Conduct Group Calls using Video Call
Conduct Group Calls with up to 20 participants in the Clinic Waiting Area or in a Group Room
Group calls with up to 20 participants can be conducted either in the Clinic Waiting Area or in a Group Room. A standard Video Call can have up to 6 participants, however if there is low bandwidth for any caller, it can be best to conduct a group call instead. Example use cases for group calls are group therapy sessions and multidisciplinary consultations, and are a good option for calls that require multiple participants where they may have low or limited internet bandwidth. Group calls have the same functionality available in standard calls, including Apps & Tools (excluding Add A Video and Share A File, which are not compatible with Group calls), Call Manager, Chat, and Settings. To find out what you can do in the Video Call screen, click here.
Waiting Area Group Call or Group Room call?
Both options allow the same functionality and number of participants however, depending on the group being held, clinic staff may prefer one workflow over the other. Here is a summary of the differences:
Waiting Area
- Patients and other guests use the same clinic link as for other waiting area calls
- Visibility of the call activity for all team members in the clinic
- Waiting and on-hold callers can be sent messages in their screen
- Group call button allows multiple callers to be joined in a call at the same time
- Waiting area calls appear in clinic waiting area usage reports
Group Rooms
- Group rooms have a separate link to the waiting area and callers wait to be let into the room
- For recurring groups, the same group room link can be used for each session
- As the waiting area is not used, waiting callers for the group session in a group room do not fill the waiting area (which may be a preferable workflow in busy clinics).
Click the headings below to find out more
Group calls in the waiting area
Watch the short demonstration video:
Please find the shareable link for the video here.
Start a Group Call in the Clinic Waiting Area
Group calls in the Waiting area are easy to set up and participate in. Patients/clients and other required guests are invited to the waiting area using your current processes for sending the clinic link along with any other information regarding the appointment. The required waiting and on-hold participants can then be selected from the list of callers in the waiting area and the group call can be joined. Please see below for steps:
| Send out the appointment information using your current processes, including the clinic link for accessing the waiting area. You may also have a button on your website for patient/client access. |  |
| Invited callers use the clinic link to arrive in the clinic waiting area prior to the appointment time. In this example there are 7 waiting callers in the clinic waiting area. |
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| At the top right of the list of callers in the waiting area, there is a group call icon (highlighted in this screenshot). |  |
| Click on the group call icon and selection boxes will appear to the left of all waiting and on hold callers in the waiting area. |
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| Select the waiting callers and any on hold callers you would like to join in a group call. Remember there may be callers waiting or on hold to see other health service providers in your team, so you just need to know the names of the people you would like in the group call. In this example we have selected 7 waiting participants for the call. |  |
| When ready to join the selected participants, click the Join [number of] participants button at top right above the list of callers. The call begins and the screen opens in a new tab or window in your browser (depending on your browser settings). You will see all selected participants in the call. |
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| If call confirmation is enabled in your clinic, when you click Join x participants you will see a confirmation screen. To confirm, click Join at the bottom of the confirmation box to join the call. The call begins and the screen opens in a new tab or window in your browser (depending on your browser settings). You will see all selected participants in the call. |
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| Once the group call starts, the call will show as a being seen call in the Waiting Area. The main name associated with the call in this view at the waiting area level is the first person you clicked on when selecting the required participants. In this example we selected Sue Smith first. |
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| If you need to add other waiting or on hold callers to the Group Call once it has been joined, navigate back to the Waiting Area (which is open in a separate tab or window in your browser) and use the Add button to add them to your call. Click here for more information about adding participants to the call. Please note: You can also add one group call to another group call using the Add button in the waiting area. |
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| To see information in the waiting area about the call participants click on the 3 dots and select Participants. This is the same process for all Waiting Area calls. You will see participant names and information regarding their device, browser and bandwidth information. |  |
| You will see participant names and information regarding their device, browser and bandwidth information. This example shows Caroline Martin selected in the list of participants. |  |
Supporting information for Group Calls
Group Room calls
Group rooms are designed for Video Calls that require multiple participants, such as group therapy sessions and multidisciplinary consultations. Group rooms enable a group call with up to 20 participants, using minimal bandwidth and processing power. A group room is a unit within the Video Call organisational structure of the clinic, illustrated here.
