4. Scheduling with sam
Now that you know how to schedule in sam, read below to learn about each step in more detail and review the advanced features to help you quickly find the right appointment for every patient.
4.1. Starting sam and Finding Patients
You can launch the scheduler from several other programs. For example, if your staff uses pen (Phone Encounter Notes) to handle triage calls, you can schedule directly from that program. If your front desk needs to schedule a follow-up visit while checking out a patient, they can press [F8 -- Patient Schedule] while posting charges in chuck and jump into the scheduler. In fact, the programs checkin, pen, chuck, tickle, and the lab module all have a link to sam. If you use those tools, you will benefit from a direct link to the scheduler. Look for keys like this:
sam is also a stand-alone program. You can run it from the "Patient Scheduler" option in your Daily Operations window, or by typing sam from a UNIX prompt. The inquire program, used to review or edit patient appointment histories, can also be run independently.
If you are not already working with a patient, you will be asked to select one when you first run sam. Remember that you can find patients by name as well as by birthday or any of several other criteria. For more information, see the New Tools for Finding Patients and Accounts section of the Partner Manual.
 | More than One Office? |
|---|---|
If you schedule appointments for more than one office or physical location, sam will ask you for which office you which to schedule:
Once you have selected a scheduling office, sam will select it for you by default each time you run the scheduler. You can change the default by selecting a different location and you can override your default location at any time by changing the location field on the Search Criteria screen. |
4.2. SAM Search Criteria Screen
Once you have found the desired patient, you will see the SAM Search Criteria screen shown below. From here you can review information about the patient, add more patients and relatives for scheduling, jump to several other Partner programs, or enter visit criteria to schedule a new appointment.
4.2.1. Working With Patients
The patient information in the middle of this screen can be very helpful. If the patient has been dismissed or transferred, for example, you will see a flag indicating that in one or more of the "STATUS" lines at the top. You can also confirm address, phone, and insurance information on this screen and use [F6 -- Demographics] to correct any problems. Best of all, this screen is customizable. If your office needs to add or remove certain information, contact PCC for help editing this screen.
| Before scheduling, check out the "LAST PHYS" and "NEXT APPT" fields in the upper right hand corner. Many insurance companies will not pay for more than one physical a year, and another family member may have already scheduled this patient's appointment. The "NEXT APPT" field will show you this patient's first upcoming appointment after today. |
You can perform a wide range of Partner functions from this screen:
Function Keys on the Search Criteria Screen
- [F1 -- Schedule]
Press F1 to continue the scheduling process using the information you entered at the top of the screen. See the Enter Visit Criteria section for more information on completing the Visit Reason, Provider, Minutes, Location, and Time Frame fields.
- [F2 -- Inquire]
Press F2 to run the inquire program. In inquire you can view complete visit information on a patient's future and previous appointments. You can delete, cancel, or mark these appointments as missed. You can change the notes for an appointment and reprint the encounter form. For more information, read the inquire section below.
- [F3 -- Find]
Press F3 to find more patients. You can then view and schedule more than one patient simultaneously. After you find them, they will be listed at the top of this screen. As you select each one using the arrow keys, the demographic information will change to show information for each patient. You can enter appointment criteria and schedule for each patient or you can clear unneeded patients from the screen by selecting them and pressing [F8 -- Clear].
See the "Scheduling Multiple Patients" section below for more information. In addition to scheduling several different patients, you can schedule the same patient for a simultaneous visit with two or more providers or a provider and an assistant.
- [F4 -- Customizable Function Key]
Press F4 to perform a custom action. If your office frequently adds a pen note, views a scheduling report, or performs some other common Partner function while scheduling, you can assign that function to the F4 key on the Search Criteria screen. Contact PCC support (
<support@pcc.com>or 1-800-722-1082) to set up a custom action for the F4 key.- [F5 -- Next Relation]
Press F5 to add a relation of the current patient. A relation is any patient who shares a custodian with the current patient. This is particularly useful when scheduling siblings. When you press F5, sam will show you a list of all the patients related to the currently selected patient. Select the ones you wish to work with and press [F1 -- Process]. See the "Scheduling Multiple Patients" section below for more information.
