Purpose
This article explains how to set up and use the Medicus call-in board, which allows clinicians to notify waiting patients when they are ready to be seen. These features include:
Adding a call-in board: Set up a new board linked to a specific site, so that patient call-ins are displayed on a TV screen in your waiting area.
Calling a patient in: Notify a patient from the Appointment Lobby that their clinician is ready by their name and room to appearing on the waiting room screen.
YouTube playlist integration: Play a YouTube playlist on the call-in board screen.
Editing and removing a board: Update a board's name or YouTube settings, or remove a board that is no longer in use.
Setting up a call-in board
The call-in board works on any smart TV that can run an internet browser, including the built-in browser on Samsung TVs.
Adding a new board
To add a call-in board, go to Modules > Front Door > Call-In Boards and select Add call-in board.
Enter a name for the board (for example, "Downstairs waiting room") and select the site it belongs to from the Site dropdown. If you want to display a YouTube playlist on the screen, you can also enter a YouTube playlist ID at this stage. This is optional and can be added or changed later.
Select Add and the board will be created.
Select the board from the list and View Call-In Board panel will open, showing the board's details and its launch URL.
Setting up the board on the TV
Once the board has been created, copy the launch URL shown in the View Call-In Board panel and enter it into the browser on your waiting room TV.
When the URL is first loaded, the TV screen will display a Pending IP Address Approval message. This is expected. Return to Medicus and select the board from the list.
You will see a banner asking you to approve the TV's IP address. Select the link in the banner to add it to the allowed list.
You will then need to activate the board by selecting Activate board.
Auto-starting the board on a Windows mini PC
If you are using a Windows mini PC to run the call-in board, you can configure it to open automatically when the PC starts up.
In the user's Documents folder, right-click and select New > Shortcut.
For the shortcut location, enter the following, replacing <CALL-IN-BOARD-URL> with your board's launch URL:
Name the shortcut Medicus Call-In Board, then copy it into the following folder (Administrator privileges are required):
C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup
Note that the user will still need to be logged in when the PC first boots up.
Calling a patient in
When a clinician is ready to see a patient, they can notify them from the Appointment Lobby. The Call patient in button appears on the left of Patient present - start consultation when the appointment is face-to-face and a call-in board is active at the appointment's location.
Select Call patient in and the patient's name and room will appear on the waiting room screen. A notification will confirm the patient was called in.
If the Call patient in button is greyed out, hovering over it will show the reason, for example if the appointment has no site, if it is not a face-to-face appointment, or if the patient has already been called in.
The patient's name is removed from the screen automatically when the clinician selects Patient present - start consultation and the consultation begins.
YouTube playlist integration
You can set up a YouTube playlist to play on the call-in board screen when no patients are waiting. This is useful for displaying health information videos in the waiting room.
To add or update a playlist, open the board from Modules > Front Door > Call-In Boards and select the edit icon. Enter the playlist ID in the YouTube playlist ID field. The playlist ID is the part of the playlist URL that appears after ?list=.
Some browsers block video autoplay with sound. If the playlist does not start automatically, select the edit icon on the board, check Mute audio under Extra Settings. You can also enable Enable closed captions if preferred and then select Save changes. After saving, refresh the TV screen and the playlist will play automatically.
The playlist will play on the left side of the screen, with the list of called-in patients shown on the right. The video plays automatically on a loop when the board loads.
Editing a call-in board
To edit a board's name or YouTube settings, go to Modules > Front Door > Call-In Boards and select the board. Select the edit icon in the View Call-In Board panel, make your changes, and select Save changes.
Note that the site a board is linked to cannot be changed after the board has been created.
Removing a call-in board
To remove a board, go to Modules > Front Door > Call-In Boards and open it from the list of call-in boards. Select Remove board and confirm by selecting Yes, remove. The TV screen will update at its next check-in and display a message that the board has been removed.