Taking over a chat
Stepping in front of the assistant, talking to the patient live, and handing back.
You can join any conversation, whether the assistant asked for help or not. While you are in it, the assistant is muted and your messages go to the patient live.
Joining
- Open the conversation from the inbox.
- Click Join chat. The assistant stops replying immediately.
- Type. The patient sees your message as it is sent, not after a delay.
Once you have joined, the patient is talking to you. If you walk away without handing back, nobody answers them — the assistant will not quietly resume.
Handing back
Click Hand back to bot when the thing that needed a person is done. The assistant picks the conversation up with the full transcript, so the patient does not have to repeat themselves.
Hand back before you close the tab, not after. It is the difference between a patient who has been helped and a patient who has been left mid-sentence.
When to take over
- The assistant asked, and the status says waiting for a human.
- The patient is upset. Tone is a thing people are better at.
- The question is about a specific patient record — the assistant does not have access to one and should not.
- Money, in any direction: refunds, disputes, a price that is not on the list.
Do not take over just to be polite. Every handover is a data point that says the assistant could not cope; taking over conversations it was handling fine makes your handoff rate tell you nothing.
Replying fast
Type / in the message box to pull up your canned replies. Shift+Enter makes a new line; Enter sends.
Common questions
- Can two staff join the same conversation?
- Technically nothing stops it, and in practice it confuses the patient. Agree who owns the inbox in a given shift.
- Does the patient get an email when I reply?
- The chat is live. If they have closed the widget, catch them by phone or email using the details on their record.