TCM first consultation: a longer slot, then follow-ups

Make the first consultation its own service with a longer slot, and keep follow-ups as a separate, shorter service. A first visit covers a full history, tongue and pulse observation, explanations and, in your practice, perhaps a first treatment; a follow-up picks up where the last one ended. When new patients book the first-consultation service, they get the time they need, and your follow-up days stay on schedule. At the end of each visit, book the next one together.

Lengths and prices are examples. On Book, each service has a name, an optional description shown on your page, and a price, and each slot belongs to one service with its own start and end. A new patient who picks the first consultation only sees 90-minute slots, and can't land in a 60-minute follow-up by mistake.

Traditional Chinese medicine is new to some patients. The description of the first consultation is the place to explain it simply:

The booking form asks for first name, last name, email and phone, plus an optional note. Suggest a short reason for the visit in plain words; keep detailed health history for the consultation itself, since the note also appears in the calendar file the patient receives. You receive an email for each new booking with the note.

At the end of the first consultation, you know the rhythm you'd suggest. Agree the next date with the patient and create the booking from your calendar, in the right follow-up service: first and last name are required, and if you enter their email, they receive a confirmation with a calendar file. Book doesn't send reminders, so a date already in the patient's phone is what brings them back on time.

Some patients prefer to book online themselves. Keep follow-up slots open on your page for them, described as "for returning patients".

If you prescribe herbal formulas, a short follow-up to review and adjust them can be its own service. It can happen in person or by video; if you offer video, create a separate service so you know from the booking which one it is. Book doesn't create video links, so put a fixed link in the description or send it after booking.

A patient you haven't seen for a year isn't a new patient, but a short follow-up won't be enough either. A "check after a break" service, a little longer than a follow-up, handles that. Describe who it's for, so returning patients pick it rather than a regular follow-up.

A 90-minute first consultation in the middle of a follow-up afternoon can push every patient after it. Two simple layouts: one or two first-consultation slots at the start of each day, or a block of them on a fixed morning each week. Create them once and repeat them on the chosen weekdays until an end date. Don't open a follow-up at the same time as a first consultation in the same room: Book doesn't stop slots of different services from overlapping, so the layout is yours to keep clean.

If new patients are waiting weeks for a first slot, open a few more first consultations for a while, and fewer follow-ups, rather than squeezing long visits into short gaps.

Patients can't move bookings online, so ask them in your descriptions to call or message you. When you reschedule or cancel from your bookings list, Book doesn't email the patient, so confirm the new time yourself. Calendar sync with Google, iPhone or Mac shows your day next to your personal agenda.

Book costs €5/month, everything included: unlimited bookings and services, no commission, no contract. Payments, herbal orders and records stay in your usual tools.