Context and preparing a draft

Terra drafts the note from sources you can see before anything is sent. This article covers what those sources are and how to prepare the draft.

What the draft can use

Today's evidence comes first. A draft needs at least one of these:

• The Context you wrote for this visit.
• The reviewed transcript.
• Template fields you filled in.
• Patient documents you selected and approved.

Chart context is added as separate, labelled sources:

• Encounter header: age at the date of service, pronouns, visit type, date, clinician and note language. Never the patient's name, MRN or date of birth.
• Allergies and active medications that a clinician has approved in Facts. These are always included when they exist.
• Active problems, only when you turn them on.
• Prior visits: the last one to three signed notes, only when you choose them.

Problems and prior notes are marked "historical, not today's findings". The draft must attribute them, for example "Per prior note dated 2026-08-14", and may not present them as today's history, exam or plan. A missing allergy entry is never written as "no known allergies".

Choose the sources

1. Open the Context tab.
2. Write or dictate the context for today.
3. In the source picker, set Prior visits (0 to 3) and turn active problems on or off.
4. Select any patient documents to include, up to 16 per draft.

Your choice is saved on the visit.

Prepare the draft

1. Choose Prepare draft.
2. Read the quote. It lists every source by name and kind, and the credits the draft is estimated to use.
3. Confirm. The draft runs in the background, so you can keep working.

Each section of the draft cites the sources it used. A section with no support reads [Not documented] instead of guessing.

When a draft is discarded

Terra pins the version of every chart source when the draft starts and checks them again before applying it. If an allergy is corrected, a prior note is amended or the date of birth changes in the meantime, the draft is stale: the known usage is charged, the draft is discarded and your saved note is untouched. Prepare it again to use the current chart.