> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://help.clinikehr.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Work the front desk board

> See who is in the building, who is still waiting, check people in and out, and reach every reception task from one screen.

export const AuditNote = ({action = 'This action'}) => <div className="ck-callout ck-callout--info" role="note">
    <p className="ck-callout__body">
      {action} is written to your workspace's audit log with your name, the
      record touched and the time — a HIPAA requirement, and one you can review
      yourself under <strong>Audit Log</strong>. See{' '}
      <a href="/platform/security/audit-log">Audit log</a>.
    </p>
  </div>;

export const StillStuck = ({topic}) => <div className="ck-callout ck-callout--note" role="note">
    <p className="ck-callout__body">
      <strong>Still stuck{topic ? ` with ${topic}` : ''}?</strong>{' '}
      Check <a href="/platform/help/troubleshooting">Troubleshooting</a> first —
      it covers the failures we see most often. If that does not resolve it,{' '}
      <a href="/platform/help/contact-support">contact support</a> and include
      your workspace name and the time the problem happened, so we can find the
      matching entry in your audit log.
    </p>
  </div>;

export const TaskHeader = ({before, time, after}) => <div className="ck-task">
    {before ? <div className="ck-task__cell">
        <div className="ck-task__title">Before you start</div>
        <p className="ck-task__body">{before}</p>
      </div> : null}

    {time ? <div className="ck-task__cell">
        <div className="ck-task__title">Takes about</div>
        <p className="ck-task__body">{time}</p>
      </div> : null}

    {after ? <div className="ck-task__cell">
        <div className="ck-task__title">When you're done</div>
        <p className="ck-task__body">{after}</p>
      </div> : null}
  </div>;

export const Path = ({steps = []}) => <span className="ck-path">
    {steps.map((s, i) => <span key={i} className="ck-path__step">
        {i > 0 ? <span className="ck-path__sep" aria-hidden="true">
            ›
          </span> : null}
        {s}
      </span>)}
  </span>;

export const Availability = ({editions = ['all'], plans, roles, note}) => {
  const list = editions.includes('all') ? ['clinic', 'pharmacy', 'lims'] : editions;
  return <div className="ck-avail" role="note" aria-label="Feature availability">
      <span className="ck-avail__label">Available in</span>

      {list.map(e => <span key={e} className={`ck-pill ck-pill--${e}`}>
          {EDITION_LABELS[e] || e}
        </span>)}

      {plans ? <span className="ck-avail__label">Plan</span> : null}
      {plans ? <span className="ck-pill ck-pill--plan">{plans}</span> : null}

      {roles ? <span className="ck-avail__label">Who</span> : null}
      {roles ? <span className="ck-pill ck-pill--role">{roles}</span> : null}

      {note ? <span className="ck-avail__note">{note}</span> : null}
    </div>;
};

<Availability editions={['clinic']} plans="Enterprise" roles="Any staff member whose role may open the Front Desk group" note="Needs the Front desk care area" />

**Front Desk** is reception's home screen. It answers one question — who is in the building and who is still waiting — and puts the four things a receptionist does all day within one screen of that answer.

<Path steps={['Sidebar', 'Front Desk', 'Front Desk']} />

<TaskHeader before="The Front desk care area switched on in Settings → Facility" time="Seconds per check-in" after="A live queue that reflects who is actually in the building" />

## Before you start

The whole **Front Desk** group — the board, **Appointments**, **Patients** and **Contacts** — depends on the **Front desk** care area. Switch it on in **Settings → Facility**; see [Care areas](/hospital/get-started/care-areas). Turn it off and all four entries leave the sidebar together.

**Patients** also appears under **Records** as **Patient Records**. Both open the same list and both highlight at once — expected, not a fault.

## What you're looking at

The page is headed **Front Desk**, with the subtitle "Who is in the building, and who is still waiting." **Refresh** sits top right, though the board reloads itself as people are checked in and out, and wait times tick up on their own.

Three tiles run across the top. Each shows an em dash while it loads rather than a zero, so a figure on screen is always a real count.

| Tile            | Counts                                                                            |
| --------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Waiting now** | Everyone still in the building, whatever their wait band                          |
| **Long waits**  | Those past your long-wait threshold. It turns red only when there is at least one |
| **Seen today**  | Visits already checked out today                                                  |

Below the tiles, four buttons cover the whole of reception — **Check in**, **Book appointment**, **New patient** and **New contact**. Each opens a sheet over the board, so you never lose the queue you were looking at.

The queue is filtered by three tabs, each carrying its own live count: **Waiting \{n}**, **Checked out \{n}** and **All \{n}**. The columns are:

| Column         | Shows                                                                                                |
| -------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Checked in** | The time they arrived                                                                                |
| **Waiting**    | How long they have been waiting, as `45m` or `1h 20m`. A checked-out visit's wait is frozen          |
| **For**        | The visit items — a service, a lab test or a custom label. More than one reads like **Endoscopy +2** |
| **With**       | The staff member they are assigned to, or an em dash                                                 |
| **Location**   | The room, if one was recorded                                                                        |
| **Status**     | The wait band                                                                                        |

Four wait bands, and the colours are not what people assume — amber is ordinary waiting, red is the problem:

| Badge            | Meaning                                     |
| ---------------- | ------------------------------------------- |
| **Just arrived** | Under five minutes, green                   |
| **Waiting**      | Five minutes up to your threshold, amber    |
| **Long wait**    | Past your threshold, red. Sorted to the top |
| **Checked out**  | They have left, grey                        |

When nothing is queued the board reads **Nobody waiting** — "Check someone in to see them here."

