A contact group is a list of contact numbers linked to existing contacts of various types.
Selecting a contact group as a recipient allows you to send communications — often linked to emergency procedures — to multiple numbers at once.
Managing Contact Groups in the Phone Registry
The phone registry allows administrative members to manage contact information so communications can be sent efficiently.
Managing this information won't modify the contact information the member entered from their user profile. Both databases coexist and data from both sources is shown in the Hospital dashboards.
To access and manage the phone registry, a dashboard member must have an administrator account with the relevant permissions. You can’t grant this role to a member who is part of a scheduling group linked to the dashboard.
Access the Phone registry from the Hospital dashboards.
To do so, open the Hospital dashboards menu and select Phone registry.
Searching for a Contact Group
The list that appears shows all existing contacts in alphabetical order.
By default, all contacts are shown in the list. Click a letter to only show the contacts whose name starts by the selected letter.
To search for a specific contact group, use the Search field above the list.
Scroll through the list to consult the search results.
The second column shows contact information for each contact in the list. For contact groups however, this column shows how many contact numbers of each type are linked to the contact group.
A contact card contains a note when this icon is visible:
To consult a contact group’s complete information, click on its contact card.
Creating a Contact Group
Contact cards contain contact information and other useful details.
To create a contact card for a new contact group, follow the steps below:
1. Open the Add a contact card menu and select Contact Group.
The Manage Contact Groups page opens.
2. Enter the required information in the fields.
3. Add numbers to the Contact numbers list.
4. Add notes if needed.
5. Click Save.
Adding a Number to the Contact Numbers List
When you send a communication to a contact group, the same communication is sent to every number in the Contact Numbers list.
To add a number to the list, follow the steps below:
1. In the Manage Contact Groups page, start by searching for a contact using the Search field above the Contact Numbers list.
2. Select a valid number to add it to the Contact Numbers list.
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(!) To be valid, contact numbers need to respect the following:
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Numbers that are already part of the list are greyed out and a green checkmark replaces the + icon.
Removing a Number from the Contact Numbers List
To remove a number from the Contact Numbers list, click the X icon.
Adding a Note to a Contact Group’s Contact Card
Add notes to a contact group’s card to share important information with other users.
| (i) When you add a note to a contact card, it is visible in the phone registry and in the Communication center. |
To add a note to a contact card, access the Manage Contact Groups page and follow the steps below:
1. In the Contact group notes section, click Add note.
A new form appears.
2. By default, the Start of display fields show the current date and time. Select a new date and time if you want to show the note on the contact card at a specific moment.
| (i) Before the Start of display date and time, the note is visible for its creator only. |
3. Notes stay on a contact card until they are deleted. If you want the note to be automatically removed from the contact card after a specific period, select a date and time using the End of display fields.
4. Type your note in the field.
5. At the top of the Manage Contact Groups page, click Save.
Notes appear at the bottom of the contact group details window.
Modifying a Note
To modify an existing note, access the Manage Contact Groups page and locate the note you need to modify in the Contact group notes section.
Proceed with the necessary modifications.
At the top of the Manage Contact Groups page, click Save.
Deleting a Note
To delete a note that is no longer necessary, access the Manage Contact Groups page and locate the note you need to delete in the Contact group notes section.
Click this icon:
At the top of the Manage Contact Groups page, click Save.
Modifying a Contact Group
To modify an existing contact group, follow the steps below:
1. Start by searching for the contact group you need to modify and select its contact card.
A window opens. It contains all the information that pertains to the selected contact group.
2. In the top right corner, click this icon:
3. Modify the information contained in the field if necessary.
4. Add or remove numbers from the Contact numbers list.
5. Add or delete notes if needed.
6. When all necessary modifications have been done, click Save.
Deleting a Contact Group
To delete a contact group that is obsolete, follow the steps below:
1. Start by searching for the contact group you need to delete and select its contact card.
A window opens. It contains all the information that pertains to the selected contact group.
