[epicproviders] Epigram- Secure Chat

[Epic - All Provider Staff]

Epigram

Secure Chat
Secure Chat has been very successful. Each day, 13,000 messages are sent using this tool. Secure Chat has been credited with reducing interruptions when doing patient care and improving efficiency in areas such as discharge planning. I want to remind you that Secure Chat is just one of several communication tools available for your use. You can choose the tools that fit best for your workflow. If you do use Secure Chat, I want to remind you of a few important details. First, Secure Chat is not part of the medical record. Messages are automatically purged from the system after 72 hours and cannot be retrieved.  Secondly, to make sure that communications are received in timely manner, there are guidelines that you should follow if you choose to send a message with this tool. These guidelines are:

  *   Do not use Secure Chat for emergent communications. Secure Chat does not yet have the capabilities to ensure emergent communications are seen quickly enough. Direct phone calls, pagers or vocera should be considered for emergent communications at this time. Secure chat is ideal for routine communications.
  *   Ensure the person you are sending the message to is available. When you send a message, you can see if the person chose a status of “unavailable”. If they have, please seek an alternative communication tool.
  *   When you send a message, no matter the tool, you are responsible for ensuring the message was received in a timely manner. By way of example, if you have an urgent message and make a phone call, a voice message will not do because you will not know if it was opened and listened to. When you send a Secure Chat, there are message indicators that will inform you if the message has been seen. Please check these. If you do not receive confirmation that a message has been seen in an appropriate amount of time (either by the indicators or a message back), you will need to find and alternative messaging tool.

Upgrades
Due to the great popularity of this tool in our institution and other Epic hospitals across the country, Epic and our IMT team are busy creating enhancements that will make this communication method even more valuable. Keep an eye out for announcements coming soon!

Summary:
Secure chat has been successful but there are some guidelines you need to keep in mind when using it. The guidelines summarized above are detailed on the attached document.



________________________________
>From the Desk of the CMIO
Neal Seidberg, MD
seidbern at upstate.edu
315-464-7507
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