When you read a message, above the message box on the right there is a task complete check box,when checked, it asks do you want to send message (to sender) that task is complete, and when you say yes, it sends the message back with task completed in the title.
Here is what we have been doing with messages where a lab test (or something else) needs to be done. A good example is UTI symptoms. A patient will call, and my staff send me the message, I send back a note to give a urine sample and I send a prescription to be started afterward. The staff call the patient and order the testing and send message back to me. I hold it in my box until the next day when I add a note about the U/A, then I continue to hold it until I receive the urine culture and note that. When all of this is done, I save the message to the chart. Each step is documented in the message with the writer and the time of the action, but the message is not saved until everything is complete.
I am now changing the message color to blue when it is in a holding pattern, and add a date to the beginning of the title when a test is to be done, so I know when the message is to be acted upon again.