2. In the top right corner, click this icon:
Consulting Communications History
The communications history allows you to store important data about the communications, their recipients and the content of messages.
To consult the communications history, follow the steps below:
1. From the Hospital Dashboards menu, select History.
2. Select the period for which you want to consult the communications history and click Apply.
3. Type the name of a contact group in the Search field to display communications that were sent to this specific contact group.
The history shows a list of communications for the selected period.
Click a column header to modify the order in which the communications appear in the list.
Click the arrow in one of the headers to show the communications in ascending order (when the arrow is pointing down) or in descending order (when the arrow is pointing up).
The contact group’s name appears under the contact’s name in the Recipient column.
Managing Contact Groups in
the Communication center
An extension to the Hospital Console/Clinical Capacity Management platform, the Communication Center module is your health network’s critical communications hub. It assists switchboard operators in managing communications with healthcare providers, handling emergency procedures, and ensuring follow-ups.
Access the Communication center from the Hospital dashboards.
To do so, open the Hospital dashboards menu and select Communication center.
The Communication center is split into four panes, each tailored to the actions you need to perform.
1. The Recipients Pane
The Recipients pane allows you to quickly consult a variety of information about a specific contact or to select recipients for your communications.
2. The Contact Numbers Pane
Once you've selected a contact group, the associated numbers appear in this pane.
3. The Communication Pane
Use the Communication pane to send communications to the selected contact group.
4. The Ongoing Communications Pane
The Ongoing Communications pane displays all communications that require the operators' attention, thus allowing for a better cooperation.
Access the different tabs to perform one of the following actions:
- Manage communication errors
- Manage ongoing emergency procedures
Searching for a Contact Group
Contact cards in the Communication center provide valuable details such as notes added by the phone registry administrators or comments added by switchboard operators.
The Search field is located at the top, next to the Petal logo.
To search for a specific contact group, start typing its name in the field.
Search Results
The results are displayed on the left, just under the Search field. The number of corresponding results appears next to the Search field.
Each contact card displays a count of the available comments and notes, as well as a preview.
Selecting a Contact Card
Select a contact card from the list to display contact information and to perform specific actions.
When the search produces a single result, the contact card is automatically selected.
When the search produces multiple results, scroll through the list and click on a contact card to select it.
Select a contact group to perform one of the following actions:
- Add a comment to the contact card
- Consult comments and notes history
- Consult communications history
Adding a Comment to a Contact Group Card
The Communication center facilitates cooperation between operators by allowing them to add comments to a contact card. The comments become available to everyone and their publication can be scheduled for a predefined period.
| (i) When you add a comment to a contact card, it is only visible in the Communication center. |
To add a comment to a contact card, follow the steps below:
1. Search for the contact card to which you want to add a comment and select it from the list.
2. Click Add comment.
The Add a comment window opens.
3. By default, the Start of display fields show the current date and time. Select a new date and time if you want to show the comment on the contact card at a specific moment.
| (i) Before the Start of display date and time, the comment is visible for its creator only. |
4. Comments stay on a contact card until they are deleted. If you want the comment to be automatically removed from the contact card after a specific period, select a date and time using the End of display fields.
5. Type your comment in the field.
6. Click Add.
The comment is now visible at the top of the selected contact card:
To modify the comment, hover the cursor over the comment and click Edit.
To remove the comment from the contact card, hover the cursor over the comment and click Delete.
To access information about its creation, its modifications and its period of visibility, click History.
Consulting a Contact Group’s Comments and Notes History
Comments and notes that were visible only for a specific period — or those that were deleted — are still available after they have been removed from a contact card.
To consult comments or notes no longer shown on a contact card, follow the steps below:
1. Search for the contact group for which you want to consult the comments and notes history and select it from the list.
2. Click Comments and notes history.
The Comments and notes history pane opens.
