Introduction
You can see below that we are making some great progress and have listed below all of our recent updates - from exciting new features to enhancements.
There is no expected downtime for this release. However it will require a client update. Please see here for a guide on obtaining the latest version of the Engage Client.
The main new feature in this release is OPM - Outbound Patient Messaging
Outbound Patient Messaging allows you to message all of your patients direct from the Engage client. You can utilise Engage messaging, email and SMS messaging to send an outbound message. Outbound Patient Messaging can be used to send anything from a simple campaign message (i.e. have you had your flu jab), help manage Long Term Conditions (i.e. sending out an Asthma review questionnaire) or just to asking your patients to complete a questionnaire in advance of them attending for a scheduled consultation.
In this first release of Outbound Patient Messaging the focus is on you being able to send Outbound Patient Messages to individual patients through Engage messaging. Staff will be able to use Outbound Messaging to:
1. Search for a patient in the Engage client to send a message to.
2. Attach questionnaires to messages for patients to complete.
3. Invite patients to submit photos or documents.
4. Clinical codes embedded within the questionnaires will be added to the patient's medical records when the questionnaire is added to the journal.
If an Outbound Patient Message has not been responded to by the patient within a set period of time the system can generate an automatic reminder which is sent to the patient. This check takes place daily and searches all active (not archived) messages that have not been responded to in the previous 2 weeks, 1 month or 2 months from the date the message was sent.
Practice staff can also generate a manual reminder, this facility is useful for individual messages sent by practice staff who have sent information to a patient or carer that is pertinent to treatment or diagnosis and requires a quick response i.e. a GP may send a message to a patient requesting completion of a supplementary questionnaire in order to determine or exclude other conditions.
The Product team have created a short but really informative video which will hopefully give you a fuller appreciation of Outbound Patient Messaging.
See What's Next for Outbound Patient Messaging
Bulk Messaging - Send a message to multiple patients at the same time.
Supplementary Questionnaires - Follow up with patients in the same request. For example, if a patient sends in a request and you want them to complete a different questionnaire.
Message Templates - Set up templates which can be used for Outbound Patient Messaging and as responses to requests received from patients. This is an enhancement to the existing autofill feature available when you send an Engage Message.
Message Routing - Incoming requests can be routed automatically to a specified group or member of staff, bypassing Incoming Messages. For example, if you send an Outbound Patient Message for a group of patients to complete a diabetes review, the response could be automatically assigned to a Diabetic group. This group might be at your organisation or one you are Collaborating with.
Staff to Staff Messaging - Staff will be able to create and send messages to other staff.
Feature enhancements
Our successful video solution has had a number of enhancements which will improve the user experience for both patient and clinician.
1.When a patient joins a video call the window for the video call will automatically open as a full screen window.
2.Clinicians can click to mute and or pause their video call at any time as deemed appropriate, other participants will be notified that you have muted the call.
3.Patients now have the ability to switch their cameras on their mobiles so they can show you the clinician their complaint should you need visibility, i.e. a skin rash.
We have also added an additional option into Encompass LT whereby you can Send to Clinical and Complete in a single click - who doesn't love one less click.
Based on feedback and to avoid any ambiguity for users we have changed all references of "Messages" to "Requests" within the Engage client. Also, you can see on the right hand side of the screen shot below that we have introduced a burger style menu, this is all part of a wider plan to update and improve the user interface of Engage Consult.
Coming Soon
Our Product Development team is busy building the following new features which we expect to deliver in the coming weeks:
1. Search Sort & Filter
2. Floating tool bar
3. Multi point video consultations