1. VistA Scheduling Enhancements (VSE)
Lunch and Learn Presentation
VistA Scheduling Enhancements (VSE)
Instructor Notes:
Welcome to VistA Scheduling Enhancements!
My name is <name>. Share your position on the VSE Project.
We are glad to have you with us today.
Welcome to Veteran and User- Friendly Scheduling!
VistA Scheduling Enhancements (VSE) Facilitation Kit

2. Lunch and Learn Presentation
Agenda
Today, we are here to:
Preview VistA Scheduling Enhancements (VSE)
Discuss the benefits of VSE
Introduce our site’s VSE training plan
Question and Answer session
Instructor notes:
Review the points on slide
Ask for questions before beginning. Use the Parking Lot to log in questions that would best be answered during the Q&A.
Transition: Before we look at the enhancements to the scheduling workflow, I would like to run through a little bit of background here so we are all in context.
VistA Scheduling Enhancements (VSE) Facilitation Kit

3. Background – Scheduling Transformation
Lunch and Learn Presentation
Background – Scheduling Transformation
VHA is redefining the way it schedules appointments by:
Being more patient-centered
Increasing the ease of scheduling and managing appointments
VSE is:
A series of enhancements to 30-year-old VistA scheduling application
Designed to:
Bring scheduling and appointment management up-to-date
Be more Veteran-centric
A graphical user interface (GUI) view of current VistA scheduling application
Point-and-click navigation through the scheduling process
Consolidated view of requests and schedules
Instructor notes:
Provide background information on VSE.
Explain the importance of VSE.
Transition: Let’s discuss the enhancements in more detail.
VistA Scheduling Enhancements (VSE) Facilitation Kit

4. Lunch and Learn Presentation
Enhancements
Enhances VistA by:
Providing clinic profile scheduling grids in a single calendar view
Displaying patient appointment requests in one, consolidated request list (EWL, Recall, Consults, NEAR, telephone requests)
Enabling management of requests, consults, and reporting
VSE allows for:
Visibility across provider clinics
Simpler finding, booking, and coordinating appointments and care
Standard tool for viewing, scheduling, filtering, and prioritizing to facilitate more timely access to care
Improved business processes and efficiency
Instructor notes:
Review the Enhancements
Explain how they will improve your VAMC’s workflow using a specific example, if possible, of a problem this can address.
Transition: Let’s take a look at two of these enhancements as they display in the GUI.
VistA Scheduling Enhancements (VSE) Facilitation Kit

5. Request List and Schedules
Lunch and Learn Presentation
Request List and Schedules
Instructor notes:
The top image shows a consolidated request list. This is test data, so the wait times are not good, but you can see that Consults, Recalls, and EWL all show in just this short list. You will also have options to filter what you see in the list based on your business needs, then work straight from those results.
In the bottom image, the schedules shows a day for three clinics in one view. Schedulers have the option to use a Day, Week, Month, or Timeline view and can view a single provider’s schedules, a clinic group’s schedules as shown here (think of service areas or providers and their interns), or an individual clinic.
Transition: You can see how these enhancements benefit everyone involved in scheduling or the outcome of scheduling.
VistA Scheduling Enhancements (VSE) Facilitation Kit

6. Lunch and Learn Presentation
VSE Benefits Everyone
Veteran Benefits
Obtain an appointment more easily
Coordinate future appointment requests
Spend less time in check out and in scheduling appointments
Scheduler Benefits
Access multiple clinic schedules at one time
Schedule appointments in less time
Review other requests from the same patient easily
Identify Veteran appointment needs and preferences to provide a more patient-centered experience
Supervisor Benefits
Review consolidated reports from the system
Compare performance information easily
Configure clinic groups
Instructor notes:
With these enhancements in place, the Veterans:
Spend less time on the phone making appointments
Schedule multiple appointments easily
Spend less time in check out and in scheduling appointments
The Schedulers:
Schedule appointments in less time
Can access multiple clinic schedules at one time, a large improvement over flipping through many screens in VistA.
Can review most requests for a patient in one, consolidated list
This is one of the best features of VSE! The consolidated requests list increases visibility into all patient requests and allows for better prioritization and allocation of appointments and reduces the time searching across lists, improving efficiency and the Veteran experience.
Identify Veteran appointment needs and preferences to provide a more patient-centered experience
The Supervisors:
Review consolidated reports from the system
Compare performance information easily
So I think we can agree that life is better for everyone with VSE!
Transition: Let’s see what these enhancements look like through a demonstration that you can review yourself later.
VistA Scheduling Enhancements (VSE) Facilitation Kit

