Creating a calendar schedule for your  private practice requires a trained eye for detail and a keen sense of time management strategy. It’s about understanding how to slot your meetings to accommodate clients demands while avoiding overlap. You also want to prioritize to your own wellness needs. 

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Let’s look at a couple of strategies to help you organize your private practice calendar. 

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Time Blocking

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Time blocking is a time management method that gives you room to focus on specific tasks in an allotted schedule. Each block is dedicated to accomplishing a specific task or group of tasks. 

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Private practice clinicians will have a good understanding of time blocking due to the nature of their work schedule. Each day will likely be blocked off for client appointments. As an example, on your calendar, you might set your patient availability hours from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. That time block will be solely dedicated to client appointments and nothing else. 

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You can consider setting other time blocks to handle a variety of tasks. Set one hour each day to focus solely on email responses. Set one hour a week to work solely on content marketing for your business and so on. 

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Buffer Times

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Within each time block, you might consider adding buffer time, which is the time built into your appointment slots to wrap up and prepare for the next appointment. 

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A private practice clinician who sets up their calendar with time blocks will likely be going from one appointment to the next. Sometimes, those appointments can go longer than scheduled. You will need to allow yourself a certain grace period to regroup for the next task.

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With buffer times built into your appointment schedule, you are secure in the knowledge that there is a safety net to do what you need to do before the next appointment - review notes, input client information, even get a snack or go to the restroom. 

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Buffer times give you the flexibility to attend to those needs. 

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Allowing patients to self schedule

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While it’s important to understand all of the tools available to help us schedule our private practice calendar, it’s equally important to understand how that schedule availability is viewed from the patient perspective. 

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Allowing clients to self schedule can be empowering. It’s now become standard for digital apps to offer a practitioner’s schedule listing so clients have access to a clinician’s availability. When your patients are given flexible options to schedule an appointment at a time convenient for them, it gives them confidence that the clinician values a patient’s time and is making an effort to make it easier for them. 

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Next Up List

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Giving clients access to schedule availability is a great way to showcase a practice’s dedication to flexible solutions for patient care. Even with that extra step, a client might not be able to get the care they need if the practice schedule is booked up. 

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One work around is a Next Up List, which gives the client the option to select additional times that may already be booked, but could come available in the event of a last minute cancellation. A Next Up List is essentially a waiting list, similar to what you would see at a restaurant or other service business. The patient can opt to add their name, and if an appointment in a given schedule block gets canceled, the client receives an alert that a spot has opened up and they have the opportunity to take that appointment time. 

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When utilizing a NextUp List, it’s important for a private practice to give the patient as much lead time as possible. It’s also important for the clinician to have options that allow them to bypass the Next Up List option in the event that the clinician decides to use the cancellation time for other matters. 

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Ease Cal 

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Ease Cal is optimized to help clinicians take advantage of schedule hacks like time blocking and buffer times, as well as provide clients the opportunity to choose time that works for them and even add their name to a Next Up list. 

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The Ease Cal appointment dashboard allows clinicians to easily schedule appointments within their desired time blocks. Build in the buffer time you will need to ensure that you give yourself enough space to prepare for the next appointment. 

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With Google Calendar integration, Ease Cal can track multiple calendars at a time. Make sure that you’re not double booking or overlapping on any schedule. Ease Cal takes the guesswork out of calendar planning. 

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Reimagining calendar art

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Every artist has a process they abide by to be as creative as possible. When it comes time to create your private practice calendar, the process should result in a schedule that flows as smooth as a picturesque hillside.