Appointment or reminder?
When you're talking with a customer and they mention a point in time, you need to decide right away: record it as an appointment or a reminder? Pick the right one and the software follows up on the right thing at the right time — pick wrong and that task gets missed on the day it matters.
What's different
| Appointment | Reminder | |
|---|---|---|
| Use when | Customer (Patient) has agreed on a specific date and time to visit | Customer (Patient) hasn't decided yet, needs to be contacted again later |
| Holds a slot | Yes — reserves the doctor's and branch's time slot | No — just a task to do, doesn't reserve a visit slot |
| On the day | Check-in / check-out walks the customer through the visit | No check-in step — mark it Done once you've taken care of it |
| Software follows up by | Confirm Customer (Patient) Arrival before the appointment date | Opening the Pending reminders dialog when you open the software on the due day |
Customer (Patient) has a fixed time → create an appointment
"Can you book me in for tomorrow at 9am?"
The customer named a date and a time they want to come in. You create an appointment for 9am tomorrow — the software holds that slot for them, and when they arrive you check them in against this same appointment.
Customer (Patient) isn't sure yet → create a reminder
"I might only know next week whether I can make it, so I'm not sure yet."
The customer has no fixed date or time — what needs to happen next isn't holding a visit slot, it's contacting them again at a later point. You create a reminder for next Monday, with the content "Call to check if she can come in," and yourself as the person responsible.
When that Monday comes and you open the software, the Pending reminders dialog opens automatically and lists this reminder — no need to remember to check your calendar. After calling the customer: if they now have a fixed time to visit, create a new appointment; if they're still unsure, mark this reminder Done and create another one for the next follow-up call.
Two questions to get it right
- Does the customer already have a specific date and time to visit? Yes → appointment. Not yet → reminder.
- Is the next step examining the customer, or contacting them? Examining → appointment, which holds the doctor's slot. Contacting (a call, a message, a meeting to talk things over) → reminder.
The two aren't mutually exclusive. A customer with next week's appointment can still need a reminder to "call to confirm 1 day before" if they tend to forget. See both together on the customer (patient) profile.