Welcome to our guide for the Patient’s Preferred Time Zone feature. When this feature is enabled, patients can specify which time zone they’d like to display their online booking page, appointments, and appointment reminders in. Staff members can also see and update a patient’s time zone for them.
👋 Jane tip: Want a guide to share with your patients or clients? We made one just for them. 💙
This is a clinic-wide setting that is enabled by default. You can turn it off and on from Settings > Online Booking > Patient’s Preferred Time Zone > Save.
How patients choose their time zone
From the Online Booking page
When viewing available appointment times, patients can choose their time zone from your online booking page. If the patient is logged in, they can click the blue Change Time Zone text above the appointment calendar.
If the patient is not logged in, they’ll have a drop-down menu available above the appointment calendar where they can choose their time zone.
All appointments and appointment reminders will now be displayed in their preferred time zone.
From the Patient Portal/My Account area
Patients can also log into their Jane account and select Time Zone on the menu to the left. Next, they can select their time zone from the drop-down menu and click Save.
All appointments and appointment reminders will now be displayed in their preferred time zone.
How staff can update a patient’s time zone
If a patient doesn’t use online booking or needs a hand updating their time zone, you can head to their profile, and their time zone will be under their address. Until it’s been customized, it will be set by default to the same time zone as the clinic.
Next, click Edit/Settings under the patient’s name.
On the editing screen, you can choose the patient’s time zone from the drop-down menu underneath their phone numbers:
Make sure to save your changes, and you’re all set!
FAQ
What is a patient’s default time zone if they haven’t customized it?
Until a patient’s time zone is customized, they’ll see appointments and appointment reminders in the clinic’s time zone by default.
What if a patient (who isn’t logged into their account) selects an appointment that isn’t in their time zone?
Great question! Let’s say a patient sets a time zone preference in their profile that’s different from the clinic’s time zone. Then, they’re browsing online for an appointment, but they aren’t logged into their account. When they book an appointment, Jane will alert them that they have chosen an appointment time in the clinic’s time zone, so they can make any adjustments if needed.
Can I see what time zone my patients have chosen for themselves?
Yes, you’ll see a patient’s time zone on their profile underneath their address. To update their time zone for them, you can follow the steps in this section of the guide.
If a patient has linked family profiles, what time zone will their family member’s appointments be displayed in?
You will see your appointments and your family member’s appointments in your preferred time zone that you’ve set in your account.
For example, let’s say that I am a patient and my child is in a different time zone than I am. When I’m logged into my account, I will see my child’s appointments in my own time zone. And if my child logs into their account, they will see their appointments in their own time zone.
Should I use this feature if I have multiple locations in different time zones?
The short answer is that it depends on how your shifts are set up. Jane Accounts can only have one time zone assigned in their settings area. If all shifts across all locations conform to that time zone, then this feature can be used.
Let’s dig into this a little more in the example below. ⤵️
Add city names and mention that we share one jane account and one online booking site
I share a Jane account with John. I work in Vancouver in PST, and John works in Toronto which is 3 hours ahead of me, in EST.
Our Jane account is set to my timezone, PST. John has a choice to make. Is he going to display his availability online in PST, or will this confuse his local clients who view his schedule and expect to see it in their own timezone (EST)?
If John has set up his shifts so that his 9am-5pm EST shifts are entered into Jane as 6am-2pm PST, then we’ll have no problem enabling the Preferred Patient Time Zone setting.
However, if John enters his shifts in Jane as 9-5 PST, this is technically inaccurate and we should not turn on the Preferred Patient Time Zones setting.
We hope this example helped, but managing time zones for Jane users with multiple locations can be tricky. If you have any questions or need a hand deciding whether this feature is right for you, please reach out and our lovely support team will be happy to help.