Clinical documentation as blocks, not forms.

Yusif Dheyaa — Mon, 23 Mar 2026 12:25:22 +0000

Background: I work in clinical settings and every EHR I've used treats a patient encounter like a web form from 2003. You fill in fields, submit, done. The structure is decided for you — and it's usually wrong for what you're actually doing.

So I started building something different.

The central idea is simple. Instead of a fixed form, an encounter is a timeline of typed blocks. A vitals block. A history & physical block. A note block. etc... You add what's relevant to this patient, this visit. Nothing more.

Each block differs. Vitals isn't just a text field — it has BP, HR, RR, temp, SpO2. H&P has structured ROS checkboxes and PE sections by system. A plan block is problem-based. They're not all the same shape.

Blocks have versions. Every edit creates a revision. You can see the full history of any block.

Where it gets interesting is scale. A solo GP can set up a blank encounter and add only what's relevant. A multidepartment center can have admins define department-specific block types — a psychiatry note looks nothing like a surgical admission — and build encounter templates for each service. The same system, different shape depending on who's using it.

Demo:

link - https://ehr-app-five.vercel.app/

Admin - email: dr.james@demo.com / pass: Demo1234!

I'm looking for contributors to push this toward a proper open-source EHR.

Even just trying the demo and telling me where the workflow breaks is useful. Also, does this match how you actually think through a visit, or is it solving the wrong problem?

DEV Community: Yusif Dheyaa

Clinical documentation as blocks, not forms.