Start node
The Start node is the single entry point of a journey. Patients arrive through Entry rules; the node sets how soon a patient can enter again.
The Start node (code name Trigger) is where every patient enters a journey. It has no settings for who enters: that is decided by Entry rules. Its one real setting is the re-entry cooldown, which stops the same patient from starting the journey again too soon.
When to use it
Every journey needs exactly one Start node. The builder refuses a second one with A journey can only have one Start node, and publishing is blocked if there is none. Start has an output handle but no input: nothing can connect into it.
Configuration
Field | What it does | Options and default |
|---|---|---|
Label, Notes | Name and notes for the step. See Label and Notes. | Empty label: the card shows Start. |
Patients enter through Entry rules. | A fixed note with the link Open Entry rules, which opens the Entry rules screen. | Not editable here. |
Re-entry cooldown (under Advanced) | How long after a patient's previous run of this journey ended before they can be enrolled again. | Amount plus Unit (minutes, hours, days). Empty uses the tenant default; the section notes Cooldown: tenant default. |
Outcomes and branches
Start has no outcomes to choose from. Every connection leaving Start is followed when the patient is enrolled, so two plain connections start two parallel branches.
What happens when it runs
- A patient is enrolled: by an entry rule, a schedule, a Connect or Involve step in another journey, or a staff member.
- LeapHealthOS checks whether the patient may start this journey. Two of the checks depend on this journey:
- If the patient is already on this journey, they are not enrolled a second time.
- If the patient's last run of this journey ended less than the re-entry cooldown ago, they are not enrolled. The cooldown is the value set here, or the tenant default when this field is empty.
- If the patient is enrolled, the journey starts and moves straight on along every connection leaving Start.
The patient does not see anything at this step. Staff see the new run in the journey's Patients tab. Why a patient was not enrolled is explained in Why a patient was not enrolled.
Example
A post-surgery follow-up journey should not restart if the patient has a second procedure within a month. Set Re-entry cooldown to 30 days. A patient whose run ended on 1 March cannot be enrolled again before 31 March. A Connect step that tries to hand them over earlier gets the outcome Refused by its cooldown.
Tips and limitations
- To decide which events enrol patients, use Entry rules, not this node. See Entry rules and enrolling patients.
- The cooldown counts from the end of the previous run, not from its start.
- The tenant default cooldown lives with the other journey settings; see Notification, reminder and journey settings.
- The node card shows the cooldown in raw seconds (for example Cooldown 2592000s for 30 days).
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