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Introduction

NOTE:

• This option requires that your software is enabled for Single Column Appointment Book
• The Appointment Colour Status option is not available in Single Column Appointment Book

To open a Single Column Appointment Book

1. Select File > Appointments > Single Column Appointment Book:

   

2. Then select a single column appointment book from the Provider list:

   
   A window will appear:

   

Areas in the Single Column Appointment Book

The single column appointment book displays detailed appointment information in a simplified format as an alternative to the more fully featured multi column appointment book.

The main parts to the single column appointment book:

Provider Area 

Selecting a Provider Appointment

Your appointment book will display automatically if

• you are logged into EXACT as a provider, and
• an appointment book is opened from the File menu.

If you are not logged in as a provider, select a Provider by means of the dropdown menu, or type the Provider code in the field:

NOTE: You can add single column appointment books to the Workspace Bar.

Restricting Appointment Times

(e.g. “Day off”, “Meeting”, “Study leave”)

1. Click the button to the right of the header bar.

   

2. This will display the "Restrict Appointment Times" window.

   

   Here you have a number of options:

   • Click the Create Block Rota button to Set up a Rota that specifies when the Provider is available and unavailable in a weekly cycle to be repeated for a specified number of rotations .
   • Click the Create Block, Clinic or Roster button to open the Add Extra Block window from which you can set up the blocks for the times the provider will be unavailable.
   • Click the Extend Block Rota button to extend the weekly rotations for the defined Block Rota.

Editing the Parameters

Click the button to open the ‘Edit Single Appointment book Parameters’ window.

This controls the colours used in an appointment book, and the appointment times displayed.

NOTES:

Although each Provider’s appointment book can be customised, it is recommended that the practice standardise the following settings for every appointment book.

Lighter colours are easier to work with than very dark hues as they make text and symbols more readily visible.

You can change the change the colours if the chosen colours are unsuitable.

NOTE: Working with the above recommendations will ensure that your reception staff can move from book to book and instantly recognise the colours displayed without referring back to the parameters window.

Changing a set Colour

1. In the appointment book, click the Parameters button:
   This will open the Edit Single Appointment Book Parameters dialogue.
2. Click the Set Colour button next to the parameter for which you wish to change the colour.
3. The standard Color window displays:

   

4. Select a standard colour in the Basic colors section.
5. If you then want to have a lighter/darker shade of a standard colour, click the colour, then drag the slider on the far right up or down, or click on the graduated bar until the shade you want is displayed in the box.
   If you wish to save this colour for the duration of your current computer session, click the button.
6. You can also select a colour by clicking in the colour palette, or by entering numbers in the area to the bottom right. You will notice the box above changes colour.
7. If you are not selecting a basic colour, and wish to set the same colour in another provider's book, save it as a custom colour.

   NOTE: It is prudent to write down the Red, Green and Blue colour settings numbers, in case the custom colour is overwritten or not saved ("Add to Custom Colors" only works for the current computer session).

8. Click the button to save your changes.

Week Area

The View Week area displays several days of appointments using colour to show available time, blocked time and booked appointments for the selected provider. Different Colours can be used to represent treatments.

The days of the week are displayed down the left of the View Week area and there are a number of columns within each day.

Each row is divided into hour blocks by the columns, and represents the appointments. Clicking on a Day/Time will move the View Day area below, to display the appointments for that day. The currently selected day will be highlighted in blue.

Appointments and Blocks are represented by a coloured area representing the length of the Appointment or Block.

Colour-coding Example:

These blocks can be colour-coded. For example:

Booked appointments (colour coded by appointment category).

• Yellow for Examinations
• Red for Root Canal Treatment

Blocked Time

• Grey for blocked out time (i.e. the provider is not available to provide treatment to patients.)
• Blue for available appointment time.

Double-bookings and Failed Appointments

• Green for double-bookings (only green for the overlapped time).
• Pink for failed appointments (appointments failed today will turn pink tomorrow).

Day Area

The View Day area displays the appointments for the selected provider for the selected day. It includes information such as the name of the patient, their contact phone numbers and what treatment they have come in for.

Also shown on the appointment are the appointment status, and icons to show the status of any contacts made with the patient by telephone, SMS and email.

To edit an appointment that is displayed in the Single Column Appointment Book

Double-click the appointment time to display the Edit Appointment window.

Appointment Status

Each appointment has a Status box in the top left corner, with status indicators of the patient's current stage in the appointment workflow:

If a patient does not arrive there is also a Failed to Arrive (FTA) icon:

Each time the status is clicked, it cycles through the following status items:

• A telephone handset icon indicates that the patient’s appointment has been confirmed; this option can be switched off in the configuration of the appointment book if not required.
• A hollow square icon indicates that the patient has not yet arrived.
• A stick figure icon indicates that the patient has arrived for their appointment.
• The patient in the chair icon indicates that the patient’s records are open in the surgery.
• A tick icon indicates the appointment has been completed and the patient is checked out. (Appointments are automatically updated as completed when the provider charges or TC’s the patient from the surgery).

These icons are especially significant for practices that use the appointment workflow to track and process patients through the practice.

Appointments are automatically updated as completed when the provider saves, charges or TC’s work for the patient from the surgery. This is the recommended method for completing appointments.

Status Triggers

Statuses are triggered as follows:

Resetting the appointment status

Requires EXACT v12.2 or later.

