Home Forums Discussions General Discussion Telephone system integration

The staff at our clinic has asked about the capability of clicking on the telephone number in a patient record and having the telephone system dial that number. I know AC doesn't have that capability currently but what are the future possibilities?

Ted Bryant
IT Support
Volunteers in Medicine, Chattanooga

Ted, someone from AC would have to speak to futures in the product, but there are other options outside of direct integration.

If you can specify your existing phone system, there may be vendor-specific solutions; although unless it is a VOIP system, they are often complex+expensive.

Your lowest cost may be a point implementation of Voice-Over-IP (VOIP).

Most VOIP phones now have a direct http interface, so you could copy/paste the number directly into the web interface (or soft-phone), and just hit dial.

Indy, thanks for your reply. We have an old electronic key system (24 stations), it's Lucent(AT&T) but no capabilities such as this.

An IP-based system would get us started on the right path. We will meet soon with some vendors to investigate possibilities.

Ted

If you can clear/clean one network segment for VOIP testing, you can roll-your-own with resources like http://www.kamailio.org/w/

In theory you can export names/phone numbers into one of the FOSS tools and quickly build a click-to-call if that is the priority.

You can send me a PM if you want some technical pointers.

Hmm. Of all the things I wish AC had or could do, I can honestly say that having the ability to dial a phone number by clicking on it never entered my mind. For the time invested in setting this up, I can't imagine it being worth it. I just dial the ten numbers with my finger.

When I grew up, it was five numbers. Let's see how does the brain work. Over 40 years, and the number was 8-2101. I remember mosquito control's (this is Florida remember)phone number being 8-2110. We used to get a lot of those calls during the summer.

We would say things from, "Ok, Mr. Smith, we will be right out there. Stand near your front door."

to

"Ahh, come on. Can't you afford a can of Off? I'm trying to watch a baseball game here."

But, it was kind of a tradeoff. Five digits, but rotary phone.

Harrison 549

One long, two short.

Hit drum 3 times loud

So ..... what was that about hijacking threads?

I loved local numbers. I just dialed 3577 and it call my best friend. I was on a party line though so had to wait for Mable to get of the phone so I could call. Do party lines even exist anymore. Rotary phone...aw the memories.

Travis, I understand your point. But, you might see it a bit differently if you had to dial more than 50 numbers a day.

This whole thing started when one of our volunteer doctors had to fill in for a nurse practitioner one day doing some patient followups.

We have considered a contact management system but then that adds another database to keep current.

Ted
IT Support
VIM-Chattanooga