Telehealth allows practitioners to run remote video consultations with patients from Zedmed. This feature includes integrated Telehealth Appointment types and notifications, such as SMS messages with links to video consultations and practitioner notifications when a patient joins.
For common questions, see the Telehealth FAQ
Reception workflow
A Telehealth appointment is created the same way as any other Appointment Type.
A camera icon is displayed next to Telehealth appointments in the Appointment Grid. For OLA bookings, an unreconciled bookign will show a camera icon with a +.
SMS Link Considerations:
- The patient SMS with the Telehealth link can be sent up to 12 hours before the appointment.
- The patient cannot join the Telehealth session until 30 minutes before the appointment.
- By default, the SMS with the link will be sent 15 minutes before the appointment.
- The link in the SMS will be usable for 24 hours after the SMS is sent.
- Moving the appointment to a later time will generate another SMS. The old SMS link will no longer work.
- Moving the appointment to an earlier time will send a new SMS if one was not already sent for the original time.
Resend the patient Telehealth Link
The Appointment Screen has a right-click option to send or resend a Telehealth link to the patient via SMS.
- You can send a link for a past appointment on the same day.
- You can send a link for a future appointment on the same day (if it's no more than 12 hrs in the future).
Monitoring Telehealth appointments
The Waiting Room displays the Appt Type name, the Attd Time (which the patient taps Join) and Admit time (when the practitioner Admits the patient and starts the encounter).
Scenario: The Appt time is 8:15, the Attd Time is 8:05, and it is now 8:30 pm with no Admit time - this tells reception the patient had an 8:15 appointment, joined 10 minutes before the appointment, and has now been waiting for the practitioner for 25 minutes, or 15 minutes since the appointment was due to start.
Office staff can call or SMS patients if they are waiting for a long time or need to be advised of a change.
Note: the practitioner should Admit the patient from the Waiting Room to start the encounter so the Admit time is recorded in the Waiting Room. If the patient is not Admitted, reception will not know if the patient is still waiting for the practitioner.
Practitioner workflow
It is useful for reception to be familiar with the practitioner's workflow, as outlined below:
- The patient books a Telehealth appointment.
- Before the appointment (e.g., 15 minutes), the patient receives an SMS with the Telehealth link.
- The patient taps the link to open Telehealth, then taps Join (selectable 30 minutes before appointment).
- The video connection opens on the patient's phone. Displays - 'Your practitioner will arrive shortly'.
- The patient is automatically Attended to the Waiting Room.
- In the Waiting Room, reception staff see the patient has 'Joined'.
- The practitioner sees the patient in the Clinical Waiting Room and selects Admit.
This opens the patient's clinical record and starts the Current Encounter in Zedmed. - Practitioner joins:
- Zedmed Cloud practitioners select Open Telehealth from Zedmed Mobile.
- Zedmed On-premise practitioners select Telehealth from the Current Encounter menu.
- The practitioner selects Start Consult in Telehealth.
The practitioner and patient see each other and can start talking.
If the Waiting Room is not used and a patient's record is manually opened, a red banner will advise when the patient has joined.
Patient workflow
It is useful for reception to be familiar with the patient's workflow, as outlined below:
- Receives the reminder SMS before the appointment ( by default, 15 minutes before).
The link is valid for 24 hours from when it is sent and can be opened multiple times. - Taps the Telehealth link in the SMS.
Telehealth will open, and the patient can preview their camera and microphone setup (middle screenshot below). - Select the Join button.
A message (screenshot three below) will display 'Your practitioner will arrive shortly.
The Join button becomes available 30 minutes before the consultation. A message will advise the patient of this.
Selecting Join will automatically Attend the patient to the Waiting Room.
| Open the Telehealth link | Approve pictures and video | Tap Join |
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