Rounds
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Getting started with Rounds

Rounds is secure team messaging for healthcare agencies. This guide takes a brand-new user from an invitation email to sending a first message.

If your agency uses Rounds, you don't sign yourself up — an admin invites you. Everything below takes about five minutes, and you only do most of it once.

Accept your invitation

  1. Open the invitation email

    Your agency admin sends an invite to your work email address. It contains a single secure link that's unique to you — open it on the device you'll use for Rounds.

  2. Create your password

    The link opens a short form. Choose a strong password you don't use anywhere else. Your email address is already filled in and can't be changed here — it identifies your account inside the agency.

  3. Set up two-factor authentication

    Rounds requires two-factor authentication (2FA) for every account, so you'll be guided straight into setup. You'll need an authenticator app on your phone — see Two-factor authentication for the full walkthrough.

  4. You're in

    Once 2FA is verified, Rounds drops you into the chat workspace. Your account is now part of the agency and ready to use.

Find your way around

After 2FA, Rounds opens the chat workspace — this is your home screen. It has three parts worth knowing:

  • The top navigation bar — the Rounds wordmark on the left, and Help, Settings and Log out links on the right. Settings is where your account and (for admins) the agency configuration live.
  • The channel list on the left — every conversation you're part of, plus a row of icons at the top for starting new ones and reaching the schedule.
  • The conversation area on the right — the channel or DM you currently have open.
The chat workspace — your home screen. The top nav, the channel list, and the conversation area.

The channel list

Your direct messages and channels, with unread badges so you can see at a glance where there's something new.

The conversation

Messages appear newest at the bottom. The box at the bottom is the composer — type there and press Enter to send.

Send your first message

  1. Open a conversation

    Click a channel or direct message in the list on the left — the conversation opens in the main area. If your list is empty, browse the channel directory to find and join channels, or start a new direct message with a colleague.

  2. Type in the composer

    Click into the message box at the bottom and type. Press Enter to send; use Shift + Enter for a line break without sending.

  3. Add more as you go

    Attach a file, reply in a thread, or @mention a teammate — each of those has its own guide linked from the help center.
Step 1 — click a channel in the list on the left to open its conversation.

Good to know

  • Rounds is built for protected health information. Message bodies and file attachments are encrypted, and access is audited — it's safe to discuss patient care here in a way that texting never is.
  • You'll be signed out automatically after a period of inactivity. That's deliberate — it keeps an unattended screen from exposing PHI. Just log back in to continue.
  • Everything you see is scoped to your agency. You only ever see channels and people that belong to your organization.