Which statement best describes a contact in relation to a record?

Which statement best describes a contact in relation to a record?

• A. A contact is the entire patient master record.
• B. A contact represents a single moment in time for that record.
• C. A contact is a separate patient.
• D. A contact is a field value.

Answer: (B)

A contact is a time-stamped event attached to a patient’s record, representing a single moment in time for that record. This means it captures the state of the record at a specific point or interaction, allowing you to see how the data looked or what occurred at that moment and to trace history over time. It isn’t the entire patient master record, which is the ongoing, comprehensive collection of the patient’s data. It isn’t a separate patient, since a contact is linked to the same patient and describes what happened at a particular time for that patient. And it isn’t just a field value, because a contact encompasses the moment and the data captured or updated at that time, not a single data point in isolation.

A contact is a time-stamped event attached to a patient’s record, representing a single moment in time for that record. This means it captures the state of the record at a specific point or interaction, allowing you to see how the data looked or what occurred at that moment and to trace history over time.

It isn’t the entire patient master record, which is the ongoing, comprehensive collection of the patient’s data. It isn’t a separate patient, since a contact is linked to the same patient and describes what happened at a particular time for that patient. And it isn’t just a field value, because a contact encompasses the moment and the data captured or updated at that time, not a single data point in isolation.