- [F6 -- Demographics]
Press F6 to run the checkin program. This is a very important tool, as checkin contains links to most other Partner programs. Do you need to look up the patient's immunization record before scheduling? Jump to checkin and then press [F2 -- Edit Patient] to run the Patient Editor (notjane). From checkin you can also review outstanding balances, update insurance information, or even post payments.
- [F7 -- Customizable Function Key]
Press F7 to perform a custom action. If your office frequently adds a pen note, views a scheduling report, or performs some other common Partner function while scheduling, you can assign that function to the F7 key on the Search Criteria screen. Contact PCC support (
<support@pcc.com>or 1-800-722-1082) to set up a custom action for the F7 key.- [F8 -- Clear]
Press F8 to remove the currently selected patient from your list. If you only have one patient listed at the top of the screen, press F8 to search and schedule for a new patient. If you have used the Find or Next Relation keys to add additional patients to the top of the screen, you can use F8 to remove them from the list before scheduling.
4.2.2. Enter Visit Criteria
The tools described above are useful, but they are only precursors to sam's primary function: scheduling appointments. After reviewing the information on the screen, using inquire, or adding more patients, you continue scheduling by filling out the information at the top of the screen. The top row of fields are: Visit Reason, Provider, Minutes, and Location.
As you enter information, press ENTER to move from field to field. You can also use the TAB key. TAB moves the cursor through every field; ENTER only selects the most important fields: Visit Reason, Provider, and Time Frame. To go back one field, press BACKSPACE or use the left arrow key.
| Default Values |
|---|---|
The criteria fields support default values. If your office has only one provider, or almost always performs the same visit reason, ask PCC Support about configuring a default value so you do not have to enter it every time you schedule. |
| Status Flags Can Block Scheduling |
|---|---|
Some patient and account flags can restrict your ability to schedule. If the patient has the "Deceased" flag, for example, that flag will appear in the Visit Reason field and you will be unable to proceed. Contact PCC Support for help configuring the "Prevent Scheduling" feature for certain status flags. |
4.2.2.1. Visit Reasons
Is the patient coming in for a standard sick visit or a physical? Does your office schedule flu shot visits and ADD consultations? Partner contains a predefined list of visit reasons that can be entered into this box. Your office has its own list which can be configured to your particular scheduling needs in ted, the Table Editor.
Do you want to see a list of visit reasons defined on your system? Enter an asterisk (*) and press ENTER. To learn more about defining different visit reasons for your office, read the Sam Configuration section of the Partner Manual or contact PCC support.
Remember to abbreviate. Instead of typing out Sick Call for a sick visit, just type s and press enter. The screen will show you what your abbreviation stood for, so do not worry if you make a bad guess and use an improper abbreviation. Abbreviations are customizable and can be changed for your office.
4.2.2.2. Providers or Provider Groups, Minutes
Just as Partner knows your office's visit reasons, it also knows your providers. You can see a list by entering an asterisk (*) and selecting the provider desired. You may notice a letter next to the Provider field. That letter is an initial indicating the patient's primary care provider as stored in the Patient Editor (notjane) and checkin programs.
In addition to using a provider's name, your office may use provider groups for scheduling. For example, you may enter "any" to find open times for any available provider. PCC support can create any provider group you would find useful for scheduling. Many large practices have "male" and "female" groups for use when the patient wants an appointment with any male or female provider.
The "Minutes" field, or length of the visit, will be completed automatically for you if the provider has a default length for your visit reason. If Dr. Smith needs ten minutes for a sick visit, Partner can be configured so the Minutes field will automatically display that time without you having to type it. If you press ENTER from the provider field, sam will skip the Minutes field entirely. Some offices leave the length of consultations or other visit types unspecified. For those visits you can press TAB and enter a time in the "Minutes" field. You might also do this in order to extend a sick or recheck visit for a patient with a flag indicating they need extra time.
4.2.2.3. Location
The "Location" field shows an abbreviation for the office in which you are scheduling. It can be changed if you are making an appointment in a different location. You can skip this field by using the ENTER key to move among the fields. As with the visit reasons and the providers, you can see a list of scheduling locations by using the asterisk (*) key.
