Patient SMS Messaging in Profile

patient sms messaging feature profile's patient sms messaging feature allows healthcare organisations to send sms messages directly from within profile the following article will focus on the configuration and functionality of the sms messaging feature there are also a number of helpful videos located in the videos folder click here https //help intrahealth com/en/support/solutions/folders/6000242835 to access the sms videos enabling of patient to receive sms messages to allow a patient to receive sms messages, go to alter patient for the patient, and in the connectivity panel, ensure the patient’s mobile phone number is entered in the mobile phone field and check the sms mobile checkbox in the communicate by field sms preferences you can modify the default templates for outgoing sms go to organisation/preferences/setup/internet/messages tab select twilio sms from the service name dropdown menu, if necessary the find service by pos checkbox adjacent to the field can be checked if the twilio service has been configured with a specific pos if desired, press to set up a schedule to run a macro for sending out appointment reminders see the next section, appointment reminders schedule , for more information you can press the configure intervention reminders button to set up a scheduled task for sending out intervention reminders see the section intervention reminders schedule for more information in the messages tab of internet preferences, click into each of the free text fields in the message templates panel as necessary and change the default text and/or enter desired text to enable the appointment advice field, check the send appointment advice by sms checkbox the intervention template is for sms messages sent from the work centre/clinical/intervention list view the generic template is for sms messages sent using the send a message toolbar button print variables can also be viewed and selected for insertion in the templates by pressing the communicate by setting for sms mobile can be enabled for all patients, non patients, and organisations by pressing at the bottom left of the messages tab, you can select response options for specific areas in profile when sending an sms message from the appointment audit tab or the intervention audit tab, for example, these outgoing messages will not be acknowledged by default (to enable the appointment or intervention reminders functionality) unless you check the acknowledge outgoing appointment messages by default or acknowledge outgoing intervention messages by default checkboxes you can also check the responses with ‘1’ will confirm the appointment and responses with ‘2’ will cancel the appointment checkboxes if the first option is checked, when the patient responds to an sms appointment reminder with 1 , this will automatically confirm the appointment, which is denoted by the c icon in the appointment slot and the checked confirmed checkbox in the appointment flags panel of the edit appointment window if the second option is checked, when the patient responds to an sms appointment reminder with 2 , this will automatically cancel the appointment, which is denoted by the cancelled icon in the appointment slot and the checked cancelled checkbox in the appointment flags panel of the edit appointment window the other areas in profile where these preferences apply are the appointments list view in the control centre and the intervention list view in the work centre note in profile 8 8, when a patient is sent an appointment reminder by sms or email, they have the ability to confirm the appointment using an unique external web address that is automatically generated for each appointment this resolves any issues with the approach of having the patient reply with "1" or "2" in cases where more than one patient shared the same mobile number, or if the patient has multiple appointments in a short period of time see the article on appointment confirmation/cancellation web link for reminders docid\ bw5l8aixics1ufkvt9gcb for more details if earlier versions of profile are being used, the issues mentioned above will still exist clinical users will need to manually confirm who sent the response, as well as confirm the appointment on the patient's behalf in profile in this regard, clinical users should also note that the responses, from a patient who has multiple appointments in a day, must be handled individually and will be applied from their earliest to latest appointment times for example, if a patient has an appointment at 12 p m and another appointment at 3 p m , their first confirmation will apply to their first pending appointment slot at 12 p m appointment reminders schedule go to organisation/preferences/setup/internet/messages tab to set up a schedule to run a macro for sending out appointment reminders see the sms preferences section above for more detail on the features found on this screen the default message for the appointment reminders can be created here in the appointment reminder box this is a free text space print variables can also be added further customisation (as shown below in step 6 ) can be done if available this additional customisation does not apply for version 8 6 press the configure appointment reminders button in the system tasks window that opens, double click the selected patient appointment reminders service in the system task ‘patient appointment reminders’ window, task tab, check the enabled checkbox select the schedule tab, press new if there is no scheduled task and set the desired schedule in the rules tab (previously called 'settings') multiple appointment reminder rules can be created using a variety of specifications rules can be configured allowing for messages to be sent at different intervals, and