The entry of date information is a fundamental function within clinical and administrative processes. Therefore, healthcare professionals should have a clear, quick mechanism for entry of an accurate date value, and be assisted to disambiguate entries when necessary.

The basic date input control should comprise:

• A free text input area
• A calendar control
• A default input, dependent on the context in which the control is used
• A facility to disambiguate the date entered

Free text date input should be possible as fully specified dates, partially specified dates and arithmetic shortcuts.

The entry of partially specified dates will not be appropriate for every situation. Therefore, application designers should decide what types of dates are allowed for a given situation, based on the specific clinical context.