## Check a patient in

<Steps>
  <Step title="Select Check in">
    A picker opens on the board asking **Who are you checking in?**
  </Step>

  <Step title="Find the patient">
    Search the picker. Nobody registered yet? Select **New patient** instead — registering someone flows straight into checking them in, which is the actual walk-in motion.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Record what the visit is for">
    Add a reason, an appointment, or at least one item. The sheet refuses an empty visit with "Add a reason, appointment, or at least one item".
  </Step>

  <Step title="Select Check in">
    A toast confirms it and the patient appears on the board as **Just arrived**.
  </Step>
</Steps>

## Check a patient out

Select **Check out** on the row — it is only there while the person is still in. It takes effect immediately with no confirmation, because a confirmation on every one would slow a busy desk to a crawl, and because it is reversible: check them back in.

Select **View**, or anywhere on the row, to reopen the visit sheet, where **Edit**, **Download PDF**, **Email patient** and **Cancel check-in** also live.

## Set the long-wait threshold

The board prints the current figure under the table: "A visit is flagged as a long wait after \{n} minutes. Change this in **Settings → Facility**." Set it under **Front desk waiting** → **Long wait after (minutes)**, between 5 minutes and 8 hours; it starts at 30. See [Facility settings](/hospital/settings/facility).

One number drives the tile, the badge and the sort order, so there is only ever one definition of "too long" in the building. It colours a badge and lifts the row to the top — it notifies nobody and escalates nothing.

## Who can do this

| Action                            | Who by default                            | Governed by                                        |
| --------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------- |
| Open the board                    | Any role the Front Desk group is shown to | Role Navigation, plus the **Front desk** care area |
| Check in, check out, edit a visit | Anyone who can open the board             | Role only                                          |
| Change the long-wait threshold    | Owner and managers                        | Owner or manager, on **Settings → Facility**       |

Two behaviours surprise people. Enforcement is **opt-in per person**: someone who has never been saved in the permissions sheet is unrestricted, and the sheet warns **"Saving starts enforcing"**. And hiding a module from a role in [Role Navigation](/hospital/settings/role-navigation) is a convenience, not a security boundary — a denied action is recorded, an allowed one is not.

The board also sits behind your two-factor rule. If your hospital requires it and your session is not verified, the whole board is replaced by "Two-factor verification is required to view the check-in board." — see [Two-factor authentication](/platform/security/mfa).

## Check it worked

* The patient you checked in is on the **Waiting** tab with a **Just arrived** badge and today's time under **Checked in**.
* **Waiting now** has gone up by one.
* Checking them out moves them to **Checked out** and increments **Seen today**.

<AuditNote action="Opening the front desk board" />

## Common issues

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="There is no Front Desk in my sidebar">
    Either the **Front desk** care area is off — see [Care areas](/hospital/get-started/care-areas) — or your role has the group hidden in [Role Navigation](/hospital/settings/role-navigation).
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="The whole board says two-factor verification is required">
    Your hospital requires two-factor authentication and this sign-in has not been verified. Sign out, sign back in and complete the second step. See [Two-factor authentication](/platform/security/mfa).
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Searching a patient's name finds nothing">
    The board search matches the reason, the room and the assigned staff member only — never a patient name. Use the tabs to narrow the queue, or open [Patients](/hospital/front-desk/patients) to search by name.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="It says 'Could not load the check-in board'">
    The board could not reach your data. Select **Refresh**; rows already on screen stay put while you retry.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Someone from yesterday is still on the board">
    They were never checked out. Anyone still checked in carries over from any day — that is the point. Select **Check out** on their row.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Everything shows an em dash and no numbers">
    The board is still loading. Tiles deliberately show a dash rather than a zero so a slow query is never mistaken for an empty waiting room.
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>

## FAQ

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="Does a long wait alert anyone?">
    No. It colours the badge red and sorts the row to the top of the queue. Nobody is paged, emailed or notified — the board assumes a human is looking at it.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Do I have to refresh to see new arrivals?">
    No. The board updates itself when anyone checks in or out, and wait times advance about every half a minute on their own. **Refresh** is there for when you want to be certain.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Can I undo a check-out?">
    Yes — check them back in. Nothing is deleted, which is why there is no confirmation dialog on the button.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Does checking someone in book an appointment?">
    No. A check-in records an arrival; it can be linked to an existing appointment, but it does not create one. Use **Book appointment** for that — see [The appointment book](/hospital/front-desk/appointments).
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Does a check-in send the patient to a department?">
    No. Routing happens at [triage](/hospital/outpatient/triage), where vital signs are taken and the patient is put into a department's consultation queue.
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>

<StillStuck topic="the front desk board" />