Operational Guideline
TITLE: Making Contact with People To Arrange Services
APPROVED BY: Healthy Sexuality and Harm Reduction Working Group
Date
 Population and Public Health
May 2013
Date


TARGET
REVIEW
DATE
PAGE
1 of 4
May 2015
1.0 PURPOSE
1.1 To provide guidance to Healthy Sexuality and Harm Reduction staff when
establishing contact with people to arrange services while protecting personal
health information.
2.0 SCOPE and GOAL
2.1 This operational guideline applies to Healthy Sexuality and Harm Reduction
staff who make initial contact with clients that are not in-person (i.e., by letter,
telephone voice mail, e-mail, text messaging and through social networking
sites).It also addresses contact with clients to arrange subsequent services.
2.2 This guideline is not intended to apply to situations where personal health
information is provided or to situations where the specific reason for requesting
contact with an individual is discussed.
3.0 BACKGROUND
3.1 A principle in communication about health issues is that the most confidential
method is always preferred. With some clients, initial in-person contact to
arrange for service provision is not always possible. Requiring in-person contact
could also delay or deny service for time-sensitive health issues.
3.2 No information should be provided that would allow others to know of a client’s
health issues, unless the client consents or where other WRHA policies and
legislation applies. In all situations where health information is discussed, at
least two unique client identifiers should be used to confirm the individual’s
identity.
3.3 All existing WRHA policies apply to written or electronic contact with clients
regarding health matters, including but not limited to those policies that deal with
privacy confidentiality and internet/computer usage. For detail, refer to WRHA
Regional Policies http://home.wrha.mb.ca/corp/policy/index.php.
3.4 When messages are left for clients, remember that it is possible for these
messages to be intercepted by other individuals who share or have access to the
client’s voice mail, cell phone, email, social media account etc. This not only
allows for the potential for other people to know the contents of a message, but
also for the messages to be deleted before the client receives the message.
Operational Guideline
TITLE: Making Contact with People To Arrange Services
APPROVED BY: Healthy Sexuality and Harm Reduction Working Group
Date
 Population and Public Health
May 2013
Date


TARGET
REVIEW
DATE
PAGE
2 of 4
May 2015
4.0 PROCEDURE
4.1 Choosing among available methods to make contact with clients to arrange
services:
4.1.1 When the health issue is time sensitive, choose the sequence of
priority on methods to reach a client based on available contact
information. Telephone voice mail, text message, email, social media
and letter is a preferred order of priority for making contact.
4.1.2 If response time is not a major factor, limiting efforts to those methods
that are most secure are better.
4.2 The following can be included in all communication:
4.2.1 Request to call back
4.2.2 Staff name
4.2.3 Professional title (e.g., Registered Nurse)
4.2.4 Role (e.g., Public Health Nurse)
4.2.5 That it is regarding an ‘important matter’, a ‘health matter’, or an
‘important health matter’
4.2.6 Call back phone number
4.2.7 Best time to call
4.2.8 No mention should be made about the type of health issue or meeting
purpose.
4.2.9 For clients who provided explicit instructions about a preference for
communication about meeting times using a particular medium, staff
may also include information to facilitate access to care (i.e., arranging
a phone call, arranging a meeting time and location). Note and date
the client’s authorization for this communication in their health record.
4.3 Documentation:
4.3.1 Include documentation about the time and nature of the
communication in the client health record. A copy or record of all email
messages, sent or received, and where they were sent from, are to be
inserted into the client record e.g. screen shot of the message as
displayed on computer monitor.
4.4 Text message content must conform to limits of characters for texting. Use a
WRHA cell phone to send texts, and check at regular intervals.
Operational Guideline
TITLE: Making Contact with People To Arrange Services
APPROVED BY: Healthy Sexuality and Harm Reduction Working Group
Date
 Population and Public Health
May 2013
Date


TARGET
REVIEW
DATE
PAGE
3 of 4
May 2015
4.5 Emails are much less secure than mail, telephone messages and texts, and
should be used sparingly. Email or SMS options on social media sites may be
even less secure than stand-alone email services. Please note that all email
outside of the WRHA firewall should not be considered secure.
4.5.1 If email needs to be used, then the health care provider should send
the email from the designated WRHA email address and check for
responses at appropriate intervals.
4.5.2 A copy of all emails, sent or received, must be kept on the client
record.
4.6 Social Media (e.g., facebook, Google+) has the greatest risk for privacy
breaches. Social media sites may be used to find locating information for
persons.
4.6.1 In situations where it is not possible for you or anyone else to identify
an individual (i.e., where the person is not named, uses a ‘handle’ and
where other information is insufficient for anyone else to identify the
person), messages may be left in the most private manner possible
(e.g., SMS, site emails) but never in public places like ‘walls’,
‘discussion boards’ or locations that can easily be viewed by other
users.
4.7 Letters
4.7.1 All written notification of possible contacts and cases is sent on general
WRHA letterhead with the office address. The letter is dated and sent in an
envelope with sender name and office address.
4.7.2 If a letter has been sent limited to the content noted in above section, then
a copy does not need not be retained in the client record.
4.7.3 In exceptional circumstances specific information may be included in the
letter while keeping in mind the public health risk and the intent of PHIA.
(e.g., “Return to your doctor.” “Your doctor wants to see you.”) If any
information is added to the contents of the above-noted letter, a photocopy
is put in the client record or exact wording of the additional note is
transcribed in the progress notes. A copy of this mail needs to be retained
in the client health record.
4.7.4 No further information is sent to the client without authorization by the
client. Note and date the client authorization in the client health record.
Operational Guideline - Making Contact with People To Arrange Services
Appendix A
Sample Text for Email
Dear
I am contacting you by email because this may be a possible way to get in touch with
you.
Can you please call me as soon as possible regarding an important health matter.
Before I can provide any additional details, I will need to speak with you directly.
You can reach me at ________________, between the hours of 9 AM – 4 PM, Monday
to Friday.
If I am not available when you call, please leave a message on my confidential
voicemail, including detailed information about where and when you can be reached. I
look forward to talking to you.
Sincerely, [name]
Registered Nurse
Appendix B
Sample text message (< 140 characters)
Pls call asap re important health matter. I have to talk to u direct b/f I give more detail.
thank you, [name] RN