4.2.3. Time Frames
The last search criteria for a visit is the "Time Frame," or when the appointment should take place. A busy scheduler can quickly and easily find the best available appointment for a caller using sam's time frames. Time frames are optional, however. If you leave the Time Frame fields empty, sam will offer you the first available time slot on the next four days the provider has free time.
What would you do if a person on the phone said, "I need an appointment one month from now. Mondays are my day off"? Without sam, you might grab a calendar and search Monday by Monday for an available slot next month. With time frames in sam, you can simply enter, "Mondays" and "in 1 month." sam will show you the first available time on each Monday starting one month from now. You can then confirm one of those times or scroll to more matching offerings with the touch of a key.
A time frame can be nearly anything a caller says to you on the phone: a date, a day of the week, a month, a range of dates or times, or even a few everyday phrases. You can combine up to four time frames and use abbreviations. If someone asks you for Thursday afternoons in December, just enter "thurs", "aftn" and "dec" to view appropriate openings.
Here is how a couple of time frames might look on the screen:
You will need to practice using time frames for a while before you become an expert. Until you learn all the tricks, remember that you can always just enter the date and/or time that the caller desires. You can also leave the question blank and sam will offer you the earliest available times.
4.2.3.1. Different kinds of Time Frames
There are many different types of words and phrases that work as time frames. Below are the basic elements of different time frames you might use, along with some examples. Notice that the examples include both the full text as well as some of the abbreviations that are allowed.
Table 1. Time Frame Elements and Examples
| Basic Element | Possible Time Frames: |
|---|---|
| Dates | 01/16/2004, 01/16, Jan 16 |
| Days | monday, mondays, mon, tues, wed, mo, tu, we, ... |
| Times | 10:30am, 1:00pm, 1pm, ... |
| Months | january, jan, feb, mar, apr, ja, fe, ap, ... |
| Ranges | wed-thu, 10/01-10/15, 3pm-6pm |
| How Far Out | in two weeks, 2wks, in 1 month, 1m |
| Time of the Day | morning, morn, evening, eve, afterschool, afts, afternoon, aftn |
| Not... | not monday, not tuesday, not mo, not tu |
| Before... | Before 10/01/06, not before 09/01/06, before june |
| Everyday Phrases | asap, sick (or today) |
| Multiple Patient Indicator | concurrent, serial |
As illustrated above, the Time Frame fields accept two and three letter abbreviations for days and months. The exceptions include march, may, june, and july, which all need at least three letters.
You may have noticed a few unique items in the chart above. The abbreviations "asap" and "sick" are not standard time frames. The "asap" time frame looks for the first available time over the next several days, and the "sick" time frame (which can also be typed as "today" or "t") concentrates on times for today only.
| The Sick or Today Time Frame |
|---|---|
The "sick" time frame is a special way of finding available openings. Enter "sick" or "today" as your time frame, and sam will show you just one column with times for today only. This can be very helpful if you handle a lot of triage phone calls and do not wish to see any day except for today. If you use the "any" group as your provider, the sick time frame will show you one column for every provider who has available time today. |
The other special time frame element is the multiple patient indicator. If you are scheduling for more than one patient or scheduling the same patient for multiple visits or multiple providers, you can use one of these two time frames. You either want the visits to be "concurrent" (scheduled at the same time with different providers) or "serial" (scheduled back-to-back). The default behavior is "serial." For more information, see the "Scheduling Multiple Patients" section.
4.2.3.2. Time Frames in Action
Now that you have seen the basic elements, some more examples will help you see how time frames can be entered. Below are some examples of appointment requests you might receive and what time frame to use. Remember that you can always just enter a date if the caller gives you a date. The tricks below might help you to find more appropriate openings more quickly.
