A second note in one appointment

A hygiene appointment that turns into an extraction is still one appointment — but it's two different pieces of clinical work. Rebrief lets you start a second note for that second procedure instead of squeezing both into one note or ending the appointment early just to open another.

Why this exists

Forcing two procedures into a single note blurs the record, and ending the appointment just to start a fresh one breaks the one continuous transcript Rebrief relies on to write accurately. A second note keeps the appointment as one appointment while giving each procedure its own note.

Starting a second note

There are three ways to start one:

1. Select + Create on the appointment's tab strip, choose Note, and pick a template.
2. Say a voice command, like "start an operative note" (or name any other template).
3. Accept the suggestion band that can appear under the note bar. When what's being said stops matching the template the current note is on, a band shows: "This sounded like an extraction appointment. Start an extraction note?" with Start and Not now.

Note: Rebrief never switches a note's template on its own, and it never starts a second note on its own. The band only ever proposes — you decide with Start or Not now.

What happens when you start one

• The note you were on is marked finished — its tab gets a green check.
• The new note opens as its own tab and becomes the live note — its tab gets a gold pen.
• A divider line appears in the Transcript tab marking where the second note began.

There's still only one transcript for the whole appointment. The second note is written from what's said after that dividing point, with a short read of the first note's assessment and plan for context — so it picks up where the first note left off instead of repeating it.

Each note works on its own

Every note tab has its own bar: its own template chip, its own Regenerate, and its own Export ▾ menu with that note's Copy text, PDF, and push to your practice management system. A secondary note's template is fixed once it starts, so its chip shows the template name rather than letting you change it there.

The chart itself belongs to the whole appointment, not to either note — both notes point at the same chart, and undo/redo for the chart work the same way no matter which note is live.

Started by mistake?

If a second note shouldn't have been its own note, select Merge back into one note on its band, then confirm with Merge. Your own written words move into the first note; the second note's draft — and its tab — are removed. Select Keep instead to back out.

Tip: Merging moves what you personally wrote or dictated into the first note. It doesn't try to combine both notes' full text for you — check the merged note before finishing the appointment.

A few rules to keep in mind

• Only one note is live at a time. Dictation and the ambient scribe always write into the live note — switch tabs first if you meant to add to the other one.
• Nothing already pushed to a chart is orphaned: anything that looks up the appointment still finds the first note, whether or not a second note was ever added.
• Ending the appointment finishes and polishes every note that was opened during it, not just the one that was live when you ended it.