Every consultation generates clinical notes — examination findings, treatment plans, follow-up instructions, and observations that become part of the pet's permanent medical record. Lupa's notes system gives you a rich text editor that auto-saves as you type, supports pre-built templates to speed up common consultations, tracks every edit in a full version history, and can integrate with AI-generated transcripts from Lupa Notes.

💡 In short: Type clinical notes in the Clinical Notes section during a consultation. Use templates to pre-fill common note structures, and view the full edit history at any time. Notes auto-save every few seconds — no manual saving needed.

Why Notes Matter

Benefit	How it helps your practice
Permanent medical record	Clinical notes are stored against the appointment and appear in the pet's timeline — accessible to any vet who sees the patient in future
Auto-save	Notes save automatically every few seconds. No risk of losing your work if the browser closes or the internet drops briefly
Templates	Pre-built note templates speed up routine consultations — vaccination visits, health checks, dental exams — and ensure consistent documentation
Full version history	Every edit is recorded with the author and timestamp. You can view any previous version of the notes for audit and clinical governance
AI integration	AI-generated transcripts and summaries appear alongside your manual notes — giving you a head start on documentation

Understanding the Different Note Types

An appointment in Lupa has several separate note fields visible on the appointment context window and within the appointment page, each serving a different purpose:

Note field	What it's for	Who can see it
Clinical Notes	Your main consultation notes — examination findings, treatment plan, clinical observations. This is the rich text editor in the Clinical Notes section.	All staff with appointment access
Internal Booking Notes	Staff-only notes about the appointment itself — scheduling context, reception handover, special arrangements. Added when creating or editing the booking.	Staff only
Client Booking Notes	Notes provided by the client during online booking — their description of symptoms, concerns, or reason for the visit.	Staff (entered by client)
AI Consult Summary	An AI-generated summary of the consultation based on the transcript, structured according to your selected template.	Staff with appointment access

💡 The Appointment Context Details window of the consultation shows the Internal Booking Notes and Client Booking Notes side by side, so you can see what reception noted and what the client reported before you start examining the pet.

How to Write Clinical Notes — Step by Step

Step 1: Open the Notes Editor

Open the appointment from the calendar or appointments list.
Click Clinical** Notes** in the right sidebar side of the page.
The rich text editor loads with any existing notes for this appointment.

Step 2: Choose a Template (Optional)

If your practice has clinical note templates configured:

Click the template dropdown in the editor toolbar (this looks a square with lines around it).
Browse the available templates — they're sorted alphabetically and you can search.
Select a template to insert its content into the editor. The template text appears in the editor with any placeholder variables automatically filled in using data from the current appointment:

Placeholder	What it fills with
`{petName}`	The pet's name from the appointment
`{clientName}`	The client's full name
`{species}`	The pet's species
`{breed}`	The pet's breed
`{sex}`	The pet's sex
`{weight}`	The pet's most recent recorded weight
`{microchip}`	The pet's microchip number
`{storeName}`	Your clinic's name

💡 If a placeholder can't be filled (e.g. the pet has no microchip recorded), you'll see a warning: "Template inserted. Some placeholders could not be filled." The unfilled placeholders remain in the text for you to complete manually.

Step 3: Write Your Notes

Type your clinical notes using the rich text editor. Available formatting tools:

Bold, italic, and strikethrough text
Bullet lists, numbered lists, and task lists
Links to external resources
Tables (in the full toolbar mode)
Signature blocks Structure your notes however suits your practice — many vets use a SOAP format (Subjective, Objective, Assessment, Plan) or similar structured approach, which works well with templates.

Step 4: Let Auto-Save Do Its Work

As you type, Lupa automatically saves your notes every few seconds. You'll see a status indicator:

Saving... — a save is in progress
All changes saved — your latest edits are safely stored There is no save button — the system handles persistence for you. If you navigate away with unsaved changes, Lupa shows a warning: "Your notes have not saved, are you sure you want to leave?"

💡 Auto-save means you can type during the examination in real time. There's no need to wait until the end of the consultation to document your findings — write as you go and your work is continuously preserved.

Viewing Note History

Every edit to clinical notes is recorded. To view the history:

Click Notes History (or the history icon) below the notes editor.
A split-pane view opens:
Left panel — a timeline of all edits, grouped by date, showing who made each change and when
Right panel — the note content at that point in time
Each entry shows:
The employee name who made the edit
The timestamp of the change
Whether it was the initial version or an edited version
A version number (e.g. "Version 3 of 5")
Click any entry to view that version's content in the right panel. Note history is read-only — you can view but not revert to previous versions. This provides a full audit trail for clinical governance.

