How to Use the Patient Check-In App
- Dylan Nigh
- Tim Carpenter
The Patient Check In App for iPad allows a patient to Check In to a scheduled appointment. Once a patient has checked in using the App, the patient's appointment status automatically updates to Checked In on any Schedule window in MacPractice.
For information on how to acquire the Patient Check In App and our other iPad App offerings, please refer to the "Installing, Updating, and Connecting your iPad Apps" article located here.
When the Patient Check In App for iPad is used in conjunction with the iEHR and Clipboard Apps, the appointment record within the schedule of these Apps will also display the amount of time the patient has been waiting.
Preferences for Patient Check In
There's only a few options available to customize the Patient Check-In app. These can be found in the MacPractice software in the MacPractice Menu > Preferences. Once the Preferences Window is open, select "Patient Check In" in the sidebar.
In here, you can set and toggle the Welcome Message that can be seen by patients when they first land on the Patient Check In splash screen:
The message will be displayed at the very top of the Patient Check In app once a MacPractice User has signed in, like so:
Guided Access
Before proceeding to using the App, you may wish to consider turning on Guided Access on your iPad. Guided Access, when enabled, will allow you to lock the iPad to using one particular App until a Passcode is entered to unlock the iPad. You can find this option under the Accessibility Settings on your iPad.
When you tap Guided Access, you'll be taken to this sheet:
Here you can set your Passcode or customize the options. Once Guided Access is enabled and you have a Passcode set, you can toggle Guided Access by tapping the Home button three times with the App open. This will lock the iPad to that specific app until you tap Home three times again and enter the Passcode to unlock the iPad.
Using the Patient Check In App
You will login to the app with the username and password of one of the office staff/providers, or a specific iPad user that can be setup in References>Users.
Once a MacPractice user is logged in, the App is ready to Check In patients. To do this, the user of the App will enter in the Full First and Last Name of the patient in question, then tap the Check In Button. The App will then search for a matching patient with an appointment within 60 minutes of the current time. This Appointment must be for a patient with a completed demographics page in the Patients Ability of MacPractice that includes a phone number and a birthdate at minimum, otherwise the patient will not be found. Once the phone numbers are verified to match the patient, the “Correct” button can be tapped and the patient will be checked in. If the phone numbers do not match the patient’s, “Incorrect” can be tapped and the process starts over, allowing the user to search and select the correct patient.
After a patient has Checked In, the appointment on the MacPractice Schedule will update its status to "Checked In". This can change visually on the appointment if you have the Appointment Status set to be displayed in the Appointment Display node, and you have Checked In set to a unique color. For information on setting Appointment Display colors, please see the Appointment Display section.
The Appointment Status will also update to "Checked In" on the iEHR and Clipboard apps. The appointments will also display the amount of time which a patient has been waiting since initially checking in with the Patient Check In App.
