Use Outlook's AI to Write Family Update Emails

What This Does

Outlook's Copilot drafts or rewrites emails to patient families with empathetic, professional language — so you spend less time agonizing over wording when communicating sensitive updates.

Before You Start

• You have Microsoft 365 with Copilot enabled
• You're composing a new email or replying to a family message in Outlook
• You have the key points you want to communicate written out (even rough notes)

Steps

1. Find the AI feature

Open Outlook and start composing a new email. Look for the Copilot button in the message toolbar (above the message body, near the formatting options). It looks like a small sparkle icon labeled "Copilot" or "Draft with Copilot."

2. Tell it what you need

Click Draft with Copilot before you've typed anything, or use Rewrite after you've written a rough draft. In the prompt box, describe what you want:

• "Write a professional, empathetic email to a patient's family explaining that discharge is planned for Friday and home health has been arranged."
• "Rewrite this email to be more compassionate — I need to tell the family their loved one is not ready for home discharge yet."

Use the Tone option (if available) to select "Formal" or "Empathetic."

3. Review and use the result

Copilot generates a draft. Click Keep it to use it or Regenerate for another version. Edit any specific details (dates, service names, next steps) before sending. Never include patient identifiers in the Copilot prompt itself — those go directly into the email after it's drafted.

Real Example

Scenario: You've just finished a family meeting where you informed a family that their father needs SNF placement rather than going home. You need to follow up with a summary email to the out-of-state daughter who couldn't attend.

What you type: "Write an empathetic email to a patient's daughter who lives out of state. Explain that her father's care team has determined he needs skilled nursing facility placement for rehabilitation before returning home. Include that we're working on finding a facility and will be in touch within 24 hours."

What you get: A warm, professional email that conveys the clinical decision with empathy and clear next steps — something that would have taken 10 minutes to craft carefully, now ready in 30 seconds.

Tips

• Copilot is especially helpful for difficult communications — denial of patient wishes, death notifications to distant family, or explaining complex insurance decisions
• Use "Make this shorter" if the draft feels too long for a routine update
• Save your best Copilot-written emails as templates for similar future situations

Tool interfaces change — if a button has moved, look for similar AI/magic/smart options in the same menu area.