Standard Appointments

Schedule an appointment for a new or existing patient.

Procedure

  1. Open the Appointment module. Either:
    • Click Appointment Book.
    • Select Waiting Room > Appointment Book.
  2. If you have multiple Appointment Books in use, select the Appointment Book you want to use via the associated drop-down list.
  3. Select the practitioner for whom you want to delete an appointment from the list of practitioners.
  4. Click a time slot in the date/time matrix to schedule a standard-length appointment. Alternatively you can click-and-drag across multiple time slots to schedule a longer appointment.
  5. Enter the patient's family_name, given_name (or part thereof), or given_name family_name.
    Alternatively, you can also search for patients using their Chart Number. Enter [chart_number], for example, Andrews, Jennifer [123a].
  6. Press Enter.
  7. If there is more than one matching patient, or the appointment is for a new patient, the Select Patient window is displayed. Select the patient. Click Select.
    Tip:
    If the patient is present and they have their Medicare card, swipe it now to save you typing their name manually.

    To check the patient's appointment schedule, select the patient and click Show Appointments.

  8. To record an appointment for an existing patient who is already recorded in your Pracsoft database:
    1. Enter the patient's details in the fields provided.
    2. Select a patient in the list.
    3. If you need to edit the patient's record before adding them to the Appointment Book, click Edit.
    4. Click Select.

    The timeslot is booked for the patient in the Appointment Book.

  9. To record an appointment for a new patient, either:
    • To create an appointment for the new patient without adding them to the Pracsoft database, click Create Appointment. Later, when the patient arrives, you can create a record for them by linking them to Pracsoft.
    • To create an appointment for the new patient and simultaneously add them to the Pracsoft database, click New Patient. See Adding/Editing Patient Records via the Appointment Book for more information.
  10. If you use Clinical and the patient has current due recalls, the Patient Attendance window displays the patient's current active recalls from their record in Clinical. Active recalls have due dates in the last three months, today, or next month. Set the recalls the patient is attending for. Click OK.
    Tip:
    The Reason column is displayed only to users with permission to view it, granted via the Show Recall Reasons check box in User Details.
  11. If the patient has an outstanding account, a message might be displayed, depending on the settings in the Appointment Book Options. Click OK.

Results

The patient's name appears in the selected time slot and their appointment has been scheduled.

What to do next

Information about an appointment is available by hovering your mouse over it.
Example details in the appointment book when you hover on an appointment

To add an appointment type: right-click the appointment entry and select Type.