Appointment Form for Scheduling

[Gerald Fay]

I am contemplating using Outlook as a scheduler for our Medical Practice.
While there are scheduling packages available, I have Windows 2003 Server
with Exchange, and suspect I might be able to create one myself. We have a
small office (3 doctors) but 10 workstations (5 with Outlook XP and 5 with
Outlook 2k) which could share the calendars as public folders.

While I am not new to object programming, I have little experience with
Outlook programming. Is the following possible using Outlook (either by
creating a new form, or modifying the appointment form)?

Allow a patient name lookup in the "SUBJECT" field? (patient list is DBF
based, but could use Access or MSSQL)

Eliminate the "LOCATION" field or default it to OFFICE? (we only have one
office)

Create a "Find" button on the form to see if the patient in the "SUBJECT"
field has any pending appointments?

Thanks

 

[Sue Mosher [MVP-Outlook]]

The main limitation (or challenge -- take your pick) you'll encounter is that the first page of the appointment form is not customizable. Any customization has to take place on other pages. See http://www.outlookcode.com/d/appointmentform.htm

Allow a patient name lookup in the "SUBJECT" field? (patient list is DBF
based, but could use Access or MSSQL)

Yes, but not on the first page.

Eliminate the "LOCATION" field or default it to OFFICE? (we only have one
office)

You can just ignore it.

Create a "Find" button on the form to see if the patient in the "SUBJECT"
field has any pending appointments?

You could do this with the Outlook View Control (see http://www.outlookcode.com/d/ovc.htm), adding code to the form to set the Restriction or Filter property so it shows only items for the desired patient.

--
Sue Mosher, Outlook MVP
Author of Configuring Microsoft Outlook 2003

and Microsoft Outlook Programming - Jumpstart for
Administrators, Power Users, and Developers