A system and method for providing a clinical summary of patient data in a health care setting. The system and method comprises a graphical user interface in communication with a health information system for accessing patient data. The graphical user interface is capable of displaying a clinical summary of patient data in a summary window in a textual format and a graphical format. The system and method further comprises a user record allowing a user to specify and configure the patient data displayed in the summary window. The user record includes configuration and security settings for selectively controlling the display of the user-specified patient data, and a user can select from the displayed patient data, access additional information about the selected patient data, generate detailed reports including the selected patient data, and generate graphical representations including the selected patient data.