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Pam Weakley, a practice
manager at Dickman Road
Veterinary Clinic in Battle
Creek, Mich., shares this
scheduling approach that
helps her practice deal with
walk-ins, emergencies and
appointments that run long.
In this example, four doctors
are scheduled to work this
afternoon. The practice uses
a four-by-four rule of thumb.
Each doctor takes four
appointments an hour, and
four of the appointments per
hour can only be scheduled
on the same day. Between 1
p.m. and 3:30 p.m, only three
doctors are available to take
appointments. This makes an
extra buffer in case the team
needs to work in an extra
surgery that presents earlier in
the day. After 3:30 p.m., all four
doctors take appointments.
“Same-day appointments
offer a little cushion,” Weakley
says. “If you get way behind,
you can block out a few of
these to catch up.”
For simplicity, this sched-
ule shows 15-minute incre-
ments. In practice, Weakley
recommends scheduling in
10-minute increments to stag-
ger when clients arrive. “For
example, if eight doctors are
working today, the front desk
doesn’t want eight people
showing up at 8:15 a.m.,
another eight showing up at
8:30 a.m. and so on. Stagger-
ing to have a few clients show
up every 10 minutes helps the
traffic flow.”
Sample appointment schedule
Time
Medicine
cases
Vaccine
cases
Non-DVM cases
(suture removal,
nail trim, etc.)
Medicine or
vaccine cases
Same-day write-in
appointments
(for emergencies)
1 p.m. Dr. Jones Dr. McCoy Robin, RVT Dr. Watson
1:15 p.m. Dr. Watson Dr. Jones Dr. McCoy
1:30 p.m. Dr. McCoy Dr. Watson Dr. Jones
1:45 p.m. Dr. McCoy Dr. Jones Selena, RVT Dr. Watson
2 p.m. Dr. Watson Robin, RVT Dr. McCoy Dr. Jones
2:15 p.m. Dr. Jones Dr. Watson Dr. McCoy
2:30 p.m. Dr. McCoy Dr. Jones Dr. Watson
2:45 p.m. Dr. Jones Dr. Watson Selena, RVT Dr. McCoy
3 p.m. Dr. Watson Dr. McCoy Dr. Jones
3:15 p.m. Dr. Watson Robin, RVT Dr. Jones Dr. McCoy
3:30 p.m. Dr. Jones Dr. McCoy Dr. Watson Dr. Scully
3:45 p.m. Dr. Scully Dr. Jones Dr. McCoy Dr. Watson
4 p.m. Dr. Scully Dr. McCoy Robin, RVT Dr. Watson Dr. Jones
4:15 p.m. Dr. McCoy Dr. Watson Dr. Jones Dr. Scully
4:30 p.m. Dr. Watson Dr. Scully Selena, RVT Dr. Jones Dr. McCoy
4:45 p.m. Dr. McCoy Dr. Jones Robin, RVT Dr. Scully Dr. Watson
5 p.m. Dr. Watson Dr. McCoy Selena, RVT Dr. Jones Dr. Scully
5:15 p.m. Dr. McCoy Dr. Watson Robin, RVT Dr. Scully Dr. Jones
Note: This example shows what a schedule might look like if all available same-day, or emergency, appointments and medical and
vaccine appointments were filled.