In this section, you will learn how to navigate through HQ’s scheduling calendar.
HQ features two calendars: Spay/Neuter and Wellness. These calendars are usually the first thing you’ll see when logging in, offering a dashboard and visual display of upcoming appointments. To get the most out of them, you’ll need to understand how to use the tiles, how mobile location scheduling works, and all the additional features they offer.
Considerations for Appointment Setting
Appointments by type.
We have 3 types of appointments in HQ: Spay/Neuter, Wellness and Rechecks. Each different type dictates how you will schedule the appointment.
Appointments by capacity, time slot or walk-in.
- Spay/neuter appointments are typically scheduled based on clinic capacity, although some clinics may offer time slotted appointments.
- Wellness appointments are booked using time slots to ensure each animal receives proper care.
- Recheck appointments are for animals that have recently received a Spay/Neuter surgery.
- Walk-in appointments allow clients to visit without a prior appointment, with services provided based on availability.
The concept behind the spay/neuter calendar is to support HVSN clinics unique way of scheduling, which is often based on capacity. By capacity, we mean how many kennels you have, how many surgeons you have, and what types of animals based on species, sex, and weight you’d like to have on any given day for surgery.
Anesthetic versus non-anesthetic appointments.
This has to do with getting the appointment in the right spot on the Patient Flow screen. Spay/Neuter and dentals are always an anesthetic appointment. Wellness can be anesthetic or non-anesthetic.
Why doesn’t HQ use or recommend a “point system” for scheduling?
A “points system” for spay and neuter refers to a method for managing surgical schedule by assigning different point values to animals based on the complexity of their surgery. While this method sounds nice, we do not recommend that approach. Here are the reasons we use a capacity model instead.
- Points systems can be unbalanced. For instance, With a 100-point system, it’s possible to schedule a whole day of surgeries for a specific group, like adult female dogs, with a small amount of appointments resulting in serving just one population of animals.
- We advocate for setting target goals and using your schedule in order to meet them. For example, you may want to focus on half cats and half dogs, or focus on female dogs under one year. With a points system, the scheduling is at the whim of the market.
- It is financially inconsistent. When you use a capacity model instead, you know how many surgeries you have, how much they cost and what you can expect.
- Point systems are unnecessarily complex. Instead of using valuable time to tally up points, it’s just a quick visual check data with concrete categories like “female cats”.