Table 2. Common Requests and Possible Time Frames
| If the caller asks for: | Use the time frame(s) of: | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| A sick/office visit for today | sick OR t | ||
| As soon as possible | asap | ||
| September 15th or after | 09/15 | ||
| 1 month from now | 1 mo | ||
| A recheck 2 weeks from today | 2wks | ||
| Any Monday afternoon | Mon | Aftn | |
| Any time between 10 and 2 | 10am-2pm | ||
| In the morning on Oct 20th | morn | 10/20 | |
| Any Thursday afternoon in July | thur | july | afternoon |
| Either Monday or Tuesday afterschool | mon, tues | afts | |
| At 2pm, any day, but not Tuesday or Thursday | 2 | not tue, thur | |
| Any Monday afternoon before June 10th | mo | aftn | before 06/10/06 |
As you can see, you can combine time frames to focus in on what the patient needs. Using time frames is a skill that grows with practice, so you may want to review the elements above once you have used sam for a few weeks. Even if you only use dates, days of the week and asap, you will still find available time slots much faster than by searching through the entire schedule.
After you have entered a visit reason, provider, time, location and time frame(s), press [F1 -- Schedule] to browse available times.
4.2.4. Jump Back to the Search Criteria Screen
After filling out the visit criteria and pressing [F1 -- Schedule], you will have access to the three sam scheduling screens and can pick the best available date and time for the appointment. If you need to jump back to the Search Criteria screen and make a change to one of the items described above, you have several options.
- [F2 -- New Time Frame]
Press F2 to jump back to the Search Criteria screen and put the cursor into the first Time Frame field.
- V
Press V to return to the Search Criteria screen and put the cursor into the Visit Reason field.
- P
Press P to return to the Search Criteria screen and put the cursor into the Provider field.
- L
Press L to return to the Search Criteria screen and put the cursor into the Location field.
- M
Press M to return to the Search Criteria screen and put the cursor into the Minute field.
- T
Press T to return to the Search Criteria screen and put the cursor into the Time Frame field.
- F12
Press F12 to return to the Search Criteria screen and put the cursor into the first (Visit Reason) field.
The above hot-keys will help you quickly change visit criteria while scheduling a patient.
4.3. Normal View: Choose From Available Appointment Times
The Normal View, shown below, offers available times based on the criteria you entered on the Search Criteria screen. The earliest and best matches for the criteria you entered will be in the middle row as shown in the example below. The first available match is highlighted for you, in the middle of the left-most column, ready to be confirmed. Other suggested times are listed in the same row across the middle of your screen. You can also view other available times and move around the calendar to find the best time for the patient.
4.3.1. Reading the Normal View
The Normal View screen is divided up by a grid into columns and rows. Each column provides details about a different day. The information at the top of the column tells you what day and provider the column displays. The dates may be consecutive, but sam will not waste space showing a date for which there is no available time or that does not meet your search criteria. If a provider only works on Wednesday and Thursday, you will only see columns for Wednesdays and Thursdays. If you enter "Monday" as a time frame, sam will offer the next several Mondays with available time. If you enter "sick" as a time frame, you will only see one column for each provider in your criteria who has available time today.
The columns are split into units of time during the day. In the screen above, each rectangle represents a fifteen minute unit of time. Your office might work with a ten or five minute schedule instead, and a few offices have used a thirty minute unit. Press [F1 -- Schedule Appt], to start confirming the time in the currently selected rectangle. The currently selected time is also shown at the top of the screen.
Here are three units from a Normal View screen:
In the example above, for the day and provider selected, you can see that the 8:45AM time slot is wide open, but a five minute allergy recheck partially fills up the 9:00AM time. Since the visit being scheduled is only ten minutes long, it can still be scheduled to start at 9:00AM. In each slot you can also see basic information about existing visits. For example, the patient Jnaya Payne is scheduled for an allergy recheck at 9:00AM. The 9:15AM unit has a "+2" next to the time, indicating that two visits are scheduled in that time. You can use F8 to go to the Detailed View (see below) if you want to see more details about those two visits.
| No Times Available? |
|---|---|
If you search using a time frame in which your chosen provider is unavailable, you will see a warning message that "There are no available times for your chosen criteria." For example, if Dr. Smith only works on Mondays and you use "tues" as your time frame, you will see the error. You can still hunt for appointments using the Day View, as described below, or you can return to the SAM Search Criteria screen and use a different time frame. |
4.3.2. Actions On the Normal View
While sam automatically chooses the first and best match for you, you can choose a different time. Use the right and left arrow keys to select any of the times in the middle row. Do you want to see available times later in the day? Press [F4 -- Next Availabl] to ask sam to find the next best times according to your criteria. The middle row will shift to show the next open time in each column. You can use the F4 and [F3 -- Prev Availabl] keys to cycle through all the available times in the days shown.
