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Patient communications
A patient conversation is continuous operational context. New incoming messages can be handled automatically, while staff can review, intervene or take over at any time.
What happens when a message arrives
| Situation | What Menaela does |
|---|---|
| First WhatsApp message from a new person | Creates the lead/conversation context, saves the message and can reply automatically when autonomy and channel rules allow it. |
| Message from an existing patient | Uses the existing patient context, creates or reuses the conversation and can reply automatically. |
| New message in an old conversation | Continues the conversation using saved history and context rather than starting from zero. |
| Staff opens or creates a conversation | Opening the conversation does not by itself send an AI greeting. |
| Old messages imported during connection | They become history and context; importing them alone does not trigger replies. |
What Menaela can handle in the conversation
- Configured clinic, provider, service and price questions.
- Availability search and supported booking, rescheduling, cancellation or confirmation flows.
- Follow-up questions that depend on earlier turns, such as “anything earlier?” or “what about another doctor?”
- Routine administrative questions where the clinic has enough structured context to answer safely.
Old chats remain continuous
Menaela uses saved conversation context and relevant recent history so a patient does not have to repeat the entire story every time they write again. Booking an appointment does not automatically end the conversation or erase what has already been established.
If the patient was already discussing a particular appointment, Menaela should use that context and clarify only what is still ambiguous.
Staff can intervene without losing the conversation
Staff can send a message, claim a conversation for human handling or return it to Menaela later. A staff reply supersedes an older pending AI reply so the patient does not receive a stale answer after a human has already responded.