Place in Queue allows patients to see their "real-time" place in the queue for their practitioner, from the moment they check-in for their appointment.
The feature aims to improve the communication between practice and patients and to increase patient engagement in the waiting room. Read further to learn more about how it works.
|
In this article |
What is Place in Queue?
We've built Place in Queue to help manage patient wait times by automatically letting patients know their position in the queue for their appointment. The feature shows each patient a live and updated estimate of how many people are in front of them after checking in, all within the HotDoc app.
How does it work?
|
For a patient to be able to see their estimated place in the queue, they have to:
|
Place in queue is shown in the Appointments section of the HotDoc app:
Place in Queue on the HotDoc app
We show Place in Queue in the HotDoc app if:
- The patient has booked their appointment through HotDoc. When a patient books this way, they can see their place in queue on their device immediately after checking in. This is regardless of whether they check-in at the front desk, via a HotDoc Check-In Kiosk or via Check-in on their mobile.
- The patient qualifies to view non HotDoc bookings in their HotDoc app. Patients who book through other platforms (e.g. via reception) may also be able to see their place in queue. To see their place in the queue, they must meet the requirements to show their reception booked appointments in their HotDoc app.
If a patient does not have a registered HotDoc account, the only way they can see their place in queue is if they use the HotDoc Check-In Kiosk. Please know that the Kiosk will only show the patient's current place in queue at the time of check-in and will not show them live updates as they would if viewing their place in the queue via the HotDoc app on their mobile device.
How do we calculate place in queue?
To provide an accurate estimate on a patient's place in the queue, we take into account the following information:
- HotDoc syncs all upcoming appointments with the status arrived and expected. This refers to all patients who have already checked in or who are expected to check-in to see a specific doctor.
- We then take into account the start time of each of these appointments for those who have arrived and waiting, and those who are still expected to see the doctor. These two variables will then give the patient their individual place in queue.
- Once the patient is moved to in consult in your clinical software, they will leave the queue. Please know that appointments both booked through the practice and through HotDoc will be taken into account when estimating the patients place in queue.
|
For the most accurate Place in Queue estimate, it is important to check in patients accordingly as HotDoc looks at both the arrived and expected status in your clinical software. It is equally as important to move the status to in consult once the patient is called in to see their Doctor or did not arrive if they've missed their appointment. Doing so allows HotDoc to calculate that these patients have left the queue. |
How to enable Place in Queue
By default, place in queue is disabled for all practices using HotDoc. To enable this, please follow the steps below:
- Log in to your Dashboard
- Select Bookings > Settings
- Scroll down to the section titled Show Place in Queue, then check the box and click Save.