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Download the Symplr Clinical Communications App:
For the Best Training Experience… Download the app or click this link to access the desktop version – and log in using your full email address. You will be prompted to sign in to your CMC account.
Once logged in, close any pop-ups, and select support in the upper right-hand corner. There you will find the Knowledge Center where you can access a variety of training articles and videos on how to use our new system.
eLearning Courses/Videos
These courses are designed to provide an overview of various solution features, so users can watch as the key workflows are demonstrated.
Product Overview: The goal of this course is to provide an introduction to the symplr Clinical Communications solution. You will learn the purpose and value proposition of the solution, explore key users and roles within the database, and review an overview of the main features and functionalities.
Staff User Training
Overview & Navigation: Learn the purpose and functionality of symplr Clinical Communications. This includes logging in and out of the solution, identifying navigational elements, and understanding the purpose of key pages within the solution.
Provider User Training
Provider Messengers: Understand the provider role within symplr Clinical Communications, including mobile navigation and workflows essential to providers. This course covers customizing personal settings, sending messages and viewing details on the Message Home page, subscribing to schedules, and managing role coverage.
Symplr Clinical Communications
Frequently Asked Questions
Find answers to common questions about using Symplr Clinical Communications, the unified platform for secure healthcare team communication and collaboration.
Getting Started
Symplr Clinical Communications is a unified, HIPAA-compliant platform that combines secure messaging, voice communication, on-call scheduling, and critical alert notifications in one mobile or web application. It’s designed to help healthcare teams communicate more efficiently so they can focus on patient care.
You can access the platform through the mobile app (available on iOS and Android) or through the web application. Your username is typically your company email address. If you need login assistance, contact your IT Help Desk or internal platform administrator.
Yes. Symplr Clinical Communications is fully compliant with HIPAA, HITRUST, and SOC II standards, ensuring all patient information and communications are secure and protected.
Messaging Features
You can send unlimited secure text messages, and attach high-resolution photos, audio recordings, videos, and documents. All messages include automatic status updates showing when messages are sent, delivered, and read.
You can mark any message as urgent. Recipients can set different notification sounds for urgent messages so they know immediately when a critical communication arrives.
Yes. You can create user-defined groups or use organization-defined distribution lists to quickly communicate with multiple recipients at the same time.
To set yourself as off duty: 1) Go to Settings, 2) Navigate to the Off Duty / Auto Forward screen, 3) Select the ‘Off Duty’ tab, 4) Enter the start and end dates and times for your off-duty period (this is required), 5) Optionally add a custom off-duty message, 6) Tap the ‘Save’ button, 7) Tap the ‘< Settings’ button to return to the Settings page. When set as Off Duty, you show as unavailable to other users.
Users attempting to send messages to you while you’re off duty receive a notification that you are unavailable. However, they may still choose to proceed with sending their message if they determine it’s necessary. This ensures urgent communications can still reach you if needed.
To set up Auto-Forward: 1) Go to Settings, 2) Navigate to the Off Duty / Auto Forward screen, 3) Select the ‘Auto-Forward’ tab, 4) Designate a recipient to receive your forwarding messages (this can be a user, team, or role), 5) Enter the start and end dates and times for the auto-forward period (this is required), 6) Tap the ‘Save’ button, 7) Tap the ‘< Settings’ button to return to the Settings page. When Auto-Forward is active, your designated recipient receives all your inbound messages.
When you set yourself as Off Duty, you show as unavailable to other users but messages can still be sent to you (senders receive a notification that you’re unavailable). With Auto-Forward, a designated user, team, or role receives your inbound messages automatically, ensuring someone is actively monitoring communications meant for you. Auto-Forward is useful when you want to ensure coverage, while Off Duty is better for periods when immediate response isn’t critical.
Yes. When setting yourself as Off Duty, you have the option to add a custom off-duty message. This message can inform colleagues when you’ll return, who to contact instead, or any other relevant information. While this field is optional, it’s helpful to provide context to those trying to reach you.
When you set yourself as off duty, you can configure what happens to your messages. You have options to auto-forward messages to another user, set up gatekeeping for message screening, or simply stop receiving notifications. There’s also an emergency override feature for critical situations that allows urgent messages to reach you even when you’re off duty.
Creating and Managing Groups
To create a new message group: 1) Open the Symplr Clinical Communications app, 2) Tap on the ‘New Message’ or compose icon, 3) Look for the ‘Groups’ or ‘Create Group’ option (usually in the recipient selection area), 4) Select ‘Create New Group’, 5) Give your group a name (e.g., ‘Night Shift Nurses’ or ‘Cardiology Team’), 6) Add members by searching for and selecting individual users from your organization’s directory, 7) Save or create the group. Once created, you can easily select this group whenever you need to message all members at once.
