Overview
This guide explains how to use the appointment calendar to schedule, manage, and update appointments for both new and existing patients. It covers calendar navigation, booking, editing, rescheduling, and status updates.
Table of Contents
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🎓 Navigating the Appointment Calendar
- Overview of how to view, filter, and move through the calendar
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🎓 Scheduling Appointments for Existing Patients
- How to book an appointment for an existing patient
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🎓 Scheduling Appointments for New Patients
- Steps to add a new patient and schedule their first appointment
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🎓 Adding a Patient to the Wait List and Scheduling from the Wait List
- How to add patients to the wait list and book when slots open
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🎓 Editing a Booked Appointment
- How to update appointment details
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🎓 Cancelling a Booked Appointment
- Steps to properly cancel an appointment
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🎓 Rescheduling a Booked Appointment
- How to move an appointment to a new time or date
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🎓 Change Appointment Status and Other Options
- How to update appointment status and use other tools
🎓 Navigating the Appointment Calendar
1. Click Appointments in the Navigation Menu.
2. You can view your SMS balance from this section.
ℹ️ If your balance is low or you want to use the appointment SMS reminder feature, please contact your Practice Manager to add SMS credits.
3. Click the PDF icon to export the Calendar view and appointments displayed.
4. Use the navigation arrows to move to past or future appointments, or click the calendar icon to select a specific date.
5. To search for a patient’s appointments, use the search field and type in their name.
6. Make your selection from the search results.
7. You will be presented with the Agenda view, which displays all past, present, and future appointments.
8. Single Practice provides a focused view of a single practice.
9. Click the drop-down to add more providers and view multiple provider calendars in a single view.
10. Type the name of the provider whose calendar you wish to view.
ℹ️ If you add providers using the Provider filter, your selections will reset to your default settings once you navigate away from the Appointment Calendar.
To set multiple providers in a single view by default, go to User Preferences: click the Person Icon > Preferences > Appointments, then tick the box labelled Show all providers with an active session.
To find out more about setting User Preferences, refer to the User Guide: Accessing and Managing Users
11. Using the Multi Practice feature, you can view calendars for all your practices in a single, unified view.
ℹ️ If your calendar is set to display multiple providers, a pop-up will appear notifying you that switching to Multi Practice will limit the view to one provider. Click Yes to continue.
12. To switch between providers in the Multi Practice view, click the drop-down menu.
13. Click the X to remove the current selection, then type the name of the provider whose calendar you want to view.
14. Make your selection.
15. To filter by a specific category, click Filter.
16. Tick the box next to each type you wish to filter by.
17. Clicking Day will display the calendar in a day view.
18. Clicking Week will display the calendar in a weekly view.
ℹ️ This option is only available when viewing a single provider’s calendar.
To set your calendar view to display as Week by default, go to User Preferences: click the Person Icon > Preferences > Appointments > Default Appointment View > Set to Week.
19. Clicking Month will display the calendar in a monthly view.
ℹ️ This option is only available when viewing a single provider’s calendar.
To set your calendar view to display as Month by default, go to User Preferences: click the Person Icon > Preferences > Appointments > Default Appointment View > Set to Month.
20. Clicking Agenda will display the calendar in a list-style agenda view.
21. Click the PDF icon to export the agenda list.
22. Use the navigation arrows to move to past or future appointments, or click the calendar icon to select a specific date.
23. Clicking List will display a list view of all patients booked across all practices and providers.
24. To bulk edit the listed appointments, tick the top checkbox to select all, or individually tick each box to select multiple appointments.
ℹ️ Bulk Edit allows you to reassign appointments from the originally assigned provider to a different provider. To edit other appointment details, you’ll need to select and update each appointment individually.
25. Click on Bulk Edit.
26. Type the name of the provider you want to reassign the appointments to, then select the correct option from the list that appears.
27. Click on Save to confirm.
28. To edit a single appointment from the list view, check the box next to the appointment in the list.
29. Click on Edit.
30. Edit mode will appear make any necessary changes, then click Save to confirm.
31. Click on Export.
32. Choose to export to PDF or Excel.
33. Use the navigation arrows to move to past or future appointments, or click the calendar icon to select a specific date.
