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Version: 3.1

User

A user in Care is an account that a person — or an automated integration — uses to sign in and act on the platform. It is the identity behind every action in the record: the doctor who writes a note, the nurse who records an observation, and the operator who registers a patient all do so as a user.

What it represents​

In Care's FHIR-aligned model, a user corresponds most closely to the Practitioner resource — the person delivering or supporting care. The account captures:

  • Identity — name (with a prefix such as "Dr."), username, gender, date of birth, and a profile photo
  • Contact — the phone number and email used for sign-in and notifications
  • Credentials — qualification, medical council registration, and working hours, for staff who provide care
  • Account context — the user's geographic organization, who created the account, and whether it is human or automated

A user is not the same as their permissions. The account holds who someone is; what they are allowed to do comes from the roles they hold in organizations and facilities — see Access control. Granting or removing a role changes a user's reach without touching their identity, which is why the same account can move between facilities or change duties without being recreated.

Types​

Not every account belongs to a person logging in by hand:

  • Human accounts — clinicians and operators who sign in with a username and password, and optionally a one-time code
  • Service accounts — machine or integration identities used by other systems to call Care's API on a defined, auditable basis rather than as a person

Both leave the same accountable trail; the distinction matters for how they sign in and for telling automated activity apart from human activity in an audit.

How it connects​

A user is the actor that ties the rest of the record together:

  • Authorship — encounters, observations, orders, and notes record the user who created or updated them, giving every entry an accountable owner
  • Organization & facility — a user is granted roles inside organizations and facilities; these memberships decide which patients and data the user can reach
  • Scheduling — clinician users back schedules and bookings, so credentials and working hours shape who can be booked
  • Account creator — each account records the user who created it, preserving an onboarding trail

Sign-in and security​

Care protects accounts with layered sign-in controls:

  • Password — every human account sets a password that must pass a strength check; service accounts may sign in without one
  • Multi-factor authentication — users can enable a time-based one-time code (TOTP) from an authenticator app, with single-use backup codes for recovery
  • Verification — accounts carry a verified status, and a user can be reached for a password reset through their registered username

Permissions​

User permissions govern who can create other accounts and assign their roles. They do not control what a user can do clinically — that flows from the roles a user holds. Listing and retrieving user accounts are not gated by a dedicated permission in the viewset, and updating or deleting an account is restricted to the account owner or a superuser rather than to a role permission.

PermissionDescriptionSystem Roles
can_create_userCreate a new human user accountAdmin, Facility Admin, Administrator
can_create_service_accountCreate a new service (machine) accountAdmin, Facility Admin, Administrator
can_manage_organization_usersAssign the requested roles to the new account within an organizationAdmin, Administrator, Facility Admin, Admin (role org)
can_manage_connected_role_organizationsAssign roles in a connected role organization when onboarding the accountAdmin (role org), Manager (role org)

Roles are granted through organization, facility, and patient memberships, and permissions cascade down the organization tree — a role held at a higher level applies to the facilities and teams beneath it.