In a perfect world, there would be zero issues with your telehealth appointments and everything would be 100% seamless! 

Sadly, this isn't always the case, and as with any technology, problems can arise. In this guide, we'll walk you through some common issues you might experience with your telehealth appointments, and how to fix them.

Many of these scenarios would work for troubleshooting your patients' calls, as well—but we've also created a guide for patients that you can send to them, which may be handy for them to have on hand!

Having troubles prior to your telehealth appointment? Read on below for answers to the problems you might experience before the call with your patient begins:

Did you open up the appointment, but don't see the button that says Join video call? (What you should see would look like this:)

That means the appointment isn't telehealth-enabled. You will first need to enable the appointment type for telehealth, and then go back to the calendar and open up the appointment to join the call as well as copy the link to share with your patient (more on that below).

If your patient didn't get the link for their teleconference appointment, you're able to copy it and resend it to them via email or SMS.
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To do this, find the appointment on the calendar, open it, and then press the Copy video invite link button:

You can then paste this into an email or SMS message to your patient, and they'll be able to access the video call!
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It would be worth double-checking that you have your appointment reminders and confirmation emails set up with the telehealth links, as if you don't, your patients won't receive a link whatsoever!

First things first, let's make sure your patient is using the correct link! If they've previously had a telehealth appointment with you, it's possible they're trying to use the link from an older appointment—ask them to double-check their reminder or confirmation email, and make sure they're looking at the correct appointment date!

If they're definitely trying to open the correct link but it's still not working, we'll need to try to figure out what's wrong. You can send them this guide, which offers some suggestions for troubleshooting any problems. Ask them what happens when they try to open that link—are they getting an error message? Does it say that their browser isn't supported? What happens if they try to open the link from a different browser or device?

If things still aren't working despite trying a different browser or device, they (or you) can reach out to our support team. 

If your patient has lost the link, you can grab it for them and resend it to via email or SMS. Find the appointment on the calendar, open it, and then press the Copy video invite link button:

You might see something like this when you try to open your telehealth appointment:

While telehealth consultations are supported by most browsers, if you're using something a little older, you might get this message. As you'll note from the screen, we recommend Firefox or Chrome. 

Supported browsers include recent versions of Chrome and Firefox, and Safari 12 or higher. You can also use your iPhone or Android device to join your telehealth appointment.

This section of the guide will run through some scenarios that you might encounter during your telehealth call:

If you can't hear your patient chances are that either their microphone is turned off, or your computer's volume isn't on. Use the chat tool (there's a little 'chat' icon in the upper-right corner of your screen) to double-check with your patient that their microphone is working. If it is, try checking the volume on your computer.

If your patient can't hear you, then it's likely that either your microphone isn't on, or their volume is off. We'd recommend first checking your microphone. On your screen, is there a line through the little microphone icon?

If there is, then press it—the line should disappear and your practitioner should be able to hear you!

If there's no line, then it means your microphone is working—your practitioner may need to turn up their volume. Again, the chat tool can be used to communicate while you're trying to figure out the sound.

In some cases, it could be that the patient has tried to open the telehealth link from "within" another application, such as Facebook Messenger. This may result in the telehealth link not working correctly. We suggest that the patient open the link in a new browser window or tab from the program they're trying to use—that way, the link is opened in a "fresh" window, without any background applications potentially gumming up the works. They can follow these steps for opening the telehealth link in a new window or tab.

Your patient might have their camera turned off! If that's the case, you'll see something like this:

Ask them to double-check that the camera icon on their screen doesn't have a line through it! If it does, they'll need to press that icon to get their camera to turn on.

If your patient can't see you, the first thing to check is that your camera is turned on! Have a look at the camera icon on your screen—if there's a line through it, press it, and this should turn it back on.

If that doesn't work, it might be that your browser isn't 'allowing' your camera to turn on (there would have been a prompt when you joined the call, asking if you would allow your browser to access your camera and microphone). 

At this point, it's best to look at your video settings. Press the little 'cog' icon in the lower-left corner. This will open up a small box with your video settings. Use the drop-down menus under 'Camera' and 'Audio' to have a look at your settings:

If you're still stuck, our Cliniko support team will certainly see what we can do to help! Just reach out to us and we'll assist.

In some cases, it could be that the patient has tried to open the telehealth link from "within" another application, such as Facebook Messenger. This may result in the telehealth link not working correctly. We suggest that the patient open the link in a new browser window or tab from the program they're trying to use—that way, the link is opened in a "fresh" window, without any background applications potentially gumming up the works. They can follow these steps for opening the telehealth link in a new window or tab.

Not to worry! Just find the appointment on your calendar, and press the Join video call button. That'll bring you back to the call!

Just press the Reconnect button, and that'll bring you right back in!

If you're having troubles with a scenario not mentioned in this guide—or if you've followed the steps to fix the problem, but it's still occurring—you can always reach out to our support team for help!