You can use the arrow keys to move around and select other times, dates, or providers. You can arrow off the screen and the screen will shift. Whenever you see a highlighted number of minutes in the upper right hand corner of a rectangle, there is open time available.
 | If you use the up and down arrow keys, you can select any unit of time... even one that is filled with another appointment! Since using the up and down arrow keys will let you pick any unit, it is better to use F3 and F4 so you know you are finding truly open times. If you do arrow down, you can always tap F3 or F4 to snap back to times that sam recommends based on your criteria. |
No matter how far you scroll off the screen to the right, sam will continue to only offer times based on the criteria you entered. If you decide to schedule based on a different time frame (or provider, visit reason, etc.), you should press [F2 -- New Time Frame] to make changes to your criteria.
4.3.3. Function Keys on the Normal View
- [F1 -- Schedule Appt]
Press F1 to schedule the currently selected appointment. You will be shown a confirmation screen where you can add notes and save the appointment by pressing F1 again. On the confirmation screen, you have a chance to return to this screen by pressing F12. If you attempt to confirm an appointment at an unavailable time, you will be shown a conflict screen with a link to the Detailed View.
- [F2 -- New Time Frame]
Press F2 to return to the SAM Search Criteria screen. If you need to change the patient, the visit reason, the provider, or the time frame for the visit, press F2 and make your changes.
- [F3 -- Previous Availabl]
Press F3 to see earlier available times in each column. F3 scrolls all of the columns down so that the middle row shows the previous appointment openings. Keep in mind that sam will only offer open times that match your time frame, it will skip over times that are filled or that don't match your criteria. F3, along with F4, allows you to cycle through the available openings for the day you are viewing based on the criteria you entered.
- [F4 -- Next Availabl]
Press F4 to see the next available times in each column. F4 scrolls all of the columns up so the middle row shows the next available openings. Keep in mind that sam will only offer open times that match your time frame, it will skip over times that are filled or that don't match your criteria. F4, along with F3, allows you to cycle through the available openings for each day you are viewing based on the criteria you entered.
If you are scheduling for a provider group, such as "any" or "male", the Normal View will shift to show you the next four openings for any provider in that group when you press F3 or F4. That may mean that the columns no longer show the same providers, but instead will show the next possible available provider in the provider group you used. If you would rather scroll through available appointments with the providers "frozen" in the column they started in, use Page Up and Page Down instead of F3 and F4. No matter which method you use to view next appointments, you can arrow off the screen to the right to see additional available doctors if any are available.
- [F5 -- Select This Day/Deselect]
Press F5 to view all available doctors for the selected day. If you are scheduling for a provider group and are looking at a range of dates, you will see the first available provider for each date. You may want to find out if alternate providers are available. Use the arrow keys to select the column of that day and press F5. The Normal View will show you a single column for every provider who is available on the date you selected. Press F5 again to return you to the standard calendar view. Using the "sick" or "today" time frame is similar to selecting a day with F5.
- [F6 -- Select This Prov/Deselect]
Press F6 to see more openings for the provider of the currently selected column. If you entered a provider group (such as "any") when specifying the provider, you may want to switch to a single provider while scheduling. Choose a column that shows that provider and press F6. The Normal View will show only that provider's schedule. You can press F6 again to return to viewing open times for the provider group you originally entered.
- [F7 -- Day View]
Press F7 to view the Day View screen. The Day View (described below) allows you to force in an appointment for any desired time and date. You can also review the current schedule for all providers. The Day View shows statistics on how busy each provider is for a given date. You can find out who the least busy provider is, switch to that provider and location, and continue scheduling. You can also force in an appointment for any desired time and date.
