As more and more doctors are starting to go back to the clinic as measures are lifted a bit more, we thought it would be a good idea to share some tools you probably couldn’t use during quarantine but might be useful once you’re back in the clinic. For those still in areas in quarantine, this might still be a useful read as you’ll be going back to the clinic soon as well.
Side note: If you need a source for acrylic shields and risers, you can find it at the end of this article.
Tool 1 – The Doctor Is In:
When we started the Now Serving app experiment back in January 2020, it was literally just to help with queueing. We wanted to start small, just try to solve 1 main problem for patients that are waiting in the clinic.
We then started getting requests from doctors to add a way to notify patients in the queue if the doctor is going to
Some of our self-proclaimed “notoriously late for clinic” doctors (that’s their own term not ours!) also asked us if they could also have a feature to notify if they finally arrived in the clinic.
Based on interviews with patients, they also wanted something like it so they don’t have to rush if it wasn’t needed only to sit in the clinic and wait.
Well, we grew up going to clinics and there’s almost always a Doctor is IN/OUT sign on the door, but nowadays, we see them less and less. 😟
The traditional people that we are, we want to keep that memory going.
So the Doctor is IN feature basically acts as the traditional Doctor is IN/OUT label on the door of your clinic, but this time, it shows right there in front of the patient and they also get notified by SMS/Email and Push notification.
How to Use It?
All you have to do is click on it when you are ready to start clinic. The patients currently in the queue will be notified.
What if you don’t use it?
Don’t worry, it DOES NOT show DOCTOR IS OUT. It’s just blank until Doctor is IN is turned on.
This is an optional feature. You do not have to use it. 🙂
Should I use it for online consults?
It makes more sense in the actual clinic environment.
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Tool 2 – Now Serving:
The Now Serving app, as you’ve probably used it by now, has a history as to why it’s called “Now Serving” and the short explanation is to help lessen the time waiting in the clinic, less loitering in the hospital and make it easier to know if it’s almost your turn.
Incidentally, it’s also useful now with COVID around to keep the foot traffic low in the hospitals and nearby vicinities.
How to Use It?
In the SeriousMD Doctors app, turn on “Notify Next 2 Patients on Serve” in the preferences or the Settings of the queue. That’s it.
You or your secretary can click Now Serving when you start seeing the patient
Once that is pressed, Patient 1, Patient 2 and Patient 3 will get a notification.
Patient 2 and Patient 3 will be notified that it’s almost their turn so they need to go back to the clinic.
If the patient has the Now Serving app, they also get a push notification and they can see the number of people ahead of them.
Lastly, we suggest selecting “Completed” once you are done seeing the patient just to keep things organized.
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So that’s it, we hope you’ll enjoy these tools and find them useful. We’ve been hearing great feedback from the doctors that are already using it. We hope you’ll like it and find them useful as well!
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