This is an interesting topic I've discussed with some colleagues.
It makes sense. It's convenient for patients/clients. It would save some time for administration/reception staff.
I assume if you are reading this blog, you'd feel pretty comfortable making an online booking with a restaurant. Why not make your appointments online?
Now, a few of my colleagues felt this was not a good idea. "Exposing" the appointment book was one worry. Mistakes and the hassles it might lead to was another.
There are usually workarounds to any concern, and I would bet, that in coming years, online appointments with your doctors and allied health professionals will become more and more common.
Use of IT in Health in general moves slower that other fields, but we will catch up.
At BJC Health, we've set up an online appointment system (see link).
In addition, there is a downloadable app, Appointuit, that connects to our appointment software.
I created this document to help patients see how easy if should be to use.
Now, I just hope it gets used and hope our IT backend holds up without technical glitches! There's likely to be bugs to iron out but we wanted to give it a go. Any feedback would be great.
