Calendar module allows you to schedule appointments and assign resources to the appointments. It allows you to create and print schedules for the personnel/resources in your practice. You can also post notes in the notes sections to remind you of things to do for the selected day.
The time slots when the business is closed are marked as Closed and displayed in the color specified for closed business under Company Information Calendar Settings Section. If appointment is being booked during closed hours the user gets a warning. The business closed hours and days can be specified in the Company Information Calendar Settings Section.
The time slots during which the doctor is not available are marked with the exception reason or N/A if a reason was not specified and the cell is colored in the color specified for the Not Available color in the Company Information Calendar Settings Section. If appointment is being booked during the time the doctor is not available the user gets a warning. To change availability of the doctor see the topic on Physicians.
Note: Calendar Appointments in a Network are refreshed every 60 seconds. Also, you can change the appointment time range, time slots range and other settings in the Company Information Calendar Tab. Physician appointment timings can be set in the Physician Availability Tab.
• To schedule an appointment on the Calendar:
1. Follow the menu item sequence … File | Calendar or click on Calendar from the menu toolbar.
2. Click the date on the calendar to schedule an appointment. The lower part of the screen will show appointments for that day in the Day Tab and appointments for the whole week in the Week Tab.
3. Clicking the Add Button or double-click on the day and time cell to book an appointment for that day and time will take you to the Add/Modify Calendar Screen.
4. In the Add/Modify Calendar Screen specify the Start Time of the appointment. This field must be entered with 4 digits in 12-hour format, two for the hour and two for the minute. If the hour or minute is only one digit it must be padded on the left with a zero. You can search for available appointments for the physician by clicking on Schedule Button and selecting the time slot for which you would like to schedule the appointment.
5. Duration is the number of minutes allotted for this appointment. If the duration was entered in the Services Inventory Section it will automatically be defaulted to the duration entered in inventory.
6. Click the appropriate button (New/Existing) located next to the Patient Field to either enter a new patient or choose from an existing patient in the system. If you have specified in Company Setup that Calendar Patients will be shared, you will be able to see all the Patients that you enter here or were entered in the Patients module.
NOTE: Choosing NEW will take you to the Add/Modify Patient Screen for more information on adding new patient see the Patient Module Topic.
7. After either selecting the patient the Modify Button located next to the Existing Button will allow you to modify information concerning the patient selected.
8. If you click on the Telephone Button this will take you to the Dial Phone Screen which give you the option to dial the phone number next to it. Your computer must be connected to a phone line in order to use this feature.
9. Select the name of the in-house physician that will be available for this appointment from the Physician drop-down list.
10. Select the service that you are going to provide for the appointment.
11. Optionally from the Status drop-down list you can select an appropriate status for appointments. Next to the status you can date when the status was updated.
12. If the status is cancelled you can select an appropriate cancellation reason from the Cxl reason drop-down list.
13. If you wish you can enter who authorized the appointment in the Authorization Field.
14. If this is a waitlist appointment where the patient is waiting for an opening check the Waitlist Checkbox and optionally assign a waitlist priority number in the Waitlist Priority Checkbox.
15. If you need to schedule the patient for multiple appointments at regular intervals click on the Recurrence Button to specify appointment recurrence schedule. For example, you can book 7 appointments for Friday from 10:00 am to 11:00 am or you can book five daily weekday consecutive appointment at the same time every day. You can even book monthly appointments by either specifying the day number or day name of the month. There is also ability to book yearly appointment for the patient in advance.
16. Add any other information about this appointment in the Notes textbox.
17. The Schedule Button takes you to the Search Appointments Screen where you can filter through appointments with the specified criteria.
18. If you wish to delete an existing appointment select the appropriate appointment then click the Delete Button in the Add/Modify Calendar Screen.
19. If you have overbooked a time-slot the Previous Button and Next Button will be active so that you can search through the appointments in the time-slot.
20. To save the current appointment in the calendar click OK otherwise click Cancel.
• To Copy an existing Appointment:
21. In the Calendar Screen double-click the appointment you wish to copy. The Add/Modify Calendar Screen will pop-up.
22. Click the Copy Button. The Copy Button will turn bold signifying that you are now creating a copy of the previous appointment.
23. Change the date, time, and any other information accordingly for the new appointment.
24. Click OK to add the new appointment to the calendar.
• Calendar Screen:
20. The Preview Tab shows appointments scheduled for the selected day.
21. The Settings Button, allows you to display either the patient name or service as text and color codes appointments by Physician, Service or Appointment Status. Specify the preference and click OK. The appointments in the grid will reflect the text and color preference.
22. The Waitlist Button, allows you to view the Wait-list or booked appointments for a certain date. It provides you the ability to move booked appointments to waitlist and assign priority or move waitlist appointments to booked status.
23. The Modify Button allows you to edit the currently selected appointment. Alternatively you can double-click on the appointment. To shift the appointment day or time, simply select the appointment by clicking on the appointment and then dragging it to the desired date and time while keeping the mouse button depressed.
24. The Print Section gives you the option to print information concerning Appointments, Physicians, Notes, or Letters.
25. The Appointment Button prints the selected appointment.
26. The Physician Button lets you print the calendar appointments for the day grouped by Physician. To modify printer options, click the Printer Setup menu item under the File Tab.
27. The Notes Button lets you print the notes for the day.
28. The Letters Button lets you print the letters for the day.
29. The Search Avail Button allows you to search for available appointments for the specified physician (and service).
30. The Refresh Button refreshes the display with any pending changes applied.
31. The Notes Text Box lets you enter any notes for the selected day.
32. Clicking on the Today Button displays the appointments for today.
33. The Goto Date Button displays the appointments for the date specified in the Date Edit Box.
34. In the Filter Section checking Show Cancelled Checkbox displays the Cancelled and non-cancelled appointments.
35. Specifying a Physician in Filter Section will display appointments for the selected physician only. If there is only one in-house physician it is selected by default.
36. The Resize Button resizes the controls to provide you a bigger/regular view for the week/day.
• Preview Tab:
37. The Delete Button under Preview Tab lets you delete selected appointment.
38. The Print Selected Button prints the selected appointment.
• Week/Day Tabs
39. The Week/Day Display Tabs will display the calendar according to settings specified in the Company Information Calendar Settings Section. The Start time and End time sets the beginning and end hours on the calendar. The default duration breaks the day into intervals of default duration.
40. Double-click on any of the appointments to view its details.
See Also:
• Recalls