To contact a patient by SMS

(Applies to both Month View and Appointment Book Recalls Tab)

1. Click the Patient's SMS Mobile icon or SMS Home phone icon to display the SMS contact window.
2. Select the Provider, Specialist and SMS templates (click in each field to activate the selection controls for that field).
3. If you select a Category, it will be added against the SMS and displayed in the Category column in the Contacts tab as EXACT does for letters, as a quick reference to identify the purpose of the message.
4. Click the button to open the Create SMS window, with the Description and Message fields defaulted (if you chose an SMS template), or the screen blank to enable you to enter your own details.
   In the case of a defaulted message, you still have the option to edit the details (see below).

   

5. In this window, you can edit the Description ‑ which is used for the Contacts tab ‑ and can also edit the message to be sent. If the message to be sent is a Flash message, tick the Flash checkbox, if it is not already ticked by default for the SMS Template (if one is used). Alternatively, if the template is for a Flash message, you can untick the checkbox to send it as an ordinary SMS if you wish.

   On some cellphones a Flash message will appear on the screen immediately upon arrival, without the need to press any buttons on the phone. This is a useful alternative to normal SMS to catch the recipient's attention. The recipient has the option of 'saving' the Flash SMS to their Inbox.

6. As you enter text, the line under the message box will display the approximate character count, and how many 153-character SMS messages this represents, which will be charged against your SMS account credit.
   

   From v12.5 onwards the maximum number of Truncate To SMS is 3.

   
   If you wish to limit this, you can either delete text and/or merge fields (such as the patients name, or other details) to shorten the message, or click in the Truncate To field and select the maximum length of the message, in message unit multiples (1 to 9) of approximately 160 character length (1 SMS) or 153 characters for longer messages.

7. Clicking the button on this window will create the SMS messages for the selected patient in EXACT, and either send the SMS message or queue it to be sent, depending on your settings.
   The contact list entry will be updated with the appropriate SMS status icon in the Type column.
   For an SMS message, one of the following icons may appear, depending on the status:

   	SMS appointment reminder sent to recipient (delivered)
   	SMS message received by gateway (sent, but not yet delivered)
   	SMS delivery failed (where SOE is the SMS provider; password is wrong, insufficient credit, etc.)
   	Reply received (for SMS reminder sent to patient)
   	SMS status is now available
   	SMS status unknown (TXTConnecxions / Icetrak / 4Production)
   	SMS failed or not sent to gateway
   	SMS status unavailable (other SMS providers)

   TIP: A tooltip displays when you hover your mouse cursor over each of the icons.

8. The SMS message will also appear in the Email Outbox until it is sent, when it will be removed and will appear in the Sent tab.

   It will have the appropriate icon in the Status column.

   Only email replies will appear in the Email Inbox.

   If staggered recall settings are in effect, the column marked with a clock icon will have a corresponding icon for any items in the Outbox which are subject to the settings.

   If you hover your mouse cursor over the icon, a tooltip will tell you when the SMS is due to be sent, as in this example: