> ## 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.
# Set up departments and sub-units
> Step 2 of hospital setup — build the departments clinicians work in, so triage can route patients and consultations can be filed and charged.
export const StillStuck = ({topic}) =>
Still stuck{topic ? ` with ${topic}` : ''}?{' '}
Check Troubleshooting first —
it covers the failures we see most often. If that does not resolve it,{' '}
contact support and include
your workspace name and the time the problem happened, so we can find the
matching entry in your audit log.
;
export const TaskHeader = ({before, time, after}) =>
{before ?
Before you start
{before}
: null}
{time ?
: null}
{after ?
: null}
Available in
{list.map(e =>
{EDITION_LABELS[e] || e}
)}
{plans ? Plan : null}
{plans ? {plans} : null}
{roles ? Who : null}
{roles ? {roles} : null}
{note ? {note} : null}
;
};
This is **step 2 of 5**. A department is the unit a consultation is filed under, and it is what [triage](/hospital/outpatient/triage) routes a patient into. Until you have one, your clinicians cannot open a consultation list at all.
## Why a clinician cannot work without this
Before a clinician sees any consultation list, they pass through a **Select a Department** screen. It is not decorative — the department they pick decides which patients they see. If a department has more than one sub-unit, they pick the sub-unit too, and that choice becomes part of the page's address, so the same clinician can keep two units open in two tabs.
At the other end, the triage form's assignment card tells the nurse exactly what a department does: "Patient will appear in this department's consultation queue".
## Three levels, and the one that catches people out
**Department Management** — "Manage your clinic departments, sub-units, and consultation rates." — is three cards, each opening the next.
**Consultation rates hang off the sub-unit, not the department.** That is the part people miss: a department with no sub-unit has nowhere to put a price, so every department you intend to charge for needs at least one sub-unit, even if the department works as a single team.
Select **Add Department**. Give it a **Department Name** — the placeholder's example is "e.g., Internal Medicine" — and optionally a **Department Code** ("e.g., INT-MED") and a **Description**. Set **Status** to **Active**.
Name it the way your staff say it out loud. Nurses read this list under pressure at triage, so the name on screen should be the name on the door.
Open the department and select **Add Sub-Unit** — "Manage specialties and sub-units for this department." Each takes a **Sub-Unit Name** ("e.g., Gastroenterology"), an optional **Sub-Unit Code**, a **Description** and a **Status**.
Add a sub-unit wherever the split changes who should see the patient — **Cardiology → Ward A**. A department that always works as one team still needs one, so that it can carry a rate; name that one after the department itself.
Open the sub-unit and select **Add Rate** — "Configure consultation types, pricing, and validity periods." Each rate takes a **Consultation Name** ("e.g., Standard Consultation"), a **Consultation Type** — **Initial Consultation**, **Follow-up**, **Extended Consultation**, **Emergency** or **Telemedicine** — a **Price**, a **Duration (minutes)**, and a **Validity Duration** with its **Validity Unit** in hours, days, weeks or months.
Validity is what decides how long a paid consultation lasts. Set it to the window in which you would see the patient again without charging twice.
Cover the whole hospital before you invite staff. It is far cheaper to add a department on a quiet afternoon than to explain to a consultant on their first morning why their clinic is not listed.
## How the pieces connect
| Screen | What the department does there |
| ------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| [Triage](/hospital/outpatient/triage) | The nurse ticks the departments — and sub-units — that should see this patient |
| [Consultation](/hospital/outpatient/consultation) | The clinician picks a department, then a sub-unit, and gets that queue |
| Payments | The consultation rate on the chosen sub-unit is what the front desk collects |
## Check it worked
* Each department row shows a **Sub-Units** count, and each sub-unit row shows a **Rates** count. A zero in either column is unfinished work.
* Open **Outpatient → Consultation**. The **Select a Department** screen lists your departments, and a department with two or more sub-units asks for a second choice.
* Record a test triage and tick a department. The patient appears in that department's consultation queue with a **Pending** status.
## If something goes wrong
Exactly what it says — the list is empty. Select **Add Department**.
Rates live on the **sub-unit**, not the department. Open the department, open a sub-unit, then **Add Rate**. If the department has no sub-units, add one first.
No departments exist yet, or none their role may open. Add them here, then check [Roles](/platform/team/roles).
The triage picker only lists patients with a valid consultation payment, and a payment is against a sub-unit's rate. A sub-unit with no rate cannot be paid for.
Open the triage record from the list, change the assignment on the **Update Triage** form and save. The patient moves to the new department's queue.
Set its **Status** to **Inactive** rather than deleting it, so past consultations keep their unit.
## Next step
Wards, sub-wards and the bed spaces patients are admitted to.
See a department do its job on the floor.