Please note: For health consultations with up to 6 participants you can use the Waiting Area and join a call with your patient/client, then add any other required participants to the call (for example family members, specialists and interpreters). You can also conduct a Group Call in the waiting area, if preferred, which will give the option for up to 20 participants and provide waiting area functionality and flexibility. For team meetings and meetings with other health service providers, you can either use Meeting Rooms (up to 6 participants) or Group Rooms.
Clinic members can enter any clinic Group Room, as long as they have been given permission to use Meeting and Group Rooms by their clinic administrator (Meeting Room access also provides Group Room access). They can invite people to the group call that are not members of the clinic team, for example specialists, doctors from other clinics and patients (if the call will require more that 6 people in total).
Attending a group call
If Group Rooms have been created in a clinic (by the Clinic Admin), Health service providers can set up a group call at any time with other members of their team and can also invite guests who are not members of the clinic. Health service providers may also receive an invitation to attend a group call if the call is happening in another clinic they are not a member of.
Please click on the headings below to view detailed information:
Clinic Administrators - Creating and managing Group Rooms
Clinic administrators can create and manage Group Rooms to suit the needs of their clinic.
| Group Rooms are found in the LHS column of the clinic, under Meeting Rooms. No Group Rooms will be created by default. Clinic administrators will see the Create A New Room button under the heading Group Rooms in the LHS column of the clinic. |
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| Clicking on Create A New Room brings up this dialogue box where you can name the new Group Room. Then click Add a Group Room to create the room that will then be visible for your team members who have group room access. |  |
Clinic Administrators - creating invitation templates for group rooms
Clinic administrators can create Email templates for Group Rooms in the clinic (SMS invitations are not available for group rooms). These can be created to suit the needs of the clinic and will be available to health service providers when they invite participants to group calls. If no templates are created, the invitations will have the default text (which can be edited before being sent to recipients).
To create email templates for Group Rooms:
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To create and edit invitation templates for the clinic, go to Configure > Communication. the +Create button for Email. |
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The template creation box will open
You can create up to five group room templates, as required for the clinic. Once created, the templates will be available when staff invite patients to a Group Room. |
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Clinic team member: Enter a Group Room and invite guests
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1. In the LHS column of the clinic, under Meeting Rooms, click on the arrow to the right of Group rooms to view the dropdown list of group rooms in your clinic.
Please note:
If there are occupants already in a group room, you will see a number to the right of the Enter button for that room. This lets you know if there is already a meeting in progress and perhaps you need to use another group room, if available. If there is no-one in the room the number will show as 0.
In the second example to the right, one person is already in the group room (highlighted in red). |
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Additionally, if a guest has been invited into a meeting, has clicked on the link but is waiting to be accepted into the call , the circle next to Enter changes to an orange colour. |
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2. You will enter the group room and see your video feed in the call screen. You and any other team members with Group Room access can enter the Group Room at any time without being invited and participate in a Video Call. |
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| 3. To invite someone to a group call who is not a team member of the clinic, click on the Call Manager in the bottom RHS icons (highlighted in red box). |  |
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4. Next click either:
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| 5. When invited people arrive you will see them under Waiting or On-Hold and can accept them into the call. |  |
Favourite a Group Room
You can click on the star button next to available group rooms in your clinic to add any frequently used rooms as favourites. This will show the favourite meeting rooms in the LHS section of the waiting area without needing to use the meeting room dropdown to access them and will also bring the favourites to the top of the list in the meeting room dropdown. How to add a group room as a favourite:
| 1. In the Waiting Area Dashboard, click on Group Rooms in the LHS column. This displays a list of the group rooms available in the clinic. |  |
| 2. Select the group room you would like to add as a favourite and click on the star to the right of that group room. In this example Case Conferences has been added as a favourite and will move to the top of the list. |
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| 3. Any group rooms added as favourites will appear in the LHS column without the need to click on the arrow to access the dropdown list of group rooms. |  |
Call screen design and experience
Video Calls with multiple participants have a responsive design for participant video feeds, to ensure the best layout available for the screen size of each device. If there are not enough participants to fill a neat grid, they will display neatly with some spaces left available. New participants will always arrive in the spot at second from the bottom right, which means participants in other rows do not rearrange their position.
| Group calls form a neat grid as people arrive in the call. |  |
| Each participant in the call will have a pin when you hover over their screen. Pinning one or more participants will show their video as larger in the call screen and rearrange the other participants for your view. In this example other participants have moved to the left of the call screen. If the device screen is wider, other participants may also move to the bottom of the call screen when you pin one or more participants. |
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Call Manager functionality in the call
Hosts of Group Call meetings/consultations have access to the Call Manager which gives various options for managing the call, such as putting a participant on hold within the call and transferring to another room. Please see below for more information.
