Vårdkontakter

Vårdkontakt is a term used in the Swedish health and care system to describe an interaction between a patient and health or care services. A vårdkontakt can be an in-person visit to a general practitioner, a nurse, or a hospital department; a telephone or video consultation; or written correspondence. The plural form, vårdkontakter, refers to multiple such interactions over time and is commonly used in medical records and administrative documentation.

Vårdkontakter are typically registered in the patient’s journal and serve to document the contact, the reason for it, the professional or service involved, the date and place, the assessment or diagnosis if made, and the planned follow-up or treatment. The purpose is to support continuity of care, coordinate among different providers, guide decisions about treatment, and enable quality and resource analyses.

Types of contacts vary and can include preventive and routine visits, acute consultations, follow-up appointments, home visits, and digital communications such as telemedicine or secure messaging. The categorization often distinguishes between in-person, telephone, and electronic contacts, with additional notes on urgency, severity, or specific care pathways.

Legal and ethical considerations govern vårdkontakter. Access to the information is restricted to authorized personnel, and data handling complies with patient rights and privacy regulations. Aggregated data from vårdkontakter are used for planning, budgeting, and research to improve care quality and patient safety.