Keywords: light bar, multi-column, multi-doctor, seating, chair, call doctor, appointment status, doctor color
Summary
This article covers how to use and customize the Light Bar in Cloud 9, including the patient shortcut menu options, how to tell when a doctor has left a patient, designating assistants when seating patients, adjusting the light bar width, multi-doctor mode with doctor colors, and setting up multi-column display.
About the Light Bar
The Light Bar runs vertically along the right side of Cloud 9 and provides a quick at-a-glance view of which patients are seated in which chairs. It works alongside the Patient Locator Bar to help your team track patients through the appointment process. To learn more about the Patient Locator Bar, see THIS ARTICLE.
What if I Cannot See the Light Bar?
If the Light Bar is not visible in your Cloud 9, someone with the Edit Library Items and Edit Employees permissions will need to enable it for your user profile. To do this, the person with the proper permissions must navigate to Edit > Setup > Employees, select the employee's name, click Edit, and check the Show Light Bar box below the permissions section. Click Save, then log out and back into Cloud 9 and the Light Bar will appear.
Light Bar Shortcut Menu
When a patient is seated in a chair on the Light Bar, you can click on their block to access a shortcut menu with the following options:
- Call Doctor: Sends an alert inside Cloud 9 that the doctor is needed at that appointment. This does not place a phone call. When the alert is sent, a number will appear on the patient's block in the Light Bar to indicate it has been triggered. The doctor assigned to the appointment is the one who receives the alert.
- Text Doctor: Sends a text message to the doctor assigned to the appointment. The doctor's cell phone number must be on file in their employee profile under Edit > Setup > Employees for this to work. Please note that this feature may not work if the doctor's mobile carrier has discontinued email-to-SMS messaging.
- Cancel Call: Cancels an active Call Doctor alert.
- Doctor Has Left: Marks that the doctor has left the patient. When selected, the doctor's color is removed from the block and it turns white, making it easy to see at a glance that the doctor is no longer with that patient.
- Edit Patient: Takes you to the patient's menu.
- View Images: Takes you directly to the patient's images.
- Treatment Card: Opens the patient's Treatment Card.
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Edit This Appointment: Takes you to the appointment details screen for that patient's appointment.
Light Bar Multi-Doctor Mode
If your practice has multiple doctors working at the same time, Multi-Doctor Mode allows you to call and track multiple doctors from the Light Bar at once. This makes it easy to see which doctor has been called to which chair without any confusion.
Note: The doctor assigned to the appointment is the doctor being called.
When you select Call Doctor for a patient, the number 1 displays on that patient's block in the Light Bar, indicating the first doctor alert has been sent. If that same doctor is called for a second patient, the number 2 displays on that patient's block in the doctor's assigned color. If a second doctor is called to a chair, their number displays in their own assigned color.
To enable Multi-Doctor Mode:
Go to Edit > Setup > Location, select the location, click Edit, then click the Other tab and check Multi-Provider Lightbar, then save your changes.
Note: You may need to log out and back in for changes to take effect.
Setting a Color to Represent a Doctor
You can assign a color to each doctor so their call number displays in that color on the Light Bar, making it easy to identify which doctor has been called at a glance.
To set a doctor's color:
Go to Edit > Setup > Employees, select the doctor's name, click Edit, and select the Other tab. Use the Color field to type or select the color you want to represent that doctor.
Easily Tell When a Doctor Has Left a Patient
When Doctor Has Left is selected from the shortcut menu on a patient block, the doctor's color is removed and the block turns white. This makes it easy to see at a glance that the doctor is no longer with that patient without having to ask anyone.
To enable this feature:
Go to Edit > Setup > Location, select the location, click Edit, then click the Other tab and check Enable Lightbar Dialog, then save your changes.
Designating an Assistant or Employee When Seating a Patient
When you drag and drop an appointment from the schedule or Locator Bar into a chair on the Light Bar, the Patient Locator Status dialog box will appear. From here you can select the Assistant/Employee assigned to the patient at the time of seating.
Previously, only the Assistant employee type could be selected in this field. Now you can designate any employee type to appear in the Assistant/Emp dropdown by going to Edit > Setup > Employee Types, selecting the employee type, clicking Edit, and checking Show in Patient Locator.
Note: The Assistant employee type is automatically set to show in this dropdown by default.
To enable the Patient Locator Status dialog box when dragging and dropping:
Go to Edit > Setup > Location, select the location, click Edit, then click the Other tab and check Enable Lightbar Dialog, then save your changes.
Adjusting the Width of the Light Bar
You can adjust the width of the Light Bar by dragging its edge to the desired size. Cloud 9 will remember the width you set the next time you log in, so you do not need to adjust it every session. It is user specific so if you log in on a front desk account and then a back office staff account, it will only remember what you have set for the width for the account you are currently logged into.
Light Bar Multi-Columns
For practices with many chairs, it may not be practical to display them all in a single column. Cloud 9 allows you to organize your chairs into as many columns as needed, giving you full control over how the Light Bar is displayed.
There are two key fields to be aware of:
- Light Bar Columns: Set in Edit > Setup > Schedule View, this field determines the total number of columns that will display in the Light Bar.
- Columns/Chairs, Light Bar Column: To select this field, click one of the columns/chairs from Edit > Setup > Schedule View and then click the edit button. This field, found when editing an individual chair, determines which column that chair will appear in.
To assign chairs to specific columns:
- Go to Edit > Setup > Schedule View.
- In the Light Bar Columns field, enter the total number of columns you want displayed.
- In the Columns/Chairs section, select the first chair and click Edit.
- In the Light Bar Column field, enter the column number you want that chair displayed in.
- Click OK and repeat for each remaining chair.
Note: The order of chairs within a column is controlled by the Order field on each chair. The lowest order number displays at the top of the column
As always, if you have any further questions please do not hesitate to reach out to Cloud 9 Support by emailing us at cloud9support@planetdds.com, or chatting us online using the chat bubble on the lower right at https://cloud9support.planetdds.com/hc/en-us, or giving us a call during our business hours of 8:00 AM EST to 8:00 PM EST at the 1.800.394.6050 option 2.