How to Use the Seated Queue

Related Training
Checking Patients In and Out Recorded Class

Use the Seated Queue to monitor the status of in-progress appointments and request provider attendance. The queue allows you to alert doctors when the patient is ready for their final examination or has been prepped for a restoration.

The Seated Queue displays appointments that are currently seated, in left-to-right order, based on the chair arrangement in the Schedule Day/View. When a patient is marked as Seated, the appointment is automatically added to this queue.

Queue tiles display the patient name, appointment type (or scheduled procedure codes), and the remaining appointment time. The number in parentheses indicates the number of open tiles in the queue.

The queue tiles are color-coded by provider. The provider's assigned color can be managed in the Team Member record (Administration > Team > Team Members). The appointment queue primarily uses the Doctor's assigned color, but if there is a not a Doctor assigned to the appointment, the Hygienist's color is used.  

Note: When there are more active tiles than space allows, hidden tiles can be viewed using the left/right scroll arrows. If a hidden tile is flashing, the arrow also flashes to alert you.

The remaining time is calculated based on the appointment’s scheduled end time and color-coded to communicate its relative priority:

• Black = More than 95% of the appointment’s scheduled time remains, or the patient was seated before the official start time (e.g, running ahead of schedule).
• Green = More than 5% of the appointment’s scheduled time remains.
• Yellow = There is 5% or less of the appointment’s scheduled time remaining.
• Red = The scheduled end time of the appointment has passed (e.g., running over / behind schedule).

Note: Appointments are added to the queue automatically when the patient is seated, and then to the Checkout Queue when the appointment is marked as complete. 

Note: If your practice has the Schedule Columns are Physical Locations setting disabled in the schedule/diary settings (i.e., the schedule columns do not correspond with a physical chair/location), you are prompted to select a seating location when moving an appointment to the seated queue. See How to Configure Schedule / Diary Settings for more information.

The Seated Location is displayed when hovering over the appointment tile in the Seated Queue.

Note: The appointment audit log also details the time the patient is seated and which location they are seated in. See How to View the Appointment Audit Log for more information.

From the Seated Queue, you can:

• Hover over a tile to display details including patient name, assigned chair, scheduled start time, assigned providers, appointment type (if applicable), scheduled procedures (if applicable), appointment time remaining, the latest manually added note (if applicable), and the seated location (if your practice is not using the Schedule/Diary columns as physical locations).
  
  Note: -- You can manually add a note to a patient's appointment to include additional information (e.g., a room number) by editing the appointment details. See How to Add an Appointment Note for more information.  
  -- The Latest Note on the seated queue tile does not include any system-generated notes, such as an Appointment Status update.
• Click on a tile to display a popover that provides additional detail, including when the patient was checked in, seated, and also when they were marked as ready to be seen (if enabled in the schedule/diary settings). See How to Track Pre-Seated Appointment Activities for more information.
  
• Click Call Doctor to alert the provider that they are needed, or the patient is prepped and ready for the exam or procedure. The tile will begin flashing the doctor’s assigned color, communicating where the doctor is now needed. The "call event" details are added to the tile, along with the Mark As Here button.
  Note: The doctor’s assigned color can be managed in the Team Member record (Administration > Team > Team Members).
• Click Mark as Here when the doctor arrives to a flashing appointment.
  Note: A doctor can be called to multiple appointments (chairs) concurrently. The queue tiles will flash in the order the calls were placed, with the next appointment flashing once the previous call has been answered (e.g., marked as here) or cancelled.
• Click Mark As Done to indicate the appointment is complete. The tile is then sent to the Checkout Queue.

Note:
-- Queued appointments are only visible for today and yesterday. To view additional appointments, navigate to the patient's Home tab or the Schedule Day View.
-- If the logged-in user is a doctor or hygienist, the appointment tiles are filtered to only display their appointments.