An episode is a single visit from the time a patient checks in to the hospital to the time of discharge, regardless of what else happens for the duration of the episode. During the episode, you can add Documents (items to be filled out by the attending unit) and Requests (items send out from the attending unit to other receiving units in the hospital, such as labs and imaging.)
In addition, an episode can contain "smart objects" which are built in to the software, unlike documents or requests which are customized forms. These include ongoing problems that the patient is experiencing, and SOAPs to describe and analyze the problems. A SOAP can be completed each day that a patient is within the episode, for each problem. Problems can be elevated to more permanent patient level Master Problems, or merged with other problems once differential diagnosis has determined the underlying cause of the symptoms.