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When a health service provider accesses a Group Room call in their clinic, they will see the Call Manager button at the bottom right of the call screen (top image). Clicking on the Call Manager button in the call screen gives various options for managing the call, as shown in this example.
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Transfer options Clicking the transfer button for a participant allows you to transfer them to an available destination room in the clinic. |
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| This could be another group room, meeting room or user room. Select from the available room options, confirm and the participant will be transferred. |
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| The participant will then be transferred to the selected room and will wait to be accepted into a call in that room. This is what they will see as they wait to be seen. |  |
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Place On-Hold enables you to put the participant on hold in the call.
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Attending a Group Room call as a guest
| 1. If you were sent an email invitation to attend a group call, simply click the Start the call button in the email. If you didn't receive an email invitation, but you are a team member in the clinic holding the meeting, you can sign into your Video Call account, navigate to the clinic where the group call is being held and enter the group room at any time. Please note that you need meeting room access for your account (which also grants access to group rooms). |
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| 2. You will be requested to allow the use of your camera and microphone for this call. Click Allow to continue at top left of your screen, as shown in the animation screenshot at right. If you do not see the Allow button, you may have blocked your camera or microphone in your browser. Click on view help or visit this page. |
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3. Next you will be asked to enter your:
If you have an existing Video Call account you can sign in through the Sign In button at the bottom of the page. Click Continue to proceed |
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| 4. As a guest you will be placed into a call queue until the person who initiated the meeting accepts you into the call. You can change the call queue music for yourself, if desired. |
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| 5. Once you are accepted into the group room you will join the call. |
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Send an email invitation to the group room
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Click on the name of the Group Room you would like to invite someone into. Copy Link, Send Invitation and Share.
Click on Send Invitation |
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If email templates have been created for group rooms in your clinic, you will see an Invitation field drop-down. Select the desired template and your invitation template will display. This can be edited, if required, before sending. In this example the Physiotherapy group invitation has been selected. Click Send to send the invitation.. |
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If the invitation is for a particular time, you can schedule by clicking Yes at the bottom left of the window. Enter the details and then click Send to send the invitation. |
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| You will see this screen. Add the person's email address and you can edit the Title and Message text if desired. In this example we are sending an invitation for no particular time so this assumes they will come in once they receive it. Click Send to send the invitation. When invited people arrive you will need to accept them into the room using the Call Manager and the meeting can begin. |
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| To send the meeting invitation for a scheduled time, click Yes under 'Should an invitation be sent for a particular time'. This will show scheduling options as shown in this example. Select the date, time and duration and then click Send. When invited people arrive you will need to accept them into the room and the meeting can begin. |
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Click on the Group Room name and select Share for more options
| Click on the name of the Group Room and click on Share |  |
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You will see various options for inviting someone into the Group Room.
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Group Calls Technical Support Information
Group Calling Topolgy
Group calls implement a hybrid topology to achieve the participant scale of the group rooms, while retaining our enhanced call features.
This hybrid topology uses:
- A star topology using a media server (SFU) for the transfer of audio and video media. Participants in the call establish a single WebRTC connection to the media server, and publish their audio/video streams for other participants to consume, and download other participants audio/video.
- A mesh topology (P2P) for exchange of application data (such as resources information/file transfer/chat/etc). Each participant creates this connection to each other connection, but no audio/video media is sent.
Security
Group calls maintain the high security levels healthdirect Video Call already employ. Group rooms use a minimum of AES 128 bit encryption up to 256 bit. For more information on privacy and security, click here.
Bandwidth
For healthdirect Video Call group rooms, the recommended minimum requirements for a group call are as follows:
- Upload: A minimum of 350kbps upstream bandwidth for sending audio/video
- Download: A minimum of 350kbps downstream bandwidth for each other participant in the call for receiving audio/video from the media server, using the following formula:
- Downstream bandwidth required = (n-1) * 350 (where n is the number of participants in the call)
- e.g. Downstream bandwidth requirements for a call for 10 participants
- 9 * 350kbps = 3150kbps (~3.1 Mbps)
Please note, adding content such as sharing will add an additional stream of 350kbps for each participant.
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