Chiropractors: planning a day of short appointments

A day of short chiropractic appointments runs best on a fixed grid. Choose one standard slot length for adjustments, place the longer new-patient visits at set times rather than wherever they fit, and build short buffers into the day at regular intervals so a few minutes' delay doesn't carry through to the evening. Repeat the same grid every week, so patients learn your rhythm and you can see at a glance where the gaps are.

With twenty-minute adjustments, a day can hold many patients. That's also its weakness. A patient who arrives five minutes late, a question that takes three minutes more, a new patient who needs more time than planned: each small delay moves every appointment after it. By late afternoon, the patient booked at 17:40 may be seen at 18:10.

Long appointments absorb small delays. Short ones pass them on. So a day of short appointments needs to be designed, not just filled.

Mixing 15-, 20- and 25-minute slots makes the grid irregular and leaves odd gaps that nobody can book. Pick one standard length for adjustments and maintenance visits, the one that fits your usual appointment including the time to write notes and let the next patient in. Longer appointments, such as extended sessions or new-patient visits, should be multiples of it where possible, so they slot in cleanly.

These lengths are examples to adapt. What matters is that the grid is regular.

A new patient needs a history and examination, so their first visit is longer. If new-patient visits can land anywhere, they break the rhythm of adjustments around them. Decide in advance where they go: for example, the first slot of each morning and afternoon, or two fixed times on certain days. That way you know when you'll need more time, and returning patients keep their usual rhythm.

On Book, each visit type is a service with its own price and optional description, and you open slots for each at the length it takes. Slots of different services can overlap and a booking doesn't block another service's slot at the same time, so open new-patient slots only where you've planned them, not on top of adjustment slots.

A buffer is a short period with no slot at all. Place one or two in each half-day. If the day is on time, it's a break to drink water, catch up on notes or return a call. If the day is running late, it absorbs the delay before it reaches the next patients. You set the start and end of every slot, so a buffer is simply a gap you leave in the grid.

When you create slots, you can repeat them every week on the weekdays you choose, until an end date. Build your grid for a typical day, repeat it across your working days, and adjust only the exceptions. Patients then see the same times week after week on your page, which makes it easier for them to find a time that fits their routine.

If you work late one evening a week, give that evening its own grid and repeat it on that weekday only.

Say in your service descriptions how long each visit lasts and ask patients to arrive on time; with short appointments, a patient who arrives late may need a shorter visit. Rebook patients at the end of their visit by booking the slot yourself from your calendar, instead of letting a queue build at the desk. Phone calls during the day can wait for the next buffer.

Patients book without an account and receive a confirmation email; you receive an email for each new booking. When you move or cancel a visit from your bookings list, Book doesn't email the patient, so let them know yourself.