User-defined groups are groups that you create yourself for your own use, containing the specific people you want to communicate with regularly. Distribution lists are created and managed by your organization’s administrators and are available to everyone. Distribution lists are typically used for formal teams, departments, or roles (like ‘Emergency Department Staff’ or ‘All Nurses’).
Yes. You can edit your user-defined groups at any time. To edit a group, find the group in your contacts or groups list, select it, and look for an ‘Edit’ or settings icon. From there, you can add or remove members, change the group name, or delete the group entirely if it’s no longer needed.
While specific limits may vary by your organization’s configuration, Symplr Clinical Communications is designed to support group messaging for teams of various sizes. If you need to message a very large number of people, check with your administrator about using organization-wide distribution lists instead.
No. User-defined groups that you create are private to you. Other users cannot see your personal groups. However, organization-defined distribution lists created by administrators are visible and available to all authorized users.
If a group member leaves the organization or is removed from the system, they will automatically be removed from your groups. You may want to periodically review your groups to ensure they contain current staff members.
If your organization has linked with other facilities in Symplr Clinical Communications, you may be able to add external users to your groups. However, this depends on your organization’s configuration and permissions. Check with your administrator if you need cross-facility group communication.
Roles and Teams
Roles are functional positions within your organization (like ‘Emergency Department Attending,’ ‘Cardiology Fellow,’ or ‘Radiology Tech on Call’). Roles allow you to message whoever is currently assigned to that position without needing to know their specific name. This is especially useful for on-call coverage and shift-based positions.
Teams are groups of staff members organized by department, unit, or clinical function (like ‘ICU Nursing Team’ or ‘Surgery Department’). Unlike Roles which typically have one person assigned at a time, Teams contain multiple members who all receive messages sent to the team. Teams are useful for broadcasting information or coordinating care across a whole unit.
To join a Role or Team: 1) Select the ‘Roles/Teams’ option from the main menu drop-down, 2) Browse the available roles and teams (you can select the ‘Critical Teams’ tab to view only roles and teams your organization classifies as critical), 3) Select the specific role or team you want to join, 4) Click the ‘Add me to this role/team’ button in the Role/Team Details dialog box. Once added, you’ll see a ‘My status:’ indicator and your name will appear in the Active section.
After you join a role or team, you can toggle your coverage status on and off. When you toggle ON, you will receive messages that users send to that role or team. When you toggle OFF, messages will no longer route to you. This is helpful when you’re taking a break, going off shift, or temporarily unavailable but still want to remain part of the role or team.
You can typically view your Role assignments and Team memberships in your profile or settings within the app. Look for sections labeled ‘My Roles,’ ‘My Teams,’ ‘My Schedule,’ or ‘Assignments.’ This will show you all the Roles you’re scheduled for and Teams you belong to.
Yes! To message a Role, simply select it from the directory and your message will go to whoever is currently assigned to that Role. To message a Team, select the Team name and your message will be sent to all current Team members. This is much more efficient than trying to message individuals one by one.
You can be assigned to multiple Roles, and which Role you’re ‘active’ in typically depends on your current schedule. For example, you might be scheduled as ‘Day Shift Attending’ from 7am-7pm and ‘Evening Coverage’ from 7pm-11pm. Messages sent to each Role will reach you during your scheduled time in that Role.
This depends on your organization’s configuration. Some systems allow you to mute or temporarily suspend notifications from specific Teams, while others require administrator action to remove you. If you need to stop receiving Team messages (for example, during a leave of absence or department change), contact your administrator.
To message someone in a Role: 1) Start a new message, 2) In the recipient field, search for the Role name (e.g., ‘Cardiology Fellow’ or ‘Night Supervisor’), 3) Select the Role from the search results, 4) Compose and send your message. The system will automatically deliver it to whoever is currently assigned to that Role.
If someone in a Role isn’t responding to urgent messages, you can: 1) Mark your message as urgent if you haven’t already, 2) Try calling them directly through the VoIP feature, 3) Contact the backup person for that Role if one is designated, or 4) Reach out to a supervisor or charge nurse who can help escalate. Always check the on-call schedule to confirm who should be responding.
Gatekeeper Feature
Gatekeeper is a message screening tool that allows authorized staff members to screen messages and alerts for select users when they are delivering patient care. This helps reduce interruptions during critical patient care moments while ensuring important communications are still monitored.
Only staff members who have been authorized by your organization can access and use the Gatekeeper feature. Your organization enables and assigns gatekeeper functionality within permission settings. If you don’t see the Gatekeeper option in your main menu, you do not have permission to screen messages for others.