7. Overview Demonstration
Lunch and Learn Presentation
Overview Demonstration
Instructor notes:
Review the purpose of a simulation. Emphasize that you can back up and move forward in a simulation (show them how to do this) so if there is a piece of a task that they don’t understand or keep getting wrong, they can go backwards and exercise the key strokes over and over. Repetition is very helpful when learning new keystrokes.
Review the purpose of this simulation: As an introduction to the VistA Scheduling Enhancements (VSE) graphical user interface (GUI), this simulation reviews the main features that schedulers and supervisors use. You will be introduced to the Tasks tab, System tab, and Reports tab and their respective capabilities.
Walk the participants through the new scheduling workflow, pointing out the differences that make it valuable to the schedulers and the Veteran.
At start, remind participants that their logins will be the same as it is for VistA.
When GUI displays, let the audience know that not all users will have all three tabs. Most users, the schedulers, will just have the Tasks tab.
Summarize the items listed in the demonstration for the Tasks tab: Search for and review information about patients, initiate actions such as appointments, recalls, and patient requests, review appointments and pending requests, identify specific preferences for patients, and review clinic and provider schedules.
Review the convenience of the Resources and Schedules sections.
Discuss the search options: 3 ways to search for patients and 3 options to view resources.
Review the request types consolidated in the one list.
Go over System and Reports tabs quickly as they do not relate to schedulers
NOTE: The shape is clickable to embed the simulation link.
Transition: Those are the enhancements. I think it is easy to see why it is a great improvement on all fronts! I would like us to look at how schedulers will come up to speed and be able to operate with confidence in VSE.
VistA Scheduling Enhancements (VSE) Facilitation Kit

8. Training Opportunities
Lunch and Learn Presentation
Training Opportunities
Training is:
Available for all staff with direct connection to Veterans and VSE
Required for staff having scheduling as a primary duty
The training requires:
Materials review prior to training
Schedule adjustment or flexibility
About four hours for training session
Time to practice in test environment
Instructor Notes:
Training is available to ALL staff connected to Veterans scheduling. But training is mandatory for all staff whose primary duty is scheduling.
You will also need some time to review materials prior to training…there is a bit of pre-work so that we can spend a little less time in the classroom. Again, an hour or two will need to be set aside for schedulers to take care of the required pre-work.
VSE training may require temporary adjustments to schedules to make time available to take the training
If we can all put our support behind this effort for a short period of time, scheduling will improve substantially for the Veteran. That is important, which makes this training important.
Scheduling training takes about four hours for a full session and it is important that you have those four hours free to pay close attention to what is happening in the classroom. If you do that, you can walk away with an excellent basis for using VSE.
And you will need some time to practice. You will use access to the test environment to practice all that you have learned before doing a check-out exercise that will enable you to begin using the live system.
We need everyone’s commitment to coming up to speed on these improvements to the scheduling system, managers’ and employees’ alike. If you do that, then we will provide the training you need to continue doing your job well!
Transition: What can we do to prepare for training?
VistA Scheduling Enhancements (VSE) Facilitation Kit

9. Lunch and Learn Presentation
Prepare for Training
Training begins [Date]
Training organized by [Organizational Strategy]
Covers how to use VSE to:
Make and manage appointments
Management and use of the consolidated appointment request l(EWL, Recall, Consults, NEAR, and telephone requests)
Review information from the system
Instructor Notes
Explain how you are organizing the training to your site’s needs to alleviate concerns
It covers: Review bullets.
Participants can prepare before the training session by reviewing the Demo we reviewed together and working in the simulations that walk you through the activities in the new system.
Transition: Here is what the training schedule looks like.
VistA Scheduling Enhancements (VSE) Facilitation Kit

10. Save the Date Deployment Timeline
Lunch and Learn Presentation
Save the Date Deployment Timeline
Training – [Insert session]: [Date]
Deployment [Day or Week]: [Date] Leadership Debriefing: [Date]
Instructor Notes:
You can adapt the schedule as it applies to your local VAMC, including stating when varied clinic types will be trained.
NOTE: Add duplicate slide if space is needed.
Add leadership debriefing based on your POC’s direction.
Transition: We have a team of Super Users involved in this upgrade.
VistA Scheduling Enhancements (VSE) Facilitation Kit

11. Lunch and Learn Presentation
Our Team of Super Users
Thank you for your support!
[Name]
Instructor Notes:
- Thank you <names of the Super Users>.
NOTE: Add Super Users names to slide
We couldn’t have done it without you!
Transition: That wraps up the presentation, folks! I would like to open the floor for any questions you may have about the project, the schedule, what is required of you or your staff.
VistA Scheduling Enhancements (VSE) Facilitation Kit

12. Questions and Answers Session
Lunch and Learn Presentation
Questions and Answers Session
VistA Scheduling Enhancements (VSE) Facilitation Kit

13. What Questions Do You Have?
Lunch and Learn Presentation
What Questions Do You Have?
Instructor notes:
Answer questions, to the best of your ability, and open discussion to the rest of the group
Table difficult questions, and encourage attendees to hold on to them for later
VistA Scheduling Enhancements (VSE) Facilitation Kit

14. Scheduler Training Workbook
Closing
VistA Scheduling Enhancements (VSE) Facilitation Kit

15. Lunch and Learn Presentation
Additional Questions?
For additional questions or information requests, please contact:
[POC Name]
[ Address]
[Phone Number] OR
[Alternate POC Name]
Instructor notes:
Inform participants that any additional questions or information requests should be directed to [Information on Slide]
Thank participants for their participation
VistA Scheduling Enhancements (VSE) Facilitation Kit

16. Lunch and Learn Presentation
Thank You
Instructor notes:
- Thank participants for their attention and participation today
VistA Scheduling (VS) Graphic User Interface (GUI)