S
Subjective
Heel pain much improved. Morning pain now brief, rated 3/10 (was 8/10). Managing short runs again.
The SOAPE format · SOAP + a fifth part
The SOAPE note:
The SOAPE note:
the E that isn't
settled.
SOAPE adds one section to SOAP — but its meaning genuinely depends on your field. The E stands for Evaluation in nursing and rehabilitation, and for patient Education in pharmacy and family medicine. Both are correct.
S · O · A · P · E — Evaluation or Education
Left heel pain · 3-week review•PODIATRY•SOAPE
O
Objective
Mild residual tenderness at the medial tubercle. Ankle dorsiflexion improved to 10°. Windlass now negative.A
Assessment
Resolving plantar fasciitis, left. Mechanical drivers responding to loading and stretch.P
Plan
Continue calf-stretch program and heel cup. Progress running load 10%/week. Review in 4 weeks.E
Evaluation
Plan effective — pain and dorsiflexion both improved on target; no escalation needed. (Or, as Education: "advised on load management and morning stretch routine before activity.")
Definition
What is a SOAPE note?
A SOAPE note is a SOAP note with one section added after the Plan. The four core parts — Subjective, Objective, Assessment, Plan — are unchanged. What the fifth letter E stands for, though, is not universal: it is used two different ways, and both are authoritatively documented.
In nursing, rehabilitation and prehospital care, the E is Evaluation — an appraisal of whether the plan worked. In pharmacy and family-medicine teaching, the E is patient Education — a prompt to record what the patient was taught. For podiatry and the wider allied-health field there is no fixed convention, so the honest answer is: decide which E your practice means, and use it consistently.
Same five letters, two disciplines, two meanings — SOAPE is one of those acronyms you have to define locally.
The fifth part
The two meanings of E
Pick the one that matches how you work. They capture different things and belong to different documentation traditions.
E
Evaluation
Nursing · rehab · EMS — "did the plan work?"
Your appraisal of progress against the intended outcome: is the patient improving, plateauing or regressing, and does the plan need to hold, progress or change? It ties objective change back to the goal. This is the meaning used in the nursing process and in SOAPIE / SOAPIER.
e.g. "Plan effective — pain 8/10 to 3/10 and dorsiflexion improved on target. Continue; no escalation."
E
Education
Pharmacy · family medicine — "what did you teach?"
A record of the patient education delivered — the advice, technique or self-management guidance given, and confirmation the patient understood it. It exists to make sure education is both done and documented.
e.g. "Educated on progressive loading, footwear choice, and a morning stretch routine before weight-bearing."
If your E is Evaluation, don't confuse it with the Assessment
Where the E means Evaluation, keep it distinct from the A. The Assessment is what's going on — the diagnosis or clinical impression. The Evaluation is how the treatment for it is going — a verdict on the plan's effectiveness. A note can carry the same Assessment across several visits while its Evaluation moves from "early response" to "goals met."
Assessment names the problem. Evaluation judges the fix. Education records what you taught.
When to reach for it
Where SOAPE earns its extra field
Course-of-care treatment
Rehab, physiotherapy and podiatry programmes run over weeks. An Evaluation line makes each review note say plainly whether you're on track.
Patient-education compliance
Where recording what you taught matters — medication counselling, self-management advice — an Education line makes it explicit and auditable.
Justifying the plan
Continuing, progressing or discharging is easier to defend when each note records why, in effectiveness terms.
Team handover
A covering clinician reads the fifth line and knows either how the plan is going, or what the patient has already been told.
Keep reading
Related formats
Common questions
SOAPE notes, answered
What does the E in SOAPE stand for?
It depends on the field. In nursing, rehabilitation and prehospital care the E is Evaluation — an appraisal of whether the treatment plan worked. In pharmacy and family-medicine teaching it is patient Education — a record of what the patient was taught. Both are authoritatively documented, so define which you mean and use it consistently.
Is there a single correct meaning?
No. There is no dominant cross-disciplinary convention, and for allied-health fields like podiatry neither meaning is fixed. The right choice is the one that matches your documentation tradition and what your notes need to capture.
What's the difference between the Assessment and an Evaluation-style E?
The Assessment is your diagnosis or clinical impression — what's going on. The Evaluation is your judgement of how effective the treatment has been — whether the plan for it is working. One names the problem, the other judges the fix.
How is SOAPE different from SOAPIE?
SOAPE adds one letter to SOAP (E). SOAPIE adds two — Intervention and Evaluation — so it has a separate section for the clinical actions performed. That extra Intervention section is what distinguishes SOAPIE from SOAPE. See the format comparison.
Does the SOAP Notes app support SOAPE?
Yes — you choose the format per note and dictate straight into the fifth section, whichever meaning of E you use.
Add the fifth part on your terms.
Pick SOAPE per note and dictate straight into all five sections — Evaluation or Education, your call. Free to start, private on your device.
Get SOAP Notes