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Mitch is not online. Last active: 10/27/2008 11:36:13 AM Mitch
www.birthchoice.us
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Setting up Appointment Book
Posted: 21 Apr 2008 07:52 PM
We have tried several options with the appointment book and are still trying to come up with the most simple plan.

Our counselors typically volunteer in 4 hour shifts, Monday Tuesday and Thursday we have 3 shifts, and Wednesday and Friday we have 2 shifts. They are usually here during the same shift each week.

Our receptionists are currently using a paper appointment calendar AND the calendar in eKYROS. On our paper calendar, each available appointment is highlighted by color according to the appointment type (PT, ultrasound, Parenting Classes, etc.), and then when the clients are scheduled, their name gets written in the highlighted area in pencil (to allow for cancellations, etc.). Then the appointment is entered into CenterPiece. We are trying to find the best way to eliminate the paper calendar now that the receptionists have gained a better understanding of how the appointments work. Our challenge is that we have 4 counselors per shift, 3 shifts per day. Some counselors see 1 PT and 2 Parenting Classes, while others do Parenting Classes only. Many of our clients prefer to followup with the same counselor.

We tried setting up each volunteer combined with appointment type in resources, but that means that the receptionists have to look through 4 pages of resources to find an open appointment, and are unable to view the entire day at once. This is more cumbersome than they are willing to deal with, and takes a considerable amount of time while the client is waiting.

We have also made a "dummy" client named OPEN APPOINTMENT, and are currently playing around with setting up appointments for the dummy client for each available client appointment. It is very simple to put in the counselor name and type of appointment initially. Then the receptionist just "edits" the appointment and changes the dummy client to the actual client that books the apointment. I am unsure what that will do to our statistics since the appointments don't really exist until they have been changed to an actual client's name. I am also concerned about the time requirements for ongoing data entry.

Have you ran across any issues like this? Do you have any suggestions for us to try?

Thank you for your time!

In Christ,

In Christ,

Mitch K.
Computer Administrator

Birth Choice Pregnancy Resource Clinic
391 Wallace Road
Jackson, TN 38305
731.664.8443

Mitch@BirthChoice.us
brianp is not online. Last active: 12/20/2024 2:47:16 PM brianp
www.ekyros.com
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Re: Setting up Appointment Book
Posted: 21 Apr 2008 10:50 PM
hmmm...i'm going to have to think about this one, but what if we added the ability to search resources by type and availability. for example, find next open slot where resource = volunteer-appttype resource. that way your staff wouldn't get 4 pages of resources to scroll through...

Mitch is not online. Last active: 10/27/2008 11:36:13 AM Mitch
www.birthchoice.us
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Joined: 12 Jun 2007
Total Posts: 21
 
Re: Setting up Appointment Book
Posted: 22 Apr 2008 03:29 PM

Brian, again you amaze me!

I do believe that would solve our dilema! I guess it would be pointless for me to ask if you can make that available!


In Christ,

Mitch K.
Computer Administrator

Birth Choice Pregnancy Resource Clinic
391 Wallace Road
Jackson, TN 38305
731.664.8443

Mitch@BirthChoice.us
brianp is not online. Last active: 12/20/2024 2:47:16 PM brianp
www.ekyros.com
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Joined: 01 Aug 2002
Total Posts: 1248
 
Re: Setting up Appointment Book
Posted: 22 Apr 2008 04:12 PM
Thanks Mitch. I'll add this to our feature list. FYI: This won't be trivial to implement, so it may take some time. I'll keep you posted.

BTW: Thank you for the detailed feedback. It really makes my job a lot easier!

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