34. Selecting Full Day will display your calendar in a full-day view.
35. Business Hours displays your calendar based on the business hours configured for your practice.
36. The colour palette will display either Appointment Types or Appointment Status, depending on your practice’s appointment settings.
🎓 Scheduling Appointments for Existing Patients
37. Click Appointments in the Navigation Menu.
38. The Appointment Calendar for your practice will be displayed.
39. Click New Appointment in the top-right corner above the
calendar.
40. Alternatively, click directly into an available time slot in the Provider’s calendar.
41. The Existing option will be selected by default when scheduling an appointment.
42. Enter the patient's name and select the correct match from the list of suggested options.
43. Adding notes is optional and can be used to provide additional information about the appointment.
44. The Urgency field defaults to Normal. Click the field to change it to Urgent if applicable.
45. Ensure the correct Provider is shown. To change it, click the × symbol, type the Provider’s name, and select from the list.
ℹ️ If you selected New Appointment in Step 39, the Provider field will default to the User scheduling the appointment.
46. Click the Date field to select the appropriate date.
47. Click the Time field to select the appropriate time.
48. Click the drop-down arrow in the Type field to select the appropriate Appointment Type.
49. The Duration defaults to your selected appointment type. Click the drop-down to adjust the duration if needed.
50. To set a Reminder, click the drop-down and select the desired option.
ℹ️ Reminder Options and Their Meanings:
via SMS: Sends an automatic SMS reminder to the patient using the Practice’s SMS credits.
via Home Phone: Requires a manual phone call to the patient’s home number as a reminder.
via Work Phone: Requires a manual phone call to the patient’s work number as a reminder.
via Mobile: Requires a manual phone call to the patient’s mobile number as a reminder.
via Email: Requires an email to be sent to the patient’s email address as a reminder.
via Letter: Requires a letter to be sent to the patient's home address as a reminder.
51. From the When field click the drop-down to indicate when this reminder is to be sent.
ℹ️ If you set the Reminder via SMS, an SMS Instant option will appear. This means the system will automatically send the SMS reminder to the patient as soon as you save the booking.
Alternatively, you can schedule the SMS reminder to be sent 1 to 7 days before the appointment.
Please note, your Practice must have purchased SMS credits. If you receive an "Insufficient credits" error, contact your Practice Manager or Owner to add credits.
52. If your Practice has created Rooms you can click the drop down here and make your selection.
53. Click Save to confirm.
54. The patient’s booking will now appear in the Provider’s calendar with a Booked status. Hover your mouse over the booking to view the details.
🎓 Scheduling Appointments for New Patients
55. Click Appointments in the Navigation Menu.
56. Click New Appointment in the top-right corner above the calendar.
57. Alternatively, click directly into an available time slot in the Provider’s calendar.
58. In the New Appointment form, select New.
59. Enter the patient’s first name.
60. Enter the patient’s last name.
61. Enter the patient’s DOB.
62. Enter the patient’s Medicare No. This is an optional field.
63. Enter the patient’s mobile number.
64. By default, Contact By is set to Mobile Phone. Click the drop-down to make changes if needed.
65. Enter the patient’s email address. This is an optional field.
66. The Urgency field defaults to Normal. Click the field to change it to Urgent if applicable.
67. Ensure the correct Provider is shown. To change it, click the × symbol, type the Provider’s name, and select from the list.
68. Click the Date field to select the appropriate date.
ℹ️ If you selected New Appointment in Step 56, the Provider field will default to the User scheduling the appointment.
69. Click the Time field to select the appropriate time.
70. Click the drop-down arrow in the Type field to select the appropriate Appointment Type.
71. The Duration defaults to your selected appointment type. Click the drop-down to adjust the duration if needed.
72. To set a Reminder, click the drop-down and select the desired option.
ℹ️ Reminder Options and Their Meanings:
via SMS: Sends an automatic SMS reminder to the patient using the Practice’s SMS credits.
via Home Phone: Requires a manual phone call to the patient’s home number as a reminder.
via Work Phone: Requires a manual phone call to the patient’s work number as a reminder.
via Mobile: Requires a manual phone call to the patient’s mobile number as a reminder.
via Email: Requires an email to be sent to the patient’s email address as a reminder.
via Letter: Requires a letter to be sent to the patient's home address as a reminder.