The Comments and notes history pane shows a chronological list of the following elements:
- Note or comment creation
- Note or comment modification
- Note or comment deletion
Consulting a Contact Group’s Communications History
When you send a communication from the Communication center or when you log a call, information about the communication is recorded. Such information includes when the communication was sent, who sent it and what was the content of the message. This information is useful for auditing purposes or during troubleshooting activities.
To consult the communication history for a specific contact group, follow the steps below:
1. Search for the contact group for which you want to consult the communications history and select it from the list.
2. Click Communications history.
The Communications history pane shows all the communications this contact group received during the last 72 hours.
3. To consult the complete list of communications this contact group received—including communications older than 72 hours—click View Complete History.
The new window that opens shows the Communications History. The communications in the list are already filtered to show only the communications received by the selected contact group during the last three months.
Sending a Communication to a Contact Group
Use the Communication center to send communications to devices that allow the reception of alphanumerical and numerical messages.
Send a communication to a contact group the same way you would send a communication to any other contact types.
| (!) The Communication center cannot be used to send or to receive phone calls. Therefore, contact groups cannot be the recipients of a phone call. |
To send a communication to a specific contact group, follow the steps below:
1. Search for a contact group and select it.
The Contact Numbers pane shows the list of contact numbers for the selected recipient. When the recipient is a contact group, all numbers from the list are automatically selected and cannot be removed.
When a contact group contains another contact group, the list shows the number of devices included in the child contact group along with their type.
2. Fill the required fields in the Communication pane.
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(i) When the list of contact numbers contains numbers for numeric and alphanumeric devices, two fields are available so both message types can be sent at the same time. Use the Message field to enter the alphanumerical content of your communication. Use the Numerical Message field to enter the numerical content of your communication. |
3. To send the communication to the selected recipients and clear the Communication pane's fields, click Send.
Sending a Communication Linked to an Emergency Procedure
An emergency procedure is an intervention plan designed to resolve a specific situation. Therefore, sending a communication to a contact group allows to save time and to communicate vital information efficiently.
| (i) If you want to configure a contact group as an automatic recipient for an emergency procedure, please contact customer support. |
To link your communication to an ongoing emergency procedure, select the procedure from the list that appears in the Emergency Procedure section of the Communication pane.
| (i) When you open an emergency procedure, it is selected by default for the first communication you send. |
When there are more than three ongoing emergency procedures and the one you are looking for doesn’t appear in the list, click Show more until you find the emergency procedure to which the communication needs to be linked.
To consult the reference document for a specific procedure, click View.
Managing Callbacks for a Contact Group
When you link a communication to an emergency procedure, the Waiting for a callback option is automatically selected in the Communication pane.
Once you send the communication, the Ongoing Procedures pane is automatically brought to the front and shows the communication's progress.
Each contact from the group appears on a separate line.
To confirm the callback for a specific contact, click the checkmark icon:
The line background turns to green and the Delay column displays a Confirmed tag.
Once you have received the expected number of callbacks, click the X icon on the contact group line to stop waiting for callbacks for this communication.
| There is an ongoing emergency procedure for which I send a communication. I need confirmation from 3 nurses and 2 specialists. The group I choose to send the communication to contains 6 specialists and 8 nurses. Once I get a callback from 3 nurses and 2 specialists, I close the communication and stop waiting for a callback so the other professionals know the matter has been settled. |
Managing Communication Errors for a Contact Group
Communication errors may occur if — for example — the selected number type cannot receive SMS.
Follow the progress of your communication by accessing the Active Communications tab.
| (i) Communications linked to an emergency procedure appear under the Ongoing Procedures tab instead. |
To address a communication error, follow the steps below:
1. Access the Active Communications tab and locate the communication in error. The communication appears with a red background and an Error tag under the Delay column.
2. Click the Edit button.
The message at the top of the window gives you more information about the error.
3. Select a valid contact number and click Edit. If the problem is solved, the communication disappears from the Active Communications tab—unless you are waiting for a callback—and is sent to the recipient.