- [F8 -- Detailed View]
Press F8 to view the Detailed View screen. The Detailed View (described below) offers more information about each time slot, including complete visit information and a tally of how each unit of time is used. You can also remove blocks and schedule directly from the Detailed View.
4.4. Detailed View: Review Details of Existing Appointments, Remove Blocks
Who booked the existing appointments on your screen? Are there any notes for those visits? Why is a unit double or triple booked? The Normal View only shows basic information about each unit of time. Use the Detailed View to learn more. Instead of viewing several columns and only seeing a brief explanation of existing appointments, the Detailed View shows a single day with lots of information about each time slot. This means you can understand existing visits better as you schedule. In addition, the Detailed View allows you to remove block appointments if you need more time free in the day.
As described above, press F8 to switch to the Detailed View of the date you have currently selected.
4.4.1. Reading the Detailed View
The Detailed View shows complete information about every appointment and every time slot. Each time slot on the left hand side of the screen has an explanatory section on the right hand side. You can see how many appointments exist in that time slot, how much time is booked starting at that time, and how much time is blocked. Within the section, you can review complete information about the appointments, including the notes and by whom, when, and how the appointment was scheduled.
In the image above, you can see that there are two visits scheduled at 10:00am. You can tell that the user "ginger" made both appointments on 09/29, and you can see that the first visit may need a flu and tetanus shot.
4.4.2. Actions On the Detailed View
Many of the same tools and function keys work here as in the Normal View. If you want to look around the schedule, press [F4 -- Next Available] to walk through all the available openings, or use your arrow keys to move up and down through each unit of the day. Press the right and left arrow keys to reach different days. [F2 -- New Time Frame] lets you go back and change criteria. When you find the appointment you want, press [F1 -- Schedule Appt].
While you are viewing the Detailed View, you are working with a single provider, the provider of the column you selected on the Normal View. If you wish to switch providers, press [F2 -- New Time Frame]. You can also press [F7 -- Day View] and switch providers and schedule from the Day View.
| You can select and examine any day or time you want on the Detailed view, even a day that is fully booked and has no available times! If you wish to return to the Normal View, you will snap back to the date and time you were looking at before. If you would like sam to search for new times based on the date you have selected in the Detailed View, press [F6 -- Set New Criteria]. sam will take you back to the Normal View with your newly selected time and date as a starting point for your search. |
Removing Blocks: What if your physical time next month is fully booked, and you decide to remove a sick call block so you can fit an extra physical? There is one special function key available on the Detailed View that is not on other screens. Use the arrow keys to select the block and press [F5 -- Remove Block] to remove it. This key only appears on the screen when you have selected a block appointment, like a sick call block. This option can be limited to specific users if your office requests.
4.5. Day View: Force in Appointments, Review All Providers
If a day or time slot is fully booked, the Normal View will not offer it for scheduling. The Normal View only shows days with available times. When you are trying to book appointments on a fully booked day or for a time that is not available, switch to the Day View. On the Day View you can review how busy each of your providers are, switch among them, jump to any day or time you want to review, and then force in an appointment.
To reach the Day View, press [F7 -- Day View] from the Normal View. Note that if you use F8 from any scheduling view, you will cycle through the three different scheduling views.
4.5.1. Reading the Day View
As shown above, the screen is divided into two parts. On the left is a simple view of the selected day for the currently selected provider. The box is broken into units and contains basic unit information, including an abbreviated visit reason, patient name, blocked time and open time. You can move up and down through the day. Press [F3 -- Previous Day], [F4 -- Next Day] or [F5 -- Jump To Date] to view other days.
On the right hand side of the screen you will see even more information about the day you are currently considering. You will see the currently selected provider and the section of his work day that you are viewing. This means that if the provider works in the morning and in the afternoon, you will see two lines for that provider along with his "In/Out" times. Complete workload information is shown for all the providers, including the total number of free and scheduled minutes for each provider. PCC can configure which of your providers you would like to appear in this list and whether to sort the list alphabetically or by available time.