To add a colleague for message screening: 1) Select the ‘Gatekeeper’ option from the main menu drop-down to navigate to the Gatekeeper page, 2) Use the ‘Please select an Organization’ drop-down field to select the colleague’s organization (this only appears if your organization has linking relationships with external organizations), 3) Select the ‘Find Colleague’ drop-down field and begin typing the colleague’s name, 4) Select the appropriate colleague from the predictive list that displays, 5) Click the ‘Add’ button. A confirmation message will display and the colleague will be added to your list with the toggle defaulted to ‘Off.’
After adding a colleague to your Gatekeeper list, simply click the toggle to the ‘On’ position to activate message screening. When you activate screening, you’ll receive a new message on your Message Home page indicating the ‘Screening On’ status for that colleague. The binoculars icon on message threads indicates the thread relates to message screening.
Yes. If you screen messages for multiple colleagues, you will receive a separate screening notification for each individual on your Message Home page.
To remove a colleague from your Gatekeeper list, click the ‘x’ icon next to their name on the Gatekeeper page. This will remove them from your screening list.
When you screen messages for a colleague: 1) You receive copies of all messages sent to them, 2) Message threads related to screening display with a binoculars icon, 3) You receive screening notifications on your Message Home page, 4) The colleague continues to receive their messages but does not receive notifications while screening is active, 5) Senders are notified that their message is also being sent to you as the screener and must confirm they want to send it.
No. You may not reply to the screening notification messages. These are informational messages only to let you know that screening is active for a specific colleague.
When another user screens your messages: 1) A notification reading ‘Messages screened by [User Name]’ displays at the top of your message threads on the Message Home page, 2) You still continue to receive any messages users send to you, 3) However, you do not receive notifications of incoming messages while screening is active, 4) You can click the ‘Stop’ hyperlink in the notification to discontinue screening at any time.
When a user sends a message to someone who has a gatekeeper screening their messages, they receive a prompt informing them that the message will also be sent to the screening user. The sender must confirm their intent to send the message before it is delivered.
To stop screening a colleague’s messages, go to your Gatekeeper page and toggle their status from ‘On’ to ‘Off.’ This will immediately stop routing their messages to you.
If someone is screening your messages and you want to stop it, look for the ‘Messages screened by [User Name]’ notification at the top of your message threads on the Message Home page. Click the ‘Stop’ hyperlink in this notification to discontinue screening.
Gatekeeper should be used when a colleague is delivering patient care and needs to minimize interruptions but still requires someone to monitor their incoming communications. Common situations include during procedures, surgeries, or other critical patient care moments where the clinician cannot be distracted but important messages still need attention.
Voice Communication
Yes. You can place voice calls over your system’s VoIP network using the same application you use for messaging, alerts, and schedules. This keeps all communication in one place.
No. The VoIP calling feature is integrated directly into the Symplr Clinical Communications platform, so you don’t need to switch between different apps or devices.
Alerts and Notifications
You can receive critical alerts from various hospital systems including nurse call systems, PACS/lab systems, your EHR, and others. These alerts come directly to your mobile device in real-time.
Through HL7 ADT integration, you receive automatic updates about patient admissions, discharges, and transfers. HL7 ORU integration delivers mission-critical lab results directly to your device. You can also receive high-priority alerts like sepsis notifications through SMTP integration.
Yes. You can set different notification sounds for urgent versus regular messages, and configure your availability settings to control when and how you receive notifications.
Schedule Management
Schedule management tools are available to administrators, who can create real-time, system-wide on-call schedules. All users can view current schedules to see who’s available.
Schedules update in real-time, so unlike printed schedules, you always see the most current information about who’s on call, including last-minute changes or coverage switches.
Troubleshooting
Symplr Clinical Communications works on all devices and platforms, including iOS, Android, and web browsers. The mobile apps are regularly updated to support the latest operating systems.
First, check your notification settings within the app and your device settings to ensure notifications are enabled. If issues persist, contact your IT Help Desk or internal platform administrator for assistance.
For login issues, technical problems, or questions about using the platform, contact your organization’s IT Help Desk or internal Symplr Clinical Communications administrator.
Best Practices
By providing one unified platform for all clinical communication, Symplr reduces the time spent coordinating care, minimizes communication errors, and ensures the right information reaches the right person quickly. This allows care teams to focus more time on patients and less on tracking down colleagues or information.
Staff benefit from having all communication tools in one place, reducing the need to juggle multiple devices or apps. Role-based messaging eliminates time wasted searching for the right on-call person, and secure messaging means no more HIPAA concerns when sharing patient information.
Use role-based messaging instead of trying to remember individual names. Take advantage of groups and distribution lists for team communication. Set your off-duty status proactively. Attach relevant images or documents to provide context. Mark truly urgent messages as urgent so colleagues can prioritize appropriately.
Need Additional Help?
If you have questions not covered in this FAQ, please contact CMC’s IT Help Desk.