Instructions

How to Schedule an Appointment

To schedule an appointment, click on the "Appointments" calendar icon located within the main navigation bar along the left-hand side of the dashboard screen. This will open the appointment calendar view as shown below.

You can select from various filters along the left side of the appointment calendar to modify and filter the calendar display to best meet the needs of the user. You can also select a day, week or a month view for the best-desired viewing format.

Using the selections within the left filter bar, you can select the personnel, wards, or resources you would like to view and schedule an appointment to. You can select the desired date(s) from the scrollbar above the calendar in the top left. Personnel shifts will appear with their assigned shift colours. Examples of the appointment calendar are shown below.

To select a time for scheduling, simply click within the cell of the desired time under the appropriate personnel, ward or resource column that you want to schedule the appointment for. To determine the duration of the scheduled appointment, you can either click and drag from the desired start to desired end time on the appointment calendar or the duration can manually be entered or modified within the new appointment dialogue. 

To finish scheduling a new appointment, complete prompted information fields. The reason field and client name are required for appointment scheduling. If client information is not known, a note can be entered into the notes field as a substitution.

If appointment reason types have been previously created in settings they will be available for selection. An appointment type can also be selected to define the nature of the appointment such as consultation, online booking, other or unknown client. “Other” appointment type is commonly used to indicate a training or meeting for example. Additional fields available are “instructions” where any communications or instructions can be shared with the client, “duration” & “start time/end time” to define the length of the appointment.

Furthermore, you can assign additional staff to the appointment by utilizing the “additional users” field. The “veterinarian” field will indicate the primary veterinarian for the appointment. If any specific resources or ward is needed for the appointment, these can also be assigned and reserved by utilizing the corresponding titled fields. A resource, for example, would be a unit of equipment such as an ultrasound, whereas a common ward, for example, would be the radiology suite.

Finally, you can update and modify client appointment reminder communication options using the checkbox options located at the bottom of the card. Appointment reminder confirmations can be sent by email and/or SMS, but can also be disabled by unchecking the Send email (or SMS) confirmation box. When all appointment information has been completed, select Save.

What are the main options to customise the process?

Calendar slot sizes

Settings> General > Department > Booking Settings > Calendar & Scheduling options > Calendar Slot Sizes.

Use this setting to control the duration of calendar time slots. Individual calendar time slots can be selected as small as 5 minutes or as large as 60 minutes.

Reminder sending time

Settings > General > Department > Booking Settings > Reminders Send Hours Before Appointment.

This setting controls how many hours before a scheduled appointment the confirmation reminder is sent to the client.

Information Shown on Appointment Calendar Tooltips

Settings > General > Department > Booking Settings > Information Shown on Appointment Calendar Tooltips.

You can use this setting to control what information is displayed in the black floating calendar tooltip. An example is shown below.

Information Shown on Calendar Slots

Settings > General > Department > Booking Settings > Information Shown on Calendar Slots.

Use this setting to include or exclude client, patient and appointment information that is displayed within the calendar appointment block. Information that can be included or excluded is shown below.

Email Settings & SMS Settings

Settings > General > Department > Booking Settings > Email Settings & SMS Settings.

Appointment confirmation and reminder settings for both email and SMS can be customised. Not only can the content text be freely customised, but you can also select the sending method of how a reminder or confirmation message is sent. Additionally, map and guidance information can be included in email appointment messages.

NOTE: Additional department calendar settings are available for further customisation. Other settings include, but are not limited to: “weekends in calendar,” “first day of the week,” and “hours in a day.”