Clinical messaging

STAT & priority messaging

Not every message is equal. Mark one Urgent or STAT and Rounds makes sure it lands — a STAT breaks through mute the way a code call breaks through a closed door.

"Chart updated" can wait. "Patient in Room 4 unresponsive — need RN now" cannot. Ordinary chat treats both the same. Rounds lets the sender say which is which with a priority on the message.

The three priorities

Normal

The default. Respects each recipient's notification preferences and any mute they've set — ordinary traffic.

Urgent

An amber-accented message. Notifies everyone who hasn't switched notifications off entirely — and overrides a mute.

STAT

A red-accented, pinned message. Reaches every member of the channel, regardless of mute or notification settings.

Sending a priority message

Open the channel and click into the composer

From the chat workspace, click the channel in the list on the left, then click into the Type a message… box at the bottom.
Find the priority buttons

The control strip below the composer holds a Normal · Urgent · STAT group. It starts on Normal every time — priority is always a deliberate choice.
Pick Urgent or STAT

Click Urgent for "this matters, don't let it sit", or STAT for "this is a clinical emergency".
Send as normal

Type and send. The message arrives with its priority styling — an amber badge for Urgent, a red pulsing STAT badge for STAT.

The Rounds composer control strip with the Normal, Urgent and STAT priority buttons highlighted. — Step 2 — the highlighted Normal · Urgent · STAT buttons sit in the control strip below the composer.

The Rounds message composer showing the Normal / Urgent / STAT priority selector. — The priority selector in the composer — Normal is always the default.

How a STAT message behaves

A STAT message is the code-call override. It pins itself to a strip at the top of the channel until it's acknowledged or dismissed, so it can't scroll out of sight, and it notifies every member of the channel — even someone who has the channel muted, even someone who has turned notifications off.

A STAT message in a Rounds channel with a red accent, a STAT badge, and a pinned strip at the top of the channel. — A STAT message — red accent, pulsing badge, and pinned above the conversation.

Priority is set once

A message's priority is chosen when you send it and cannot be changed afterward — you can't quietly upgrade an old message to STAT, or downgrade one. Pair a STAT with "please acknowledge" when you need an explicit "I've got it", and with an escalation policy so it climbs the on-call ladder if no one confirms.