In the example shown, an 8:45AM visit is selected, and on the right hand side you can see that this is with Dr. Bugles, working in the office, during his morning hours of 8:30AM to 12:00PM. You can also tell how much time during each part of the day is already scheduled and how much is still free. For example, in the afternoon Dr. Bugles has 180 minutes free and has six scheduled appointments for a total of 90 minutes scheduled.
| What is the asterisk (*) for? |
|---|---|
You may notice an asterisk next to a provider's name and an explanation at the bottom of the screen that you can not schedule your current visit reason for the indicated provider. This happens when the visit reason you chose does not have a visit length listed in the table editor (ted). sam does not know how much time that provider needs for the visit. To schedule for that provider, you will need to press [F2 -- New Time Frame] and enter a visit length. |
4.5.2. Actions On the Day View
You can use the arrow keys to move back and forth between the two halves of the screen. While on the left-hand side, you can scroll through times of the day for the currently selected provider. You can use [F1 -- Schedule Appt] to make an appointment at the selected time. If the provider is not available, the key will read [F1 -- Force in Appt].
If you arrow over to the right-hand side, you can scroll through the different providers. This means you can review how full each of the providers is in both the morning and afternoon. When you select a new provider, the left-hand side will change and show details about the new provider's day. You can then use the left arrow key to return to the left side of the screen for your newly selected provider. The change of location is automatic; when viewing a provider who works in a different location, you will be viewing the new location.
| Do you want to switch dates or providers and jump back to the Normal View? After making your selection, press [F6 -- Set New Criteria]. sam will take you back to the Normal View with a- new search based on the date and provider you have chosen. If you press [F8 -- Normal View] instead, sam will assume you were "just looking" and return to your original date and provider. |
Look back at the example shown in the image above. Since Dr. Smith has more "Free" time this morning than Dr. Bugles, you might decide to change providers. After choosing Dr. Smith, you will press [F6 -- Set New Criteria] to ask sam to search for available times for the newly selected provider.
4.6. Schedule Multiple Patients
In the "SAM Search Criteria" section above, you learned how to add additional patients to the screen in order to schedule several patients at once. This section will take you step-by-step through multiple patient scheduling and teach you all the tools you need to find the best openings for them quickly.
| Do you ever schedule one patient for two different providers at the same time? Does your doctor need a translator, or do you need both a doctor and a nurse practitioner present during certain visits? Use the multiple patient features described below to find the same patient twice and schedule time with two different providers concurrently. |
Step One: Find the First Patient.
When a caller wants to schedule two siblings or any two patients at the same time, the first step is to find the first patient. Run sam and enter the patient's name as described in the sections above.
Step Two: Add Additional Patients.
After finding the first patient, press one of the following two keys on the SAM Search Criteria screen:
- [F3 -- Find]
Press F3 if you wish to find an additional patient by name, birthdate, or other identification. You will see the standard Partner find routines, where you can find any patient or add a new patient. If you are scheduling the same patient for multiple providers, you can press [F2 -- Use Last Patient] from the find screen to select the current patient a second time.
- [F5 -- Next Relation]
Use F5 to add a relation of the current patient. A relation is any patient who shares the same custodian as the currently listed patient. You will see a list of all patients who share the current patient's custodian.
When you have several patients on the screen, the SAM Search Criteria screen will list them all at the top:
Step Three: Review Patient Information.
You can use the check box at the left to select each patient. Press the left arrow key to enter the box, and then arrow up and down to choose a different patient. The information window in the middle of the screen will change to reveal info for the chosen patient. If the caller is making appointments for physicals, for example, you can verify each of the patients' last physical date before scheduling.
If you added a patient by mistake, you can remove them from the list by selecting them and pressing [F8 -- Clear].
Step Four: Fill Out Criteria.
Fill out the Visit Reason and Provider fields for each patient. Note that an initial next to the Provider field indicates the patient's primary care provider. You can select each patient and use [F6 -- Demographics] if any changes need to be made.
You can specify exactly which provider each sibling should see, or you can use provider groups. If you use a provider group, such as "any", sam will attempt to find times when both patients can see the same provider.
Step Five: Enter Time Frame.
