Appointment Scheduler: Schedule for Today window overview
The Schedule for Today window is the main Appointment Scheduler window used for viewing, scheduling, and tracking patient appointments. From this window you can:
- Schedule an appointment
- Update and confirm an appointment
- Check in an appointment
- Copy and paste an appointment
- Move an appointment
- Block unavailable appointment times
- Delete an appointment
- Find an available appointment time
- Locate a client’s appointment
- Access the Tickler File
- Create a schedule note for staff
- View appointment details
- Print today’s schedule
- Access the weekly schedule
Before you start
Security
- Appointment – Schedule for Today
- Appointment – Schedule Appointments
- Appointment – View Appointments
- Appointment – Update Appointments
- Appointment – Move Appointments
- Appointment – Schedule for Week
- Appointment – Schedule for Week Legend
- Appointment – Tickler File
- Appointment – Appointment Note Setup
- Appointment – Appointment Notes
Access and navigation
The Appointment Scheduler can be accessed from multiple pathways. Most commonly used are the toolbar icon 
and from the Patient Clipboard. Patient Clipboard > right-click on patient name > Appointment Scheduler.
For additional pathways, see the Additional information section below.
Navigation options:
- Use the drop-down lists for Staff, Suite, and Template to filter the window.
- Use the action buttons on the right side and the links at the bottom of window to perform various functions and navigate to the desired day.
- Use the radio buttons at the bottom left of the window to select your view preference of either display check-in/out or staff.
Display options
| Field/option | Description |
| Staff | Select a staff member to view their scheduled appointments for the day. All other appointments, that are not for that staff, will appear without appointment information. If a staff member’s hours are different from practice hours, the schedule will display their time in the Time columns on the left and right sides of the appointment grid in black. Unavailable times will appear gray. Times allocated for lunch appear in yellow, unless an alternate color for lunch was selected under practice hours. |
| Suite | Select a suite of rooms to display. |
| Template | Displays the template assigned to the specific day of the week. A different template may be selected from the drop-down list. |
| From/To | Select the time frame to display on the Schedule for Today. |
| Display Check-in/check-out | Displays an “I” to the left of an appointment to indicate that the patient is checked in and displays an “O” to indicate that an appointment is checked out. An empty box indicates the appointment has not been checked in or out. |
| Display Staff | Displays staff icon to the left of each appointment slot, as well as the far-right staff scheduling status column, based on the staff time check boxes selected on the appointment. The status column displays a yellow or red background if one or more appointment times in different rooms are scheduled with the same staff member. This status column appears with either display staff or check in/out. |
| Today | Displays the schedule for the current date. |
| Previous Day / Next Day | Displays the previous/next day’s schedule. |
| Go to Date | Displays a calendar that allows you to select a specific day and go to that day’s schedule. |
Function options
Items with an asterisk (*) are also available from the right click menu of a selected slot or appointment.
| Button | Description |
| Refresh | Refreshes the window with data from other workstations |
| Schedule* | Schedule an appointment in the selected time slot |
| Update* | Edit the selected appointment |
| Check In* | Check the selected appointment in |
| Move* | Move the selected appointment |
| Block* | Block out times so appointments cannot be scheduled. |
| Delete* | Delete the selected appointment |
| Find | Search for available appointment times |
| Locate | Look up a client’s past and future appointments |
| Tickler | List of deleted appointments that can be used for rescheduling |
| Notes | Enter notes about the day’s schedule |
| View* | View details about the selected appointment |
| Prints the schedule in grid view | |
| Weekly | Access the weekly schedule view |
| Close | Close the window |
Additional Information
General
- Colors used for appointments and scheduling templates are determined by reason for visit defaults and template designs set up under Controls > Appointment Scheduler.
- Display selection of check-in/check-out or staff is based on last logged in user selection at the workstation.
Hours
- The hour, time slot increment and day display are determined by practice and staff settings.
- Only staff members who have staff hours set up in the Staff Setup window display in the Staff drop-down list. Set this up by going to Controls > Appointment Scheduler > Staff Setup.
Short cuts
Based on your computer’s Ease of Access keyboard settings, hot-key shortcuts will also be displayed and can be used to operate the buttons and navigation links. Alt + the underscored letter is the keyboard equivalent of clicking links, buttons, or menus. For example, Alt + x for Next Day, Alt + g for Go to Date.
Suites
- The number of columns that display in a single view are determined by your appointment suite settings. To setup suites or change settings, go to Controls > Appointment Scheduler > Suite Setup.
- The suite that displays upon window open is determined by either:
- The defaults set for the logged in staff: Controls > Defaults > Staff >Miscellaneous Note: The staff default override the practice default.
- The suite set as the default: Controls > Defaults > Practice and Workstation > Appointment Scheduler.
Appointment scheduler pathways
- Toolbar > Appointment Scheduler
- Patient Clipboard > Client or Patient Appointment tab right-click menu
- Client and Patient Search > Patient card right-click menu
- Daily Planner Appointments tab
- Check In/Out window > Make Appt button
- Client Invoice > Make Appt button
Related Reports
- Appointment Audit Report
- Appointments Report
- Appointments Report – Summary
