Every helpdesk technician has received the ticket that says only "computer not working." It starts a round of questions, phone tag and delay, all while a nurse waits to chart or a resident's paperwork sits unfinished. A few extra sentences at the start can shorten the whole process.
This guide is written for the people who actually submit tickets: nurses, aides, medical records staff, receptionists and department heads. It also gives administrators something to share with their teams.
Include your name, your unit or department, and the best phone number or extension to reach you. If the problem is on a shared computer, include the computer's name or label, often printed on a sticker, and its location, such as "Hall B nurses' station, left workstation."
Describe the task, not just the symptom. "I was trying to print the medication administration record from the EMR" is more useful than "printer broken."
Be specific. Did nothing happen, did an error message appear, did the screen freeze? If there was a message, copy the exact words or take a photo of the screen with your phone. A picture of an error is often worth more than a paragraph of explanation.
"Since the power flickered at 2 p.m." or "Every morning around shift change" points toward causes. Note whether it happens once or repeatedly, and whether it affects one person or several.
Restarting, logging out and in, trying another computer or plugging in a cable are all worth mentioning. It saves the technician from repeating steps and helps rule out causes.
Tell IT how the problem affects care or operations. Compare:
"Can't log in" with
"Can't log in to the EMR. Night shift nurse cannot pass medications on Hall C until it works."
The second helps the helpdesk prioritize. Impact descriptions should be honest, not inflated, because a helpdesk that sees every ticket marked urgent cannot tell which ones truly are.
Tickets are good for routine issues. Pick up the phone when:
Many users or a whole unit are affected
A system needed for medication administration or emergencies is down
You suspect a security problem, such as clicking a suspicious link, a lost device, or a message demanding payment
You cannot reach the ticket system itself
Security concerns deserve special mention. If you think you may have clicked something dangerous, call right away rather than writing a ticket and waiting for a reply.
Avoid including resident names, diagnoses or other protected health information in tickets and screenshots unless it is truly necessary. A resident's initials or room number are usually enough for a technician to reproduce an issue, and it keeps unnecessary PHI out of another system. Never put your password in a ticket or tell it to a technician. A legitimate helpdesk will not ask for it.
A few simple practices improve results across the whole facility:
Post a one-page ticket guide near workstations with the helpdesk phone number, email and hours.
Name a unit "super user" on each shift who can handle simple issues and collect repeated problems.
Label computers and printers with names that match what IT sees.
Report patterns. If the same printer jams every Monday, tell IT. A recurring issue may point to a root cause rather than a one-off fix.
Close the loop. When IT resolves a ticket, confirm that it truly works before it is closed.
> Subject: Hall B printer will not print MARs > > Name/unit: Maria, Hall B charge nurse, ext. 214 > > Printer: HP printer by the supply closet, label HB-PRN-2 > > Problem: Since about 5 a.m., print jobs from the EMR sit in the queue and nothing comes out. Display shows "Offline." Printing to the Hall A printer works. > > Already tried: Turned the printer off and on, checked the cable. > > Impact: Day shift needs printed MARs by 7 a.m. for med pass.
A technician can start working on that immediately.
At UnityCare IT, our helpdesk works with the pace and pressures of care settings in mind. If your current support leaves staff waiting or unsure who to call, we are happy to talk about a setup that fits your shifts and your facility.
Call or text: 405-285-3845
New customers: start@unitycareit.com
Existing customers: support@unitycareit.com
Address: 2524 N Broadway Ste 554 PMB 947974, Edmond, Oklahoma 73034