Edit Appointment  

Double clicking on an appointment in the Appointments module brings up the following appointment edit window:

Procedures
The large procedure list showing at the upper right of the window shows the patient's treatment plan along with completed procedures having the same date as the appointment. From this list, procedures are selected to attach to this appointment. Procedures are simply selected by clicking on items in the list to either add or remove them from the appointment. If a needed procedure is not on the list, there are a couple of options. The 'Quick Add' list is very useful when the procedure does not require a tooth number. Clicking on 'Quick Add' adds the procedure to the treatment plan and selects it. The quick add list is set up in Definitions. The other way to add a procedure is to use the Add button, but this should be done rarely since all treatment should be treatment planned ahead of time.

Time Bar
The slider at the left is for the time, with the total time also showing at the top. The time needed for the appointment is figured automatically based on the procedures selected, but can be changed using the slider if needed. If you change the time manually, then you can also check the box at the top for 'Time Locked'.  This will prevent automatic recalculations in the future.  The time pattern is shown in the slider.  White squares are assistant time, and solid squares are provider time. Clicking on a square toggles it to the other.

Time Calculations
How automatic time is calculated: Every procedure has a time pattern as part of its definition. See Procedure Codes for more information on setting up initial time patterns.  In the examples, below, the / represents assistant time, and the X represents Dr. or hygienist time.  If there is only one procedure selected for an appointment, the time pattern for that appointment is simply the time pattern for that procedure. For each additional procedure, the time patterns are combined following these rules: each additional procedure is shortened by 20 minutes before being added; the first and last time units are removed. For this reason, all procedures should have a time pattern of at least 20 minutes with the first and last unit being a slash. For example, if you had 3 procedures, an MOD amalgam (/XXX/), an extraction (/X/), and a crown prep (/XXXX////), the resulting time pattern would be /XXXXXXXX////, with the first first three X's being the amalgam, the fourth X the extraction, the last four X's and three slashes the crown prep, and the slash on each end standard. If there is a combination of X's and slashes, all the X's are grouped at the beginning of the pattern. Sometimes, the time still needs to be adjusted manuall.  One example might be when doing two crown preps.  The slider can be used to do this.

Status List, Unscheduled Status , and Confirmed
In the status list, the status will be 'scheduled' if the appointment has been scheduled in the Appointments module. It will be 'complete' once it has been marked complete. The process of setting an appointment complete is covered in another section. If you are accessing this window from the Unscheduled list, then the appointment will be status 'unsched list' and will not be present in the appointment book. See that section for more information. The 'ASAP' status means that an appointment is scheduled and is in the Appointments module, but that the patient is available sooner and would like to come in if an opening becomes available. The ASAP functionality will be extended in a future version.

The Unscheduled Status is used from three different areas: the Unscheduled List, Recall List, and Planned Appointment Tracker. By changing the unscheduled status, you can easily see why the appointment has not been scheduled and whether to call the patient or not. The items in this list are set up in Definitions.

The Confirmed list is the list that you defined in Definitions. Each item has a corresponding color that will show in the small box at the upper left of each appointment. The confirmation can be changed here, but is usually changed directly from the middle right of the Appointment module screen because it is faster. A typical way of using the confirmed statuses would be as follows:
Not Called: White
Unconfirmed: Red
Confirmed: Green
Left Message: Yellow
Arrived: Orange
Ready to go back: Purple
In Tx Room: Blue
Front Desk: Gray
There are obviously many other ways to do it than what's shown above, but this will give you some idea of the possibilities. Confirmed statuses are linked to the time tracking features as explained below.

Time Tracking
At the upper left, scrolling down allows you to see the three time tracking fields.

Right click on any of these to right click on the Now option.  But usually, you would not change the times from this window.  Instead it would be done automatically when setting the confirmed statuses.  In the Module Setup window, link triggers to confirmation statuses.  Then, when in the main Appointments module, and the middle right, changing the confirmed status will automatically change the times above.  If there are any patients that have arrived, but are not yet seated, then they will show in the Waiting Room list at the lower right of the Appointments module along with their wait time. 

Time Asked to Arrive is also automated, but in a different manner.  In the Patient Edit window, set the Ask to Arrive Early field, for example to 10 minutes.  Based on that setting, whenever an appointment is scheduled, the Time Asked to Arrive value will be filled in with a time.  In the example, the time would be 10 minutes prior to the actual appointment.  This field can be set to show from the main Appt module by changing the Appt View.

Clinic, Dentist, and Hygienist
At the upper right, you can assign a Clinic (if using clinics), Dentist (Provider), and Hygienist (Provider). If the appointment is being scheduled in an Operatory with an assigned clinic, dentist, or hygienist, then those values are assigned to be the same as the operatory. Every appointment must have a Dentist. There can also be a Hygienist. When an appointment is marked complete, the procedures on the appointment automatically get assigned to the dentist or hygienist. For instance, if an appointment is made for an exam, xrays, and a prophy, the exam can be assigned to the dentist, while the prophy and xrays get automatically set to the hygiene provider. To setup which procedures will automatically be assigned to the hygienist, go to the Procedure Code edit window. Each code has an option for "hygiene procedure". If the appointment does not have a hygienist selected, all procedures get assigned to the dentist.

Lab Cases
There is a section for attaching Lab Cases at the upper left. This information also shows on appointments if the Appointment Views are setup properly.  And it shows at the right of the Appointments module.

Req
The Req (Requirements) field is for Dental Schools, and will only be visible if dental schools are enabled in Show Features. 

Insurance Plan 1&2
These two fields can be ignored by most users. They will only be visible if you have the Public Health features turned on. At the time that the appointment is set complete, these two fields are automatically filled based on the current insurance coverage of the patient.  The purpose is to make certain kinds of reports easier for very large clinics, typically in public health.  Without these fields, it would be impossible to do historical reports once a patient's insurance coverage changed.

Comm Log
The Comm Log is used to track all phone calls related to appointment scheduling. The same list can be seen from any appointment for that patient, including the Planned appointment, and the Recall List. You would not normally make an entry in this list for something as trivial as confirming an appointment. But for most other situations, it makes sense to make an entry here. That way, you can easily see a history of appointments that were rescheduled, cancelled, etc. This also helps so that you don't accidently call the patient too often to try to get them in for their appointment. If you call a patient repeatedly who has already indicated that they wish to wait for some reason, then you would risk losing that patient. And similarly, if a patient says that nobody called them for their recall, you will be able to tell immediately whether that is true by reviewing the phonecall history.

Task List
A Task List can serve many functions. You can use a task list to keep track of appointments that need followup or appointments of a certain type. To put an appointment on a task list, you must first create a task list for that purpose. Set the Object Type of the task list to Appointment. You can do this for multiple task lists. Then, when you are in the appointment edit window above, you can click the "To Task List" button to attach this appointment to the task list of your choice. One other option to keep in mind is that you can use a Patient task list instead of an Appointment task list. This might be an easier way to keep track of some types of appointments because the "To Task List" button for patients is available directly on their Account screen, so it can be more efficient.

Audit Trail
Every time an appointment gets scheduled, moved, deleted, or edited, an entry is automatically made in the Audit Trail with the exact date, time, and user who made the change. The audit trail also stores all changes to the patient account and many other sensitive functions. Usually, the audit trail is only available to an administrator. But for appointments, everyone has access to the audit trail. Clicking the audit trail button at the bottom will give you a list of all appointment entries for the current patient. The list will not be limited to the current appointment, but will include all appointments for the patient.

Appointment Fields
See Appointment Fields.