Reach node

The Reach node (code name Send) sends one-way messages to the patient, a relative or staff. A single Reach step can send several messages, called send units, for example a WhatsApp message to the patient and an email to their relative.

What the patient receives is covered in What patients receive. Templates are managed as described in Templates and variables.

When to use it

• Reminders, instructions, results-ready notices and follow-up messages.
• Any message that does not need a reply on this step. To collect answers, use a Capture node. To collect a signature, use a Sign node.

Configuration

Each send unit is a collapsible card with a one-line summary of its number, channel, recipient and template, for example Unit 1: whatsapp → the patient (…). Use Add send unit to add another. A step must have at least one unit; the last one cannot be deleted.

Each send unit

If an expression binding looks like a date or time and has no format, the panel warns: This value is a time; pick a format so the patient sees a date, not a number.

Advanced (inside each send unit)

Step-level fields

Outcomes and branches

Reach has no named outcomes, so the connection editor shows no Outcome list for it. Plain connections are followed when the step finishes.

To branch when a message failed, open the connection editor and type completion.any_failed in Field (it is not in the suggestion list), choose Operator == and enter Value true. Tick Default edge (fires when no condition matches) on the other connection so it carries everyone else.

What happens when it runs

When a message is not sent. A message is held back, and recorded as not sent, when:

• the patient is recorded as deceased;
• the patient has asked not to be contacted;
• the patient has not given the consent your clinic requires for messages;
• your plan's message allowance has been used up;
• the unit's News type has a person first policy and no Engage task of this journey has been completed yet for the patient (for example a call to break the news);
• the unit's News type policy does not allow this channel.

When a message is delayed. A message waits, and the step waits with it, when:

• it falls in your clinic's quiet hours, until quiet hours end;
• the unit's News type policy sets sending hours and it is outside them, until the hours open.

When a message goes out.

• The recipient is found. If nobody, or no phone number or email address, is found, that message is skipped.
• The template matching the patient's Language for messages is used, otherwise the default template.
• For WhatsApp, every variable must have a value, or that message fails.
• If a Document reference is set and the document cannot be found, that email fails.

Once every message is sent, held back, skipped or failed, the step finishes. If any message failed, a Close later in the journey with kind success is recorded as neutral.

Example

Results-ready message with an email copy to the relative.

1. Unit 1: Channel WhatsApp, Recipient the patient, Template results_ready, bind {{patient_name}} to the patient name and {{report_date}} to the report's time with Format Date.
2. Unit 2: Channel Email, Recipient a relative of the patient… (husband), Template the matching email template, Send from the clinic's verified address.
3. News type on both units: the type your clinic uses for routine results, so its timing policy keeps them within daytime hours.
4. From the step, add a connection with Field completion.any_failed, Operator ==, Value true to an Engage step asking the front desk to call, and mark the connection to the next step as the default edge.

Tips and limitations

• WhatsApp templates must be approved before they appear in the Template list.
• Choose the recipient with a strategy such as the patient, a relative of the patient… or staff of a role at the patient's centre. Review before publishing warns when a recipient cannot be told apart as a patient or a staff member.