to include different modes, appointment types, providers, and pos they can also contain different messages click new , to create a new rule type the name of the new rule into the name field choose all or only in each of the drop down lists to specify the necessary provider , pos , type and mode for the rule if only is chosen, in any of the fields, click the appropriate add buttons to make a selection select default or custom in the message drop down list and change the message as required in the days before appointment field, the default is set to 28 this details the number of days before the intervention, that the intervention reminder would be sent out enter a different number of days, if required the days before appointment field is the only customisation feature in this tab, that applies to version 8 6 press ok to save the changes intervention reminders schedule go to organisation/preferences/setup/internet/messages tab to set up a schedule to run a macro for sending out intervention reminders see the sms preferences section above for more detail on the features found on this screen the default message for the intervention reminders can be created here in the intervention box this is a free text space print variables can also be added further customisation (as shown below in step 6 ) can be done if available this additional customisation does not apply for version 8 6 press the configure intervention reminders button in the system tasks window that opens, double click the selected patient messages for intervention reminders service in the system task ‘patient messages for intervention reminders’ window, task tab, check the enabled checkbox select the schedule tab and press new if there’s no scheduled task and set the desired schedule in the rules tab, like in the appointment reminders schedule section above, multiple rules can be created with different specifications, and for different uses click new , to create a new rule, then type the name of the new rule into the name field choose all or only in each of the drop down lists to specify the appropriate provider , pos , and reason for the rule if only is chosen, click the appropriate add button to make a selection select default or custom in the message drop down list and change the message template as required in the days before intervention field, the default is set to 28 this details the number of days before the intervention, that the intervention reminder would be sent out enter a different number of days, if required the days before intervention field is the only customisation feature in this tab, that applies to version 8 6 press ok to save the changes messages view the messages view in the patient medical record or case window shows the full message history to and from the patient you can add participants, acknowledge messages and open linked items using the messages view toolbar toolbar buttons add participant leave conversation acknowledged – toggle the selected message as acknowledged or not acknowledged acknowledge all – mark all messages to and from this patient as acknowledged open linked appointment open linked intervention open linked result delete duplicate message refresh messages you can send messages in this view by typing into the free text field at the bottom of the window and pressing you can also attach files, including image and audio files patient items view the patient items view in the work centre, previously named accession items , allows users to manage incoming messages toolbar buttons add participant leave conversation acknowledged – toggle the selected message as acknowledged or not acknowledged acknowledge all – mark all messages to and from this patient as acknowledged open linked appointment open linked intervention open linked result delete duplicate message refresh messages in the filter for the view messages has been added as a type of patient item and can be enabled or disabled item status can be selected message direction can be selected two helpful filters to create are all unacknowledged messages and all (acknowledged) inward messages send message button the button/icon can be placed on the main toolbar accessed on the intervention list toolbar pressing the send message button/icon will open the select patient for send message window to search for a patient or the send message to patient window, if the patient is in context type the message in the free text field and press to send a one off message to the patient if an appointment, intervention, or result was open/selected when this button is pressed, the appropriate message template from the internet preferences will display and a link to the object will be referenced at the bottom of the window clicking on the link will remove it if it doesn’t relate to the message you desire to send you can also link currently available objects by clicking this opens the select an object to link window and the object can be selected from the options these links are for internal context only; they will not be included in the message to the patient advanced functionality with macros there are a couple macro integrations into the new sms functionality this section is meant to identify the capabilities in profile, rather than elaborate exactly how the macros should be written sending messages by macro use the com method profile sendpatientmessage to create message objects and send them using the sms service this can be done on an automated schedule in conjunction with a system task ( organisation/system tasks explorer ) to automatically send messages to patients for whatever purpose incoming message handler we have rewritten the smshandler macro as built in code that will confirm or cancel upcoming appointments for which an outgoing appointment reminder sms was sent