Using the Scheduler
Once you have set your preferences for Appointments module,
and loaded in appointments by following the instructions in the Building
Schedules chapter, you can start entering appointments and learning
other functions. These include:
The
different screens
There are basically three different ways of viewing the schedule. Below
are examples of the Full View, the Single Day view
showing only one day at a time for one provider, and the list view.
Each has its own
uses and layout.
Full week view - Monday to Friday
Single Day View
The calendar section is perpetual. To
change the calendar, simply click the button of the month you want. To
change the year, click either the or down arrow next to the year.
Changing
Dates and Other Buttons
[return to top]
Changing to different days, weeks or months is very easy. On the top
of the Full Week, Single Day and Side-by-Side
screens are the buttons below. These buttons do the following:
- To change to a
different month, click on the month abbreviation. The current month has
the
same Color as used an available appointment. Those dates not in
the current month are yellow
or the same color as unavailable.
- To change to a different day within the month, click directly on
the date. On the Single Day view this changes the
viewed date. On the weekly views this has the potential to change the
entire week that contains that date.
- You can use the Back or Ahead buttons move
the viewed appointments using that related measure of time (day, weeks
or
month).
Finding
Empty and other slots
[return to top]
On the bottom of most screens are the buttons below. These allow you to
do the following functions with their associated dialog boxes:
- Find Next Avail - This is
a very powerful feature. It allows you to find available appointments
using the dialog shown below. Following the on-screen increases you can
select
a particular Day of the Week, a range of weeks, show Available
only,
and just one or any provider. Any appointments matching your search are
presented
on the List View screen. To learn more about the List View screen click
here.
- To find a list a specific dates
appointments, click Find Date. The dialog below left is then
used to guide your search.
- To search for a specific
patient's appointments click Find Patient's Appt and the dialog
above
right is used. You can use either the Chart or Patient Name
as one of the search parameters.
- Click Today All or Today Current to view a list
for all or the currently selected provider, respectively.
- You can easily change views by clicking Full, Single,
List or Side-by-Side.
- Clicking This week Full shows this weeks appointments on
the full week view.
Printing Appointment Lists or Superbills
[return to top]
Clicking Print gives you the dialog box below. Whether you
click List or Superbills, you are given the find dialog
seen here. You can then find using any of the search criteria,
including a specific Group or Date. If you select List
you are first shown the list on screen. You can use the Layout selector
in the upper left hand corner to change to a different view. When ready
to print click Continue on the left side. If you selected Superbills
then the appointment slots
will be printed as superbills.
Changing to a Different Provider [return to
top]
To see a different provider's schedule, click once on the provider in
the provider scroll list. The schedule then rebuilds for that provider.
The selected provider then appears at the top of the list with a red
arrow. This way you always know whose schedule you are viewing!
Selecting
an appointment for an established patient [return to
top]
To schedule an established patient an
appointment do the following:
- From inside the Patient Module
find the patient.
- Go to the patient's Visit Screen and make sure there are
no appointments already scheduled for the patient.
- Check the Recall Information and see if the patient is
due for any special testing, etc.
- Click the Make Appointment button. After several
"checks" have occurred, the patient is memorized and you are taken to
the Appointment module.
d
- The patient's name and phone
number appear in the Selected Patient area on the middle right
of the screen. If you want, before you actually select a time
slot you can select a Visit Type and also enter a Memo.
You can also change provider's by clicking on the provider's name.
- Find the appointment slot the
patient want's and click directly on the appointment time. This fills
in the patient. If you did not select a Visit Type in the Selected
Patient section you will be given a pop-up list to select one
from.
Rescheduling
or Deleting Appointments
[return to top]
Rescheduling a patient's appointment is very easy. Do the following:
- Find the appointment you
want to reschedule. This is actually easy from the patient's Visit
Screen. Just click on the slot itself highlighted in orange. This
takes to the appointment scheduler and highlights the appointment with
a red box!
- Next, hold down just the control
key on the keyboard (abbreviated "ctrl"). Make sure the caps lock
is OFF.
- Click once on the appointment time. This clears the slot and
moves all data from that slot into the Selected Patient area.
This includes all memos!
- To Reschedule simply click on the time of an empty
slot!!
- To Delete or "not reschedule" this memorized
appointment, click the red X on the Selected Patient
section.
Using the List View [return to
top]
The list view shows appointments in one scrolling list. It can show one
provider's schedule for one day, many days, or multiple providers for
one or multiple days.
- To have the list show the
appointments for a particular day for the currently selected provider
click the Current button at the top of that day's list, as show
below left. To show all provider's appointment click All
instead.
- Alternatively, you can click the List button on the
button of the screen, as shown on the right.
Below is a list showing the 9AM slots for the three providers in the
practice. There are many things that you can do in this screen that you
cannot
do elsewhere. Most of the features are discussed in the Special Features chapter.
- There are colored navigation tabs
to help you Find, return to Week View, see the Single
Day view and to produce a list that will Show Memos but
eliminate the calendar.
- To see a different day from this view click the appropriate Back
or Ahead button. If you hold down the control key when
you click the list will show all providers for that day sorted by
provider, just like above!
- To schedule an appointment from the list for an already Selected
Patient click the
pointing
to the slot. The dialog below appears. Click Fill Appt
to use the Selected Patient. You can then enter information in
any of the four memo fields. Click Cancel to clear the
appointment and memorize the patient in the Selected Patient
section.
- This dialog has one more very
important field. The Locked field is checked when this
appointment is being scheduled on someone's computer. If THAT computer
crashed will the appointment is being entered and the record remains
"locked" you will need to come here and uncheck this field!
[return to top]
updated 2/21/2004
