Voalte is an all-in-one HIPAA compliant platform that provides an end-to-end communication foundation for clinical, ancillary, and support staff and has more than 12,000 users at UIHC. There are three different ways to communicate using Voalte, including Voalte Messenger, Voalte Me, and Voalte One.
Voalte Messenger is a web-based client with messaging-only capabilities giving unit clerks, secretaries, coordinators, and other staff the ability to securely message other Voalte users from managed workstations.
Voalte Me is a BYOD (bring your own device) application that is available for download on Apple App Store and Google Play Store, allowing users to send and receive Voalte messages securely and receive alarms/pages while in or out of the hospital network.
Voalte One is a mobile application for UI-owned iPhones that connects users inside the hospital via voice-over-IP (VOIP) calling, alarm and alert notifications, and secure text messaging.
Here’s how to get more out of your device:
- Voalte provides status updates for the text messages you send? When you send a message, you see a ‘Sent’ under your message. When your message is delivered to your recipient, the message will change to ‘Delivered.’ When the message is read by the recipient, it will change to ‘Read.’
- Voalte Me can override the Do Not Disturb mode on your device? When you silence everything on your phone for meetings or downtime, Voalte will still send critical alerts and messages to your phone.
- You can send high priority messages through Voalte? After you are finished composing your message but before you hit send, tap the gray square for more options and select the icon that has 2 exclamation points (!!). Once that icon is selected, you can send your message. High priority messages have a louder and more distinct tone, alerting the recipient that this message is high priority.
- You can change your ringtone on Voalte Me by tapping Menu, followed by Settings, and then Notifications & Sounds? Here you can customize what tones play when you receive a message. Currently, this feature is only available in Voalte Me (sorry Voalte One users).
- You can change your status in Voalte and add a customized message? Inside the application, tap the green dot. You can change your status to Available, Busy, or Unavailable. (Unavailable option is not available on Voalte Messenger.) You can fill in the Custom Message field too. For example, type, “In surgery, please message (back up names here) if you need to get a hold of me.”
Visit the HCIS Informatics Resources page to find tipsheets about Voalte. (under Communication Technology on the right side)
Questions? Contact matt-barry@uiowa.edu or visit the HCIS Voalte site.