For dental practice owners · Bookings and no-shows
Fill a short-notice opening from the ASAP list
A text to patients who asked for an earlier time that offers the opening fairly, plus the replies once someone takes it.
The prompt
Paste it into ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini and fill in each part in [BRACKETS]. Office managers and whoever runs the schedule.
I run a dental practice. A patient just cancelled, and the chair will sit empty unless someone takes the time. We keep a list of patients who asked for an earlier appointment if one opens. I want a message for that list that fills the time quickly and is fair about who gets it. What I have: - The day, time and length of the opening: [THE OPENING] - How a patient claims it: [HOW TO CLAIM] - How we choose when more than one patient answers: [HOW WE CHOOSE] - How we sound: [OUR TONE] What I want: 1. Write a short text that offers the opening, says how to claim it and says how we choose if more than one person answers. 2. Write a reply for the patient who gets the time, asking them to confirm. 3. Write a reply for patients who answer after it is filled, thanking them and saying they stay on the list. 4. Keep each message to two or three short sentences. Rules: - Write a draft for me to read. Do not send anything. - Use only what I gave you. If something is missing, ask me instead of guessing. - Never quote a price, offer a time other than this opening, or claim anything I did not give you. - Leave out anything about a patient's health, treatment or history. Do not name the kind of visit, the reason for it or the provider. - Write it to go to each patient on their own, never as a group message where patients see each other. - No pressure. Keeping their current appointment is a fine answer. Give me back: - The offer text - The reply that confirms the time - The already-filled reply
When to use it
A patient cancels for today or tomorrow, and you have a list of patients who said they would take an earlier time if one came up.
When not to
Do not use it to decide who gets the time. If the dentist wants a certain patient seen sooner, a person calls that patient directly.
What to paste in
- [THE OPENING]: The day, start time and length of the open time, and nothing about the patient who cancelled.
- [HOW TO CLAIM]: What a patient does to take it, for example reply YES or call the front desk.
- [HOW WE CHOOSE]: Your rule when two people answer, for example the first reply gets it.
- [OUR TONE]: Three or four words for how your practice sounds.
Never paste
- The list itself, or any patient names, birth dates, phone numbers or insurance IDs
- Who cancelled, or why
- Anything about a patient's health, treatment or what the visit is for
A filled-in example
Sample. Fictional business, fictional client.
THE OPENING: Thursday, 2:00 to 3:00 pm HOW TO CLAIM: Reply YES to this text HOW WE CHOOSE: The first YES gets it. We text everyone else once it is filled. OUR TONE: Friendly, quick, no pressure
What you should get back
- A short offer with the day, time and how to claim it
- A reply for the patient who gets the time, asking them to confirm
- A kind already-filled reply that keeps people on the list
- No visit type, reason or provider named, and nothing meant for a group thread
What stays with you
The prompt writes a draft. You decide what happens to it, and nothing should reach a patient until you have read it. Decisions about money stay with a person every time, and so do health questions and complaints. When KeenHand builds a routine like this, every message carries the same four decisions: Automate, Approve, Revise, Reject.
Related
- Confirm appointments without naming the visit. A confirmation text, email and morning-of reminder with the time, what to bring and your policy, and nothing about what the visit is for.
- Write recall reminders that get visits booked. A set of recall reminders, from due to overdue, that ask the patient to book and never name a procedure or the reason for the visit.
- Run a short morning huddle from today's counts. A ten-minute standing huddle agenda built from today's schedule counts, with one action and a suggested owner for each.
More: every prompt for dental practices, bookings and no-shows, and AI for dental practices.
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