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Every appointment in the platform moves through a defined set of statuses from creation to completion. This workflow ensures your team follows a consistent process, prevents invalid state changes, and maintains a clear audit trail for every visit.

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The seven statuses

Requested

A patient has self-booked through the portal. The appointment is waiting for staff to review and approve it.

Scheduled

Approved by staff with a doctor and appointment type assigned. The visit is on the books but the patient has not yet arrived.

Confirmed

The patient has checked in and a room has been assigned. The appointment is ready for the doctor.

In Progress

The doctor is actively seeing the patient. Clinical notes and treatments are being recorded.

Completed

The visit is finished. An invoice is typically generated at this stage.

Cancelled

The appointment was cancelled by staff or the patient. The time slot is freed for other bookings.

No Show

The patient did not attend the scheduled appointment.

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Status transitions

Not every status can move to every other status. The table below shows which transitions are valid.
FromAllowed transitions
RequestedScheduled, Cancelled
ScheduledConfirmed, Cancelled, In Progress, Completed
ConfirmedIn Progress, Cancelled, No Show, Scheduled (correction)
In ProgressCompleted, Cancelled, No Show
CompletedIn Progress (correction only)
CancelledScheduled (correction)
No ShowScheduled (correction)
Transitions marked as “correction” are intended for fixing mistakes — for example, if an appointment was accidentally marked as No Show when the patient actually arrived. Use these sparingly.

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Typical appointment flow

The most common path an appointment takes through the system:
1

Scheduled

Staff creates the appointment or approves a patient request. Doctor and type are assigned.
2

Confirmed

Patient arrives at the clinic. Reception checks them in and assigns an operatory.
3

In Progress

The doctor begins the visit. Clinical notes, treatment plans, and procedures are recorded.
4

Completed

The doctor finishes. An invoice is generated for the services rendered.

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Role permissions for transitions

Different roles can trigger different status changes. This ensures that clinical decisions stay with doctors and administrative flow stays with reception.

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Admin

Admins can trigger all transitions. They have unrestricted access to move an appointment to any valid next status.

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Receptionist

Receptionists can set appointments to:
  • Scheduled (approve requests or reschedule)
  • Confirmed (check in patients)
  • Cancelled
  • No Show
  • Completed

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Doctor

Doctors can set appointments to:
  • Confirmed
  • In Progress
  • Completed
  • No Show

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Patient

Patients can only cancel their own appointments, and only within the cancellation window (see below).
Patients must cancel at least 48 hours before the appointment time. After that window closes, the patient must contact the clinic directly to request cancellation by staff.

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Time-based restrictions

Certain transitions are blocked until the appointment time arrives:
  • In Progress — Cannot be set before the scheduled appointment time. A patient cannot be “in progress” for an appointment that has not started yet.
  • Completed — Cannot be set before the scheduled appointment time. You cannot complete a future visit.
  • No Show — Cannot be set before the scheduled appointment time. A patient can only be marked as a no-show once the appointment window has passed.
If you need to record a same-day walk-in, create the appointment for the current time. This satisfies the time restriction and lets you move through the workflow immediately.

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Operatory assignment on confirmation

When moving an appointment from Scheduled to Confirmed, the system requires an operatory (treatment room) to be assigned. This serves two purposes:
  1. It ensures the patient has a physical space reserved for their visit.
  2. It triggers a room conflict check — if the room is already in use during that time window, the confirmation is blocked.
You can still confirm appointments, but you will not benefit from room conflict detection. Configure your operatories in clinic settings to enable this safety check.
Yes. You can update the operatory assignment at any point before or during the visit. The system re-checks for conflicts with each change.
The room is released immediately. Other appointments can be confirmed into that room for the same time slot.

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Edge cases and corrections

Real clinics do not always follow the happy path. The platform accommodates common corrections:
  • Accidental No Show: If a patient was marked as No Show but actually arrived late, move the appointment back to Scheduled, then proceed through Confirmed and In Progress as normal.
  • Premature Completion: If an appointment was marked Completed before the doctor finished, move it back to In Progress to continue recording notes and treatments.
  • Cancelled revival: If a cancelled appointment needs to be reinstated, move it back to Scheduled. This preserves the original record and its history rather than requiring a new appointment.
Every status transition is recorded in the appointment’s History tab with a timestamp and the user who made the change. This audit trail is immutable — corrections create new entries rather than overwriting old ones.