---
title: "Let Ava write up a consultation"
summary: "Press Start Ava during a visit and she records it. When the visit ends she writes it up on the encounter, and you accept or decline each entry."
source: https://practor.app/en-za/help/ava/record-a-consultation
published: 2026-09-14T06:45:13.794Z
updated: 2026-09-29T07:14:58.999Z
category: "Ava"
---

Ava listens to a consultation and writes it up on the encounter, so you're not typing while the patient talks.

Every entry she makes is marked as hers and shows how sure she was. Afterwards you read them and decide one at a time.

## Start Ava recording

1. Start the encounter, from the appointment or from the patient's record.
2. Press **Start Ava** at the top right.

Recording starts on its own. The header then reads **Ava recording**, and a waveform and the word **Listening…** appear in the strip below it.

If no waveform appears, your browser blocked the microphone. The button now reads **Record**: allow the microphone, then press it.

![The top of a live encounter, with Start Ava beside End encounter](https://res.cloudinary.com/drmnydbcs/image/upload/c_limit,w_1600/f_auto,q_auto:good/v1/help/ava/start-ava.png?_a=BAMAOGDh0#1440x900 "Start Ava is only on an encounter that is still open.")

| What it says | What to do |
| --- | --- |
| Your browser does not support audio recording. Please use Chrome, Edge, or Firefox. | Open the encounter in one of those three |
| **Ava has no credit to draw on**. Top up your balance or add a payment method in Settings → Usage to continue. | Top up, then press **Start Ava** again |
| **Unable to verify credits**, with a reason under it | Practor couldn't check the balance. Try again |

**Ava Credit Alert** is a warning rather than a refusal: it names the credits left this month and she carries on recording.

If there's no **Start Ava** on a live encounter, Practor can't fund the recording: the balance is out, the month's spend cap is reached, there's no payment method, or billing is paused until a payment clears. A practice waiting for AI features to be approved still sees the button, and pressing it opens a request instead.

## End the visit to start the write-up

1. Press **End encounter**, or **Stop recording**, which does the same thing here.
2. Leave the page if you want. She finishes either way.

**Processing** covers two jobs: turning the recording into text, then reading the text for what to write down. A long visit sits there for a while.

When she's done the encounter moves to **In review**, which is where her entries are.

If either job fails, the encounter still moves to **In review** and keeps whatever you typed yourself: you write the rest up by hand and finalise it as usual. The transcript is the part marked **Error**, with the reason on it.

## Read the transcript

1. Press **Transcript** at the top right of the encounter.
2. Read it in the panel that opens. Each line says **Practitioner**, **Patient** or **Unknown**. Unknown is a voice she couldn't place.
3. For a copy to keep, press **Download PDF**.

The transcript stays on the encounter for as long as the encounter does.

![The transcript panel, one line a speaker](https://res.cloudinary.com/drmnydbcs/image/upload/c_limit,w_1600/f_auto,q_auto:good/v1/help/ava/transcript.png?_a=BAMAOGDh0#672x900 "Ava splits the room into Practitioner, Patient and Unknown.")

## Go through what Ava wrote

Ava fills in the chief complaint and adds entries of these kinds:

| | |
| --- | --- |
| Diagnosis | Procedure |
| Observation | Medication |
| Allergy | Care plan |
| Assessment | |

Each one she made shows an **AI** pill and a percentage. The percentage is how sure she was of that entry.

![An encounter in review, with Ava's entries waiting on Accept or Decline](https://res.cloudinary.com/drmnydbcs/image/upload/c_limit,w_1600/f_auto,q_auto:good/v1/help/ava/review.png?_a=BAMAOGDh0#1440x900 "The chief complaint has no Accept or Decline: she writes it straight onto the encounter.")

1. Press **Show details** on an entry to read it in full.
2. Press **Accept** to keep it. The entry is marked **Accepted** and stays on the record.
3. Press **Decline** to remove it. The entry is deleted and disappears from the encounter.

**Review progress** at the top counts how many of her entries you've been through. **Decline** is also how you delete one of hers: the menu on the entry offers **Edit** but no **Delete**.

Accepting is recorded against the encounter, with who did it, so **Review progress** and the **Accepted** pills follow you to another computer. You don't have to finish a review where you started it.

> [!WARNING]
> Ava writes her entries onto the record herself, before you see them. Declining is the only thing that takes one off. An encounter nobody reviews keeps everything she wrote, and locks with it after seven days.

[Record an encounter](/help/patients-and-records/record-an-encounter) covers the seven days and what locking means.

## Related

- [What Ava can do](/help/ava/what-ava-can-do)
- [Record an encounter](/help/patients-and-records/record-an-encounter)
- [What Practor costs](/help/account-and-billing/what-practor-costs)