By: Michael Stobie

Michael Stobie — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 09:22:23 +0000

I work in a practice that uses carve outs very effectively – potentially catering for 90 same day Monday appointments in a 4 consulting room practice. One of the practices that has had to put to bed, is receptionists aiding and abetting bad appointment behaviour by getting patients who want to book ahead into a Monday when only book-on-day appointments are left. Receptionists tell patients to wait until the Monday and ring early for an appointment, defeating our control over appointment numbers. Occasionally there is a dip in demand below expected, and we need to get receptionists to encourage demand for sameday appointments on a Monday, when we seem to be experiencing a (rare)low demand day, rather than have patients book ahead. The trick is to identify when we are having a below expected demand day.

By: Bernard McEvoy

Bernard McEvoy — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 23:14:59 +0000

I think the photograph is so apt, illustrating the good doctor taking his own Zen score with stethoscope. As a small and solo practice, we did not need the complex mathematical formulae to set up and monitor, but collected the feel of the three part time desk personnel and adjusted as we went. Is that “action research”? Mondays in particular work well, with lots of same day appointments blocked out that generally fit with the demand for prompt appointments, but supplemented , if urgencies are fewer than usual, from the Monday callers seeking a slot “this week” and being given a same day. Because my nurse’s role is to see planned stuff not triage, Mondays is a day she is not rostered.

Comments on: Appointment Golf

By: Michael Stobie

By: Bernard McEvoy