Enter a time frame and press [F1 -- Schedule] to find open appointment times.
If you are scheduling multiple patients for more than one provider, the default search is for "serial" appointments; sam assumes that you do not want the visits to overlap. A parent would want to attend the physicals of each child, for example, even if the visits were with two different providers. You can add the time frame of "concurrent" if the caller does not mind having their patients in two different rooms at the same time or if you are scheduling one patient for a simultaneous two-provider visit.
Step Six: Select the Best Appointment Times.
As with one patient, sam will next show you the Normal View:
The middle row shows you the first available times for the first child based on the time frame you entered. The top of the screen will display what time is held for each of the other patients. sam carefully selects available time slots in which all of the listed patients can fit. If you see any offerings, you can trust that all of the patients will fit into the schedule at that time. The Normal View's columns and rows, however, can only show time selection and provider for one patient.
Always look at the top of the screen when offering times to the caller. The listed times are held by sam, and pressing [F1 -- Schedule] will begin confirming those times for the patients listed.
Step Seven: Optionally, check the Patient View.
If you wish to see one column for each patient, press [F7 -- Patient View]. The Patient View option only appears when scheduling multiple patients. It will show you columns for each patient you are scheduling and allow you to see existing appointments surrounding the selected time. If you are scheduling for more than one provider, the Patient View helps you understand each providers' schedule for the selected day and time.
You can move from left to right to select a different patient. Use [F3 -- Previous Availabl] and [F4 -- Next Availabl] to scroll to other possible openings in the selected day with the selected provider. sam will continue to calculate the best available times to bring in all of the patients listed. You can return to the Normal View by pressing [F8 -- Normal View]. The Normal View picks times for you for all patients and lets you move from day to day, but the Patient View helps you understand exactly where the visits will land during the selected day.
Step Eight: Schedule and Confirm the Appointment.
Whatever view is on your screen, press [F1 -- Schedule Appt] to begin confirming the appointments. Remember that the times and providers you are confirming are always shown at the top of the screen. Read the section below for full details on how to confirm appointments.
| Do you want to use the Day View to force multiple patients into a day that is not offered on the Normal View? You can, but remember that the Day View only selects a single date, time, and provider. If you use the Day View to force in multiple patients, you will be booking back-to-back visits for the same provider starting at the selected time. If that is not what you want, use the Patient View or schedule each patient separately. As mentioned above, always review your selection at the top of the screen before confirming the appointments. |
4.7. Confirming Appointments
Press [F1 -- Schedule Appt] from the Normal, Detailed, Day, or Patient View to begin confirming appointments listed at the top of the screen. From the Notes and Confirmation screen you can enter notes and confirm the appointment:
While you are confirming, you can remind the caller about the time and date you have selected and note any pertinent information about the visit. The function keys are the standard options for the fred text editor. They allow you to manipulate the notes you type in various ways.
If you change your mind, or you selected the wrong visit time by mistake, just press F12. You will be taken back to the Normal View so you can pick a different appointment or quit.
The most important function is [F1 -- Confirm Appt], which will confirm the appointment you have selected and save any notes you have typed. If you are scheduling for two or more patients, you will be shown a separate confirmation screen for each one. If you are scheduling an appointment for today, an encounter form will print out as soon as you save.
After confirming the appointment(s), you will be brought to the find routines so you can schedule for the next patient. If you want to check the work on the visit you just made or make changes to the patient's demographics, you can press [F2 -- Use Last Patient] to return to the SAM Search Criteria screen. From their you can run inquire or view the patient's demographics.
| If at any time you attempt to confirm a time slot that is already filled or is otherwise unavailable, you will be shown a conflict screen:
The conflict screen conveniently has a function key for jumping to the Detail View for more information. You can press F12 to return to the screen where you selected the appointment time, or press [F8 -- Detail View] so you can evaluate the day in more detail and determine how the slot was already filled. If you are certain that you wish to schedule the appointment anyway, press [F1 -- Force In Appt] to continue scheduling. This may result in double booking or scheduling an appointment when the provider is not scheduled to work. PCC can turn this option on and off for specified users. |
