This article explains how to use Medical Alerts to manually trigger email or SMS to patients for things such as feedback requests, recalls or re-sending intake forms. You can use Medical Alerts for other things too - read this article for details.
Medical Alerts are Cliniko's built in tagging system. They are primarily used to note something about a patient (allergies, conditions, ailments) and are visible to both practitioners and administrators.
Businesses use Medical Alerts in different ways, and we encourage you to continue to use them as you already do.
However, Medical Alerts can also be used to trigger automated Peptalkr email and SMS in two ways:
To trigger an email/SMS to a patient when you add a specific medical alert to their file
To filter who receives or does not receive any triggered email/SMS
⚡ Using a medical alert as a Trigger
Examples of using this trigger:
Sending a patient handy resource(s) you have prepared.
Sending a feedback request to a patient you just had a good session with.
Sending information to a patient specific to a particular issue/requirement.
Sending a recall on a manual schedule specific to this patient.
It's great for those moments where you have a one-off need to manually send a patient something without having to manually type an email/remember to send them something, where a fully automated flow can't be used.
👀 Not sure which method is right for you? Read this article.
Recipe ingredients:
Instructions:
If email - start by creating a transactional email template (skip this step if sending an SMS)
Create the medical alert you'd like to target by following our best practices
Create the trigger:
Press the
buttonGive your trigger a logical name (e.g.
Medical Alert - Back Exercise Videos)Select Automated Recurring and click Next.
Select No for marketing message and click Next.
Select After a medical alert is added to a patient file.
Set your timing (e.g 1 minute) and click Next.
Click
to expand your list of pre-created medical alerts (refer to step 2 - it takes 5 minutes for the Medical Alerts to appear in this list after they have been created)Search for your medical alert and click it to select it. It will appear in green like this if you have selected it:
Apply other filters if you need to then click Next.
Select every time the conditions are met and click Next.
If email: Select your email template from step 1 | If SMS: type your SMS and include any links you want to include
Click Next to review your Summary then click Finish.
Voila! Now you can go ahead and add this medical alert to a patient file and it will trigger this message.
Resending a medical alert triggered message to a patient
If you ever need to send this message to the same patient a second time (rarely but potentially needed at times) - you must:
first remove the medical alert from their patient file
then re-add it at least 5 minutes later. We suggest 10 minutes to be safe.
Why do I have to wait?
Peptalkr has a 5 minute buffer period to pick up changes to Medical Alerts. This prevents inadvertently triggering email/SMS instantly if you make a mistake. Plus, Cliniko takes about 5 minutes to notify us of changes to medical alerts anyway.
🌪️ Using a medical alert as a Filter
Examples of using this trigger:
You want to send an appointment email (reminder, confirmation, follow up, recall etc - but only if they have this medical alert)
You want to exclude patients from receiving certain triggered automations if they have a specific medical alert added.
It's great for those moments where you have a super specific requirements for your follow ups.
👀 Not sure which method is right for you? Read this article.
Recipe ingredients:
Instructions:
If email - create a transactional email template
Create the medical alert by following our best practices
Create a trigger (or SMS):
Press the
buttonGive your trigger a logical name (e.g.
Recall - 7 days - Medical Alert)Select Automated Recurring and click Next.
Select No for marketing message and click Next.
Select the triggering event you need (Our example is a recall so we'll select After the appointment)
Set your timing (e.g 7 days) and any other settings relevant to that trigger (e.g Is this a recall?) and click Next.
Click
then click Medical Alert to expand your list of pre-created medical alerts (refer to step 2 - it takes 5 minutes for the Medical Alerts to appear in this list after they have been created)Search for your medical alert and click it to select it. It will appear in green like this if you have selected it:
Apply other filters if you need to then click Next.
Select every time the conditions are met and click Next.
If email: Select your email template from step 1 | If SMS: type your SMS and include any links you want to include
Click Next to review your Summary then click Finish.
Voila! Now you can go ahead and add this medical alert to a patient file and it will trigger this message next time your triggering event occurs, and your filter conditions are met.