connected.

Pick the shape

Pick the time period and the shape that fit the visit. A one-screen briefing suits a routine follow-up. A recap of the last three visits helps when the story has moved since you last saw the patient. A problem-oriented summary or a SOAP-lite preview suits a patient with several active problems. A list of unresolved follow-up items, or a checklist of questions to confirm during the visit, keeps loose ends from slipping.

Refine it

Then refine in the same chat. "Only include changes since the last visit" cuts what you already know. "Separate confirmed facts from items that need verification" shows you what to check first. "Show the date and source for each medication change" tells you where to look in the chart. The Library article lists more formats and follow-up prompts.

Check it before you rely on it

Before the visit, confirm that:

• The patient and the date range are correct.
• Medication, allergy and lab details match the source records.
• Nothing important is missing because a system was stale or unavailable.
• The suggested questions are clinically appropriate.
• The summary doesn't overstate an uncertain inference. The "hidden" patterns it points out are a reading of the record, so check each one in the chart.