It is possible to manually reset or change a patient's appointment workflow status to either

_ Booked (not yet in the workflow)

_ Arrived (has been processed through reception and is now awaiting clinical treatment)

_ In the Chair (being treated in the Clinic - only the assigned Provider can change the patient to this status)

_ Complete (has been treated and is now in reception being processed through departure)

_ Checked Out (completed the workflow)

To reset the patient appointment status

Right-click the appointment and select the reset status from the context menu:

(the options may vary depending on stages in the workflow and permissions)

_

IMPORTANT: When you reset the appointment status EXACT resets its expectation of where that patient is in the practice and what actions are applicable to that patient's current stage of the workflow.

Select Reset Appointment Status to set the patient to Booked.

You'll see the status icon in the appointment change: _ Booked

EXACT expects that this patient has not yet arrived in reception.

Select Mark as Booked to set the patient to Booked.

You'll see the status icon in the appointment change: _ Booked

EXACT expects that this patient has not yet arrived in reception.

Select Mark as Arrived to set the patient to awaiting treatment in the clinic.

You'll see the status icon in the appointment change: _ Arrived

EXACT expects that this patient has been through the Arrivals process and is queued, awaiting treatment by the Provider.

The Provider sees this patient as a queued icon, waiting for treatment.

(valid Provider only) Select Move Patient to Chair to accept the patient into the clinic:

A patient can only be moved to the chair by the Provider to whom that patient has been assigned in the appointment book, so only that Provider will see this option to Move to Chair.

You'll see the status icon in the appointment change: _ In the chair

EXACT expects that this patient is in the chair being treated by the Provider.

Select Mark as Complete to mark the clinical treatment phase as complete for this patient.

You'll see the status icon in the appointment change: _ Complete

EXACT expects that this patient has been treated and moved to Reception, and pops up the patients Departure Task List, where applicable.

Select Mark as Checked Out to mark the reception departure phase as complete for this patient.

You'll see the status icon in the appointment change: _ Checked out

EXACT expects that this patient has been processed through departure and left the practice.

Telephone Icons

Three telephones, each initially grey in colour, are shown on the right hand side of each appointment in the View Day area when the appointment is booked. Click on the telephone icon to change the colour from grey to its required colour.

The telephone icons can symbolise a variety of things with regard to the appointment, as defined by each practice. For example, they could be used:

• If the patient wishes to be reminded about the appointment.
• To identify the confirmation status (e.g. “Confirmed”, “Left message”, “Unable to contact patient”, etc.)
• As a reminder that lab work is required for this appointment.

SMS and Email Reminders

When a patient is sent an SMS or email message as a reminder about an appointment, an icon will appear alongside the telephone icons in the appointment, to indicate the message has been sent.

The icon for an SMS reminder appears like this:

A sent email reminder will appear like this:

When both an email message and an SMS message have been sent, it will appear like this:

For an SMS message, one of the following six icons may appear, depending on the status:

When both an email message and an SMS message have been sent, two icons will appear, side by side: the email reminder icon, and whichever of the SMS icons applies.

Month Area

Double-click the View Month button on the Provider Bar:

The View Month area displays an overview of booking information for the selected provider.

Each week is displayed horizontally across the screen (Mon – Sun) from the date on the left.

Bookings are shaded.

To move the View Month display forward or back in time, scroll from the right (as indicated above).

To display the patients booked for a particular day, double-click on that date in the grid. The appointment book will reappear showing the selected date.

The colours are as specified in the Configure Parameters screen for the Single Column Appointment Book.

Typical values:

Single Appointment Book Display Option

The main appointment book window is divided into ‘View Week’ and ‘View Day’ areas. Different staff within the practice may prefer to see more or less of either of these areas.

Between these two sections is an area (the ‘frame border’) that can be selected and dragged with the mouse cursor to increase or decrease the relative sizes of these two areas.

To resize areas of the Single Column Appointment Book Display

1. Place your mouse pointer anywhere along the grey frame between the two areas. When the mouse pointer changes from the arrow to the black double arrows you have your mouse pointer in the right place (see pointer circled in the example above).
2. While holding down the left mouse button, move the mouse cursor (which should still be displaying the black double arrows) up or down the screen, to drag the frame border.
   Drag Up = the View Day area gets larger, View Week area gets smaller.
   Drag Down = the View Day area gets smaller, View Week area gets larger.
3. Release the mouse button.

   NOTE: The appointment book will retain the size setting until it is changed again.

Increase the View Week Area and Reduce the View Day Area

1. Place your mouse pointer anywhere along the grey frame between the two areas. When the Mouse pointer changes from the arrow to the black double arrows you have your mouse pointer in the right place.
2. Click and drag the mouse cursor (which should still be displaying the black double arrows) down the screen.
3. Release the mouse button.
4. The ‘View Week’ area will have been extended and the ‘View Day’ area reduced in size.

   

Viewing More than one Single Column Appointment Book at the Same Time

If you have a screen resolution of 800 x 600 or greater you can view two or possibly three appointment books at once.

1. Open the first appointment book as you would normally.
2. From the ‘File’ menu, select Appointments > Single Column Appointment Book...

   
   This will open a second appointment book that hides the one currently displayed.

3. From the ‘Window’ menu, select ‘Tile’:
   
4. EXACT will evenly arrange all the windows you have open within the program to display on screen together.

   

5. If the scroll bars and arrows to the right of the ‘View Week’ and ‘View Day’ areas do not appear, click your mouse once on the window frame bar of each appointment book displayed. The scroll bars and arrows will then appear.

   TIPS:
   
   - When two or more appointment books are displayed on screen at the same time, they may be viewing different dates.
   
   - With more than one appointment book on the screen, sometimes the tool buttons on the bottom of the book may not be displayed correctly. If a button you wish to use is obscured, temporarily maximise the book using the button in the upper right corner of the book