Telehealth Office guide

Telehealth allows practitioners to run remote video consultations with patients from Zedmed. This feature includes integrated Telehealth Appointment types and notifications, including SMS messages with links to the video consultations and practitioner notifications when a patient joins. 

Reception workflow

Reception creates Telehealth appointments, which are indicated by a camera icon in the Appointment Grid. 

Considerations

• The patient reminder SMS with the Telehealth link can be sent up to 12 hours before the appointment.
• The link in the SMS will be usable for 24 hours after the SMS is sent and can be opened multiple times.
• The patient cannot join the Telehealth session until 30 minutes before the appointment.

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.

Consultation workflow 

The patient is Admitted to the Waiting Room when they tap Join on the Telehealth page on their phone, which starts their video connection. When the practitioner Attends the patient from the Waiting Room, the Current Encounter starts and displays the menu the practitioner uses to join Telehealth themself. 

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. In this scenario, reception will not see an Attend time for this consultation.

Workflow summary:

1. The patient books a Telehealth appointment.
2. Before the appointment (e.g., 30 minutes), the patient receives an SMS with the Telehealth link.
3. 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'.
4. The practitioner sees the patient in the Waiting Room and selects Admit.
   This opens the patient's clinical record and starts the Current Encounter in Zedmed.
5. Practitioner joins:
   • Zedmed Cloud practitioners select Open Telehealth from Zedmed Mobile.
   • Zedmed On-premise practitioners select Telehealth from Current Encounter menu (and choose a video display option).
6. The practitioner selects Start Consult in Telehealth.
   The practitioner and patient see each other and can start talking.

Patient workflow

To join a Telehealth consultation:

1. Receives the reminder SMS before the appointment.
   The link is valid for 24 hours from when it is sent and can be opened multiple times.
2. Taps the Telehealth link in the SMS.
   Telehealth will open, and the patient can preview their camera and microphone setup (middle screenshot below).
3. 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