Connect Care Secure Chat offers an approved way for users to share quick messages about their work. All other messaging services (e.g., iMessage, WhatsApp) must be avoided when identifiable health information is at risk.
While Chat can facilitate quick communication and collaboration, it does not replace usual communication for urgent matters, or In Basket for communications that belong in the record of care.
Prescribers should use Chat with care until the clinical information system (CIS) has fully deployed within a clinical area and new communication norms are widely understood. Early on, staff may forget that many matters still require face-to-face, pager or telephone communication. Secure chat should not be used to convey urgent information or to ask for urgent intervention from a colleague without person-to-person communication.
Initially, Secure Chat will be most useful for consenting clinical groups that commit to use it and agree about expected chat availability.