Many regulatory bodies require a licensed supervisor to review and sign off on notes written by associates, trainees, and provisionally licensed clinicians. Carepatron's supervision notes workflow handles this process from first draft through to a locked, signed note, with a full audit trail at every step.
Practices not using supervision are unaffected. The supervision workflow is enabled per workspace. Workspaces without it continue to use the standard publish-and-sign path with no behaviour change.
How the note lifecycle works
A supervised note moves through these stages. Each stage is enforced. You cannot skip steps, and the system controls who can act at each point.
Draft (Clinician writing)
Pending review (Submitted for review)
Signed and locked (Supervisor approved)
If changes are needed, the note returns to Revision requested, and the clinician revises and resubmits.
Enforcement: A clinician cannot edit a note while it is pending review. Only the assigned supervisor can send it back or approve it. No one can approve their own note.
For admins: setting up supervision
Assign a supervisor to a team member
This is a one-time setup step done by an admin before the supervised clinician starts writing notes.
Go to Staff, then Team members, and click Add Supervision.
You can also open the supervised clinician's profile.
Select Permissions.
Under the Supervision panel, select the Supervisors tab.
Click Assign supervisors, select the supervisor, and choose which team members they will review notes for.
Click Save. The supervision relationship is active immediately.
To view a supervisor's assignments: Open the supervisor's profile and go to the Assigned team members tab. It lists everyone whose notes they are responsible for reviewing.
What happens if a supervisor leaves or is deactivated
If a supervisor's account is deactivated, any notes waiting for their review do not fall through the cracks. You can reassign it.
Admins receive an alert when a supervisor becomes unavailable, and notes are left pending.
From the admin panel, all of that supervisor's pending notes can be reassigned to a new supervisor in a single action.
The reassignment is recorded in the audit trail for each affected note.
For supervised clinicians: submitting a note
How to submit a note for supervisor review
If you have an assigned supervisor, a Sign and submit button replaces the standard publish button in the note header.
Write the note as usual.
Click Sign and submit and draw your signature in the overlay that appears.
The note is signed, stamped with your signature, and automatically sent to your supervisor for review. Its status becomes Pending review.
The note is now read-only for you. Your supervisor receives a notification with a direct link to the note.
Your signature is saved: Once you draw your signature, it is saved to your personal signature library so you can reuse it on future notes without drawing it again. When you go to the client Documentation, you will see the note marked as "Pending Review."
How to handle a revision request
If your supervisor requests changes, you receive a notification, and the note is returned to you for editing.
Open the note. The status shows Revision requested, and the note is unlocked for editing.
Read the supervisor's feedback in the Comments tab and make the necessary changes.
Click Sign and submit again to resubmit for review.
The note returns to the supervisor as Pending review. The loop continues until the supervisor approves it.
Every round is recorded: The audit trail captures every submission, revision request, and resubmission. Nothing is lost.
For supervisors: reviewing a note
How to review and approve a submitted note
You receive a notification each time a supervised clinician submits or resubmits a note. Open it from the notification or from your review queue.
Open the note. The status chip shows Needs review. Read through the note content.
To leave feedback, highlight any passage of text and add an inline comment. Comments are threaded and can be resolved individually.
Then choose one of two actions:
Sign and lock
Draw your signature. The note is approved, locked, and your credentials are recorded.
Status becomes Signed and locked.
Send changes
Write required feedback. The note returns to the clinician for revision.
Status becomes Revision requested.
Reminder: Written feedback is required to send changes. The system rejects a revision request submitted without a comment.
Audit trail: What is recorded on every supervised note
After a note is signed and locked, the History panel contains four tabs. The trail is visible only to the note's author and their assigned supervisor.
Activity: A chronological timeline of every event: submitted, approved, revision requested, resubmitted
Signatures: The clinician's drawn signature image plus the supervisor's credentials (licence type, number, authority) snapshotted at approval time
Comments: The full review conversation, including all inline feedback and threaded replies
Versions: Historical revisions of the note across all rounds of editing
Visible only to the pair: The audit trail is accessible only to the note's author and their assigned supervisor.
FAQs
Can a clinician approve their own note?
No. The system blocks self-approval. Only the assigned supervisor can approve or request revisions on a note.
Can a clinician edit a note while it is waiting for review?
No. A note is read-only for the clinician while it is pending review. To make changes, the supervisor must send it back first.
How many supervisors can one clinician have?
One active supervisor at a time. To switch supervisors, use the reassign action. Assigning a second supervisor while one is already active is not allowed.
Do notes for unsupervised clinicians change at all?
No. Notes for clinicians without an assigned supervisor follow the standard publish-and-sign flow, unchanged. No new buttons or steps appear for them.
Does approving a note lock it automatically?
Yes. When the supervisor approves, the note transitions to signed and locked in one action. The supervisor's credentials are recorded and the note cannot be edited further.
Our team will be able to answer any other questions you may have. Just reply via messenger through the Help channel in your workspace.