A new Resource will need to be added in the Schedule ability to create appointments. Select the Resources node in the sidebar and click the green plus. You will notice a few fields are labeled in red to show that they are required. The name for the Resource can be set up as an employee's name or as the name of a room or piece of equipment. I will use the name of a user within MacPractice.
A code is given to abbreviate the Resource or column when the screen is not large enough to display the entire name. Choose a type from the drop down box. You will also want to choose an Office Reference if you have multiple offices using MacPractice.
The center of the screen allows you to set different hours for each day. Note there are four columns which allows you to take a break during the day. If you do not break during the day, set the third and fourth column to the same time.
Save your changes in the Edit menu or by using the keyboard shortcut Command + S. Take the time to enter in all the Resources or columns that you want in your schedule. Once all the Resources have been made, navigate to the Resource Order tab. Drag the Resources into the preferred order. The top item will be displayed on the left and the bottom items will be displayed on the right.
The appointment node will display the schedule from 8-6 by default. You can change the view in the Preferences under the MacPractice menu. Navigate to Scheduling and change the start and end time to adjust your view. You will also want to set up the time interval for your smallest appointment. I will set up 10 minutes for my interval.
Now that your Preferences are set up navigate the Appointment Type node. Click on the green plus in the sidebar to create a new appointment type. You will notice that the only required field is the appointment type name. Appointment types should be general enough to be used for many patients but specific enough to understand why the patient is coming into the office. For training, I will create a consultation type as well as a new patient exam. Set up the most common appointment types that you will see in your office. Remember, you can always come back to add a new type if you miss something.
Once all the appointment types have been created, navigate to the Appointment Status node. Open the folder by clicking on the triangle to the left of the node. You will notice that there are 10 default appointment statuses. Additional statuses can be added by clicking the green plus in the sidebar. For training I will add another status titled Billed. This status can be used once the patient has been billed and nothing remains to be done for this patient.
Once appointment status and appointment types have been created, navigate to the Appointment Display node. Appointments are composed of five different areas that can be color-coded based on data points. For beginning offices, it is recommend to use two colors. The first displaying the appointment status and the second displaying the appointment type. Once the areas have been set up, select area one near the top of your screen. The appointment statuses can have a color assigned to them by using the drop down box. The other option can be used to define a custom color such as Spring Green to catch your attention when a patient is checked in. After a color has been chosen for each status, select area 2 to define the colors for the appointment types.
After setting up the colors, navigate to the Text tab near the top of the screen. Select how you would like to see the patient’s name in the header of the appointment. The appointment text can be customized as well. Click the green plus to add a new line item to the appointment. Use the popup box to define the data point for each line item. The footer of the appointment should be customized as well to help display the most relevant information.
The size and color of the text can be changed in the appointment display bubble. It is highly recommended to outline your appointments to easily see where they begin and end.
Be sure to save your changes by using the Edit menu or the keyboard shortcut, Command S.