Clinical Note Templates
Praxi provides a library of built-in clinical note templates and allows you to create your own. Templates standardise note-taking across your practice and save time during documentation.
Built-In Templates
Praxi includes several widely-used clinical note formats:
| Template | Structure | Common Use |
|---|---|---|
| Blank | Free-form | Unstructured notes |
| SOAP | Subjective, Objective, Assessment, Plan | General clinical sessions |
| DAP | Data, Assessment, Plan | Brief session summaries |
| BIRP | Behaviour, Intervention, Response, Plan | Behavioural interventions |
| GIRP | Goal, Intervention, Response, Plan | Goal-focused therapy |
| EMDR | Target & Setup, Desensitisation & Processing, Installation, Closure | EMDR sessions |
| Initial Assessment | Six-section intake assessment | First sessions and intake |
| Discharge Summary | Five-section end-of-treatment summary | Concluding treatment |
| Narrative | Session Overview, Clinical Narrative, Plan & Follow-up | Narrative-style notes |
| Crisis Note | Presenting crisis, Risk assessment, Intervention, Plan | Crisis intervention |
| Couples Session | Shared observations, Individual notes, Plan | Couples therapy |
| Group Session | Group themes, Individual observations, Plan | Group therapy |
Profession-specific templates (for example Psychological Assessment, Risk Assessment, and Progress Note structures for psychologists) are also seeded for the relevant professions.
These templates are available to all practitioners immediately and cannot be deleted, though they can be hidden from your personal template list.
Creating Custom Templates
- Go to Settings > Note Templates
- Click Create Template
- Enter a template name and optional description
- Select the note type this template applies to (e.g., Progress Note, Initial Assessment)
- Optionally assign a category to group related templates
- Build the template structure using the editor:
- Add sections with headings (e.g., "Presenting Issues", "Interventions Used")
- Add placeholder text to guide practitioners when using the template
- Mark sections as required or optional
- Optionally set default content that pre-populates when the template is used
- Click Create Template to save the new template (when editing an existing template, the button shows Save Changes)
Click Customise on a built-in template, or Duplicate on a custom template, to use it as a starting point for a new template. This is faster than building from scratch. :::
Setting a Default Template
You can designate one template as the default for each note type. When creating a new note of that type, the default template is automatically selected.
- Open the template in Settings > Note Templates
- Toggle Set as Default on
- Any previous default for that note type is automatically unset
Sharing Templates Across the Practice
Templates can be scoped at different levels:
- Personal -- Only visible to the practitioner who created it (set Practice-wide to off)
- Practice-wide -- Available to all practitioners in the organisation (this is the default when creating a template)
- Profession-specific -- Visible only to practitioners with a matching profession (e.g., psychologists, social workers, occupational therapists). Set this using the Profession Scope field
To share a personal template with the practice:
- Open the template in Settings > Note Templates
- Click Share with Practice
- The template appears in every practitioner's template list
Practice owners and managers can manage all shared templates from the same settings page.
Template Variables
Templates support dynamic variables that are automatically populated when a note is created:
| Variable | Inserts |
|---|---|
{{client.fullName}} | Client's full name |
{{session.date}} | Date of the session |
{{session.number}} | Sequential session count for this client |
{{practitioner.fullName}} | Name of the treating practitioner |
{{referrer.name}} | Name of the referring professional |
{{treatment.diagnosis}} | Current primary diagnosis |
Insert variables by typing {{ in the template editor and selecting from the
list. Variables resolve when the note is created, not when the template is
saved.
Smart Sections
Each section within a template can have its own AI prompt that instructs Praxi on how to generate that section's content. This is called Smart Sections.
- AI Prompt -- A natural language instruction for how the section should be generated (e.g., "Summarise the client's reported experience, emotional state, and concerns expressed during the session. Use third-person clinical language.")
- AI Enabled -- Toggle whether a section uses AI generation or is left empty for manual entry
When writing a note, you can regenerate individual sections independently using the Regenerate button on each section. You can also provide a custom prompt to override the template-level instruction for a single regeneration.
generation, Praxi uses your selected template structure and Smart Section prompts to organise the generated content. Choosing the right template ensures the AI output matches your preferred documentation style. :::