LOG DISCHARGE: How Hospital Staff Start CareLoop on WhatsApp
Example: logging a discharge, one question at a time
[YES] [NO] [UNKNOWN]4:03 PM
Example: the confirmation step, before anything is saved
Please confirm this discharge: Patient: Priya Sharma Phone: +919820123456 Dept: Orthopaedics | OPD | Dr. Mehta Consent: YES Discharge ID: HOSP-20260831-001234 CSAT will be sent in 4 hours. [CONFIRM] [EDIT] [CANCEL]
Nothing is written to the database until CONFIRM is tapped. A wrong digit in the phone number or a misspelled name can still be fixed here, before the patient ever gets a message.
Example: what happens on a duplicate
Discharge ID HOSP-20260831-001234 is already logged as visit c9b06907. Nothing has been saved yet. What would you like to do? [View existing] [Log anyway] [Cancel]
CareLoop never silently drops or silently overwrites a record. VIEW EXISTING shows the clashing entry — patient, department, and where it is in the pipeline — so staff can tell a genuine re-discharge from an accidental double-entry. LOG ANYWAY saves the new visit without reusing the clashing discharge ID, since two visits can never share one ID.
For trained staff: a faster structured format
Staff who discharge patients often enough to know the format can skip the question-by-question flow and send one message instead:
CHECKOUT Patient: Priya Sharma Phone: 9820123456 Doctor: Dr. Mehta Dept: Orthopaedics Type: OPD Consent: YES Discharge ID: HOSP-20260831-001234
This still goes through the same confirmation and duplicate-detection steps — it's a shortcut for entering the data, not a way to skip the safety checks.
How it works
- Staff send LOG DISCHARGE (or a Quick Reply button, if configured) to start.
- CareLoop asks for the patient's first name, phone number, consent (YES/NO/UNKNOWN), and optionally a discharge ID and department.
- If the discharge ID or the same phone/department combination already exists within 24 hours, staff are offered a choice — view, log anyway, or cancel — never a silent save or a silent rejection.
- A summary is sent back for confirmation before anything is saved to the database.
- Once confirmed, the patient's CSAT message is scheduled — 4 hours later by default — and the rest of the flow (see our pieces on CSAT surveys and grievance alerts) takes over from there.
Frequently asked questions
How does a hospital staff member start CareLoop for a discharged patient?
Staff send the word LOG DISCHARGE on WhatsApp (or tap a Quick Reply button if configured), and CareLoop asks one question at a time — patient name, phone number, consent, and optionally a discharge ID and department. No training is required beyond knowing the starting keyword; trained staff can also use a faster structured text format.
What happens if the same patient or discharge ID is logged twice?
CareLoop never silently rejects or silently saves a duplicate. It shows staff the existing record and offers a choice: view the existing entry, log it anyway, or cancel. If staff choose to log anyway, the new visit is saved without the clashing discharge ID rather than overwriting or corrupting the original record.
Can a discharge be saved by accident before staff confirm it?
No — after staff enter the details, CareLoop sends back a summary of exactly what will be saved and waits for a CONFIRM reply before anything touches the database. The visit sits as unconfirmed until then, so a typo or a wrong number can be caught and corrected before the patient ever receives a message.