AI-Generated Notes (Lupa Notes)

If your practice uses the transcription function in Lupa, AI-generated content integrates directly into the appointment notes:

During the consultation within the clinical notes section under **AI Consult Summary **there is a **start transcript **button. A pop up appears that allows you to select a template to suit your clinics format - if you don't select one your summary will be structures in a SOAP layout. You can then scan the QR code to use your phone as a microphone or select open in a new tab to start the recorder in a new tab.
In this tab click the microphone symbol to start recording, you are free to move back to the normal Lupa tab and the recording will continue. Once finished click **summarise **followed by **open booking **which will take you back to the appointment (or you can refresh your already open tab to reveal the transcript and summary).
After the recording is processed, two fields are populated:
Clinical Summary — an AI-generated summary structured according to the selected template
AI Transcript — the full transcription of the consultation audio
You can review the AI output and use it as it is, edit it or expand in your own clinical notes. The AI notes and your manual clinical notes coexist — they are separate fields, so you can always distinguish between what AI generated and what you wrote yourself.

💡 AI notes are a starting point, not a replacement. Always review AI-generated content for accuracy before treating it as the official clinical record.

For full details on recording consultations and managing AI notes, see the Lupa Notes articles.

Notes in Other Contexts

Clinical notes aren't limited to appointments. The same notes system is used across Lupa for:

Context	How notes are used
Invoices	Financial notes attached to invoices — visible to staff for billing context
Pets	General notes on a pet's record — non appointment related notes, behavioural notes, owner preferences etc
Clients	Notes on a client account — communication preferences, payment arrangements, access notes

Each note has a content type that categorises its purpose: Clinical, Diagnosis, Financial, or Internal. This helps with filtering and ensures the right notes appear in the right context.

Tips for Better Clinical Notes

✅ Best practices from practices that run Lupa:

Use templates for routine consultations — vaccination visits, health checks, and dental exams all follow predictable structures. Templates save time and ensure consistency
Write notes during the exam, not after — auto-save means you can document in real time without worrying about losing work
Be specific with templates — create templates for your most common appointment types rather than using one generic template for everything
Check Client Booking Notes first — the client may have described their pet's symptoms during online booking. Review these before asking the client to repeat themselves
Use formatting — headings, bold text, and bullet lists make notes scannable for the next vet who reads them
Don't duplicate AI notes — if Lupa Notes generated a good summary, reference it rather than retyping the same information in your manual notes

Troubleshooting

Problem	Solution
Notes not saving	Check your internet connection. Auto-save requires connectivity. If the status shows "Saving..." for more than a few seconds, try refreshing the page — Lupa will load the last successfully saved version.
Template placeholders not filling in	Placeholders require the relevant data to exist on the appointment record. If `{weight}` doesn't fill, the pet may not have a recorded weight. Update the pet's record and try inserting the template again.
Can't see the template dropdown	Templates must be configured for your store. If no templates exist, the dropdown won't appear. Ask your practice manager to create templates in the template management settings.
Notes disappeared after page refresh	Check Notes History — your edits may have been overwritten if another staff member was editing the same appointment simultaneously. The history shows every version with timestamps and authors.
AI Consult Summary is empty	The recording must be fully processed before the summary appears. Check the recording status in the AI Consult Summary section. Processing typically takes 1–2 minutes after the recording ends. Always refresh the page if nothing has appeared.
"Your notes have not saved" warning on leaving	Wait a moment for auto-save to complete before navigating away. If the warning persists, check your connection — you may need to copy your text and paste it back after the connection is restored.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can two people edit the same appointment notes at the same time?

Technically yes, but it's not recommended. Both users' changes auto-save independently, and the last save wins. If two staff members need to document the same appointment, coordinate so you're not typing in the same field simultaneously. Use Notes History to recover any overwritten content.

Can I delete clinical notes?

Notes can be archived (soft-deleted), which removes them from the active view but preserves them in the system. Hard deletion is also available for notes that were created in error. All changes are tracked in the version history for audit purposes.

Are clinical notes visible to pet owners?

Clinical notes written in the Appointment Notes field are internal to the practice — pet owners do not see them through the mobile app or booking portal. Client-facing summaries are handled separately through communications and discharge documents.

What's the difference between note templates and AI note templates?

Note templates are pre-written text structures that you insert into the editor manually (e.g. a SOAP template with headings). AI note templates are used by Lupa Notes to structure the AI-generated summary — they define what sections the AI should produce from the consultation transcript. Both are managed in the template settings.

Can I use templates for non-appointment notes?

Yes. The template system works across different note contexts — you can use templates for admission notes, pet notes, and invoice notes, not just appointment clinical notes. The available templates depend on the template type configured for each context.

Notes and templates