How Slot Search Works
How the system finds available appointment slots based on doctor schedules, configs, and booking rules.
How Slot Search Works
When a patient or staff member searches for available appointments, the system runs through a multi-step process to find open slots. Understanding this process helps you configure the system to match your hospital's workflow.
The Slot Search Process
Here's what happens behind the scenes when someone searches for available slots:
- Load the doctor's schedule — Get their recurring weekly pattern, blocks (leave), and one-time overrides
- Apply centre hours — Clip the schedule to the centre's operating hours (a doctor can't have slots when the centre is closed)
- Generate time slots — Break the available time into slots based on the slot duration and granularity settings
- Add buffer time — Insert gaps between consecutive slots for doctor preparation
- Check existing bookings — Remove slots that are already taken (including drafts and pending approvals)
- Apply walk-in reservation — If configured, reserve a portion of slots for walk-in patients
- Apply patient-type duration — Adjust slot length for new vs existing vs follow-up patients
- Apply booking rules — Enforce limits like minimum advance booking, same-day cutoff, and per-patient limits
- Return results — Show available slots sorted by time (earliest first by default)
What Affects Search Results
Many configuration settings influence which slots appear. Here's a complete reference:
Slot Generation Settings
Setting | What It Does | Default | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
Slot Granularity | Time slice size for generating slots | 15 minutes | Set to 30: slots start at :00 and :30 only |
Min Slot Duration | Shortest allowed appointment | 10 minutes | Prevents very short slots from appearing |
Buffer Between Slots | Gap after each appointment | 5 minutes | Gives doctor prep time between patients |
Align to Hour | Force slots to start at hour boundaries | Off | When on, slots only start at :00 |
Break Handling | How to handle doctor breaks | Exclude overlapping | Removes slots that overlap with break times |
Search Range Settings
Setting | What It Does | Default | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
Default Search Range | How many days ahead to search | 7 days | Patient sees next 7 days of availability |
Max Search Range | Maximum days a patient can look ahead | 90 days | Limits how far in advance someone can browse |
Max Results | Maximum slots returned per search | 100 | Prevents overwhelming results on busy days |
Sort Order | How results are sorted | Earliest first | Shows closest available slots first |
Include Fully Booked | Show slots that are full | Off | When on, shows booked slots as 'unavailable' |
Capacity & Walk-in Settings
Setting | What It Does | Default | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
Default Capacity Per Slot | How many patients per slot | 1 | Set to 3: doctor can see 3 patients in the same time window |
Overbooking | Allow booking beyond capacity | Off | When on with 10%, a slot with capacity 10 allows 11 |
Walk-in Reserve Strategy | How to reserve slots for walk-ins | None | PERCENTAGE: reserve 20% for walk-ins |
Walk-in Reserve % | Percentage of slots reserved | 0% | 20%: 4 out of 20 slots reserved for walk-ins |
Apply to Online Only | Only apply walk-in reserve to online bookings | Yes | Walk-in reserve doesn't affect staff-initiated bookings |
Booking Rule Settings
Setting | What It Does | Default | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
Min Advance Booking | How far ahead patients must book | 1 hour | Set to 2: can't book less than 2 hours from now |
Max Advance Booking | How far ahead patients can book | 90 days | Set to 30: can only book up to 30 days ahead |
Same-Day Booking | Allow bookings for today | Yes | Turn off to require at least 1 day notice |
Same-Day Cutoff | Hours before slot for same-day booking | 2 hours | Can't book a 3 PM slot after 1 PM |
Max Per Patient Per Day | Patient's daily booking limit | 3 | Prevents one patient from booking too many slots |
Max Per Patient Per Doctor Per Day | Same patient-doctor daily limit | 1 | Patient can't book twice with the same doctor on the same day |
Patient-Type Duration Settings
Setting | What It Does | Default | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
New Patient Extra Time | Additional minutes for first-time patients | 0 minutes | Set to 10: new patients get 25-minute slots instead of 15 |
Existing Patient Extra Time | Additional minutes for returning patients | 0 minutes | Usually kept at 0 (standard duration) |
Follow-Up Extra Time | Additional minutes for follow-ups | 0 minutes | Set to -5: follow-ups are shorter than standard |
Test Your Settings
Config Hierarchy for Slot Settings
Most slot settings can be configured at multiple levels. The most specific level wins:
- System defaults — Built-in base values
- Tenant settings — Your hospital-wide configuration
- Centre settings — Per-location overrides
- Doctor settings — Per-doctor overrides (highest priority)
For example, if the hospital default slot duration is 15 minutes but Dr. Patel needs 30 minutes, you set it at the doctor level. Everyone else keeps 15.
See Config Hierarchy
What's Next?
Understand the end-to-end booking process in Booking an Appointment.
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