73. From the When field click the drop-down to indicate when this reminder is to be sent.
ℹ️ If you set the Reminder via SMS, an SMS Instant option will appear. This means the system will automatically send the SMS reminder to the patient as soon as you save the booking.
Alternatively, you can schedule the SMS reminder to be sent 1 to 7 days before the appointment. Please note, your Practice must have purchased SMS credits. If you receive an "Insufficient credits" error, contact your Practice Manager or Owner to add credits.
74. If your Practice has created Rooms you can click the drop down here and make your selection.
75. Click on Save to confirm.
76. The patient’s booking will now appear in the Provider’s calendar with a Booked status. Hover your mouse over the booking to view the details.
ℹ️ New patients booked via the Appointment Book will be indicated with NEW next to their name in the hover state. A Patient Record is automatically created; however, you will need to open the record to complete the remaining demographic details. To do this, click the patient’s name in blue this is a hyperlink that opens the full record.
🎓 Adding a Patient to the Wait List and Scheduling from the Wait List
A scheduled appointment is required before adding a patient to the waiting list. This is typically used when a provider is fully booked weeks in advance, and the patient has requested an earlier appointment if one becomes available.
77. When scheduling an appointment, select the Join Wait List checkbox.
78. Use the Notes section to add any relevant information.
79. Click on Save to confirm.
80. When an earlier appointment becomes available, click on the available time slot in the calendar.
81. Select Wait List.
82. A list of patients previously added to the wait list will be displayed here.
83. After selecting the patient, any notes added when they were placed on the wait list will be displayed.
84. Click on Save to confirm.
ℹ️ The original booked appointment will automatically be updated to reflect the newly scheduled appointment.
🎓 Editing a Booked Appointment
85. Click on the booked appointment you want to edit.
86. Apply the necessary changes and click Save to confirm.
🎓 Cancelling a Booked Appointment
87. Click the booked appointment you want to cancel.
88. Click the drop-down labelled Cancel.
89. Choose the appropriate option from the list.
90. Click on Save to confirm.
91. The appointment will appear in the calendar as Cancelled and will be greyed out. You can then book a new appointment in the same time slot.
ℹ️ If you want to delete an appointment instead of cancelling it, you can click the X symbol. Please note, this will permanently remove the appointment from the calendar and there will be no audit record of its existence. Canceling an appointment is recommended, as it allows you to run reports on cancelled appointments.
92. If you cancelled an appointment by mistake, click on the appointment.
93. Select Booked.
94. Click on Save to confirm.
95. The Appointment will now be changed back to the Booked status.
🎓 Rescheduling a Booked Appointment
96. Click on the booked appointment to edit it.
97. You can update the Provider, Date, and Time as needed.
98. If your practice has Reason for Rescheduling enabled in Appointment settings, you can add a note here.
99. Click on Save to confirm.
100. Alternatively, you can use the Available Times widget to view the provider’s availability.
101. Choose a date.
102. Select and available time.
103. Click on Save to confirm.
ℹ️ If your calendar is set to show multiple providers and you need to move a booked appointment on the current day to another provider, you can simply click and drag the appointment.
🎓 Change Appointment Status and Other Options
104. Click on the booked appointment to Edit.
105. You can select any of the available statuses where applicable.
ℹ️ Available Appointment Statuses and Their Meanings:
Booked: The initial status when an appointment is scheduled.
Confirmed: The patient has confirmed their appointment. This can be manually updated in Practice, or if you use Appointment Reminder SMS with a confirmation link, the status will update automatically when the patient confirms.
Waiting Room: Adds the patient to the Waiting Room feature.
With Provider: Indicates that the provider is currently consulting with the patient.
At Billing: Indicates that invoicing is ready to be processed for this consultation.
Complete: Indicates that the appointment is finished with no outstanding tasks.
106. Click More to view the available options.
107. Additional actions will be shown here.
ℹ️ Available Options:
Open Patient Record: Opens the patient’s record.
OPV: Runs the Online Patient Verification for a patient using their Medicare number.
New Invoice: Generates an outpatient invoice.
New In-Patient Invoice: Visible only to users subscribed as Specialists for ECLIPSE invoicing.
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