# Start a visit and write the note (/docs/en/learn/clinician-visit)
After this lesson you can start a visit, write its note and find it again if you leave it open. It takes about 15 minutes. You need write access to the patient's clinical records.
## Why it matters [#why]
A visit is the working note for one contact with a patient. An appointment only reserves time. A phone call with no booking can still have a visit.
A visit stays open, and unsigned, until you sign it. It is easy to leave one behind, so Salisan shows you where your open visits are.
## How it works [#how]
Anna de Vries arrives for her follow-up. Her doctor opens her record and starts a visit.
### Start the visit [#start-the-visit]
Choose **Start visit** in the patient bar. The note opens at once, with a type chosen for you: the type of today's appointment, otherwise the type you last started for this patient, otherwise **In practice**. To pick another, open the arrow beside the button and choose **In practice**, **Home visit**, **Phone consultation** or **Video consultation**.
If Anna has an appointment today, the appointment line on the **Record** page offers **Start visit** too. That starts a visit linked to the booking.
Salisan names the note after the visit type and the date. Click the title to rename it.
A patient has one open visit at a time. While one is open, the patient bar shows **Continue visit** instead of **Start visit**, so you return to the same note.
### Write the note [#write-the-note]
Write the facts of the contact in the note. Anna's doctor types: "Follow-up for blood pressure. Home readings brought in. No new complaints."
The note saves as you type. Watch the indicator: **Saving…**, then **Saved**. It reads **Unsaved changes** while text has not reached the server. **Saved** means the words are stored. It does not put anything in the patient's record. That comes in the next lesson.
Type `/` in the note to add more than text. The menu offers blocks such as **Diagnosis**, **Medication**, **Allergy**, **Blood pressure** and **Transcribe audio**.
### Find an open visit again [#find-an-open-visit-again]
Salisan keeps pointing to a visit that is still open:
* A chip such as **Unsigned · 2h** appears in the patient bar, beside **Start visit** and **New**.
* The **Record** page says **Your visit is unsigned**.
* **To sign** appears in the sidebar with the number of your unsigned visits. Its queue lets you read and sign them one after another.
* The patient's **Visits** page lists every visit.
Start with the patient's own **Visits** page when you look for an earlier contact.
## Try it [#try-it]
Use the test patient **Sam Testpatient** from the first lesson. If you do not have one, create it as described in [Learn](/docs/en/learn).
1. Open Sam's record and choose **Start visit**. If you pick the type yourself, open the arrow and choose **In practice**.
2. Click the title and rename the note to "Learning visit".
3. Write two sentences, for example "Test visit for training. Nothing clinical." Wait until the indicator reads **Saved**.
4. Open the **Record** page again from the patient's name. Find the chip that starts with "Unsigned" and the line **Your visit is unsigned**.
5. Look at the patient bar. It now shows **Continue visit** where **Start visit** was. Choose it to return to the note.
6. Find **To sign** in the sidebar. The number shows your unsigned visits.
7. In the note, type `/` and read the menu without choosing anything. Press Escape.
Leave the visit open for the next lesson.
## Check yourself [#check]
1. A patient phones you and no appointment exists. Can you document the call?
Answer
Yes. Open the arrow beside **Start visit** and choose **Phone consultation**. A visit does not need an appointment.
2. The indicator reads **Unsaved changes**. What do you do before you close the tab?
Answer
Wait until it reads **Saved**. Until then the latest words may not be stored.
3. Where do you find the visits you have not signed?
Answer
Under **To sign** in the sidebar, in the unsigned chip on the patient's pages, and on the patient's **Visits** page.
## Next [#next]
Continue with [Record findings and sign a note](/docs/en/learn/clinician-record-and-sign). For the full steps, see [Visits and notes](/docs/en/guides/visits#start).