Spotlight: Cliniko's practice management system

Cliniko use Pusher for their web-based practice management system. Founder Joel Friedlaender explains how realtime functionality allows users to see calendar updates live, and how they use Pusher for announcing a patient’s arrival in a waiting room.

What does your app do, and what problems does it solve for your users?

Our app is a full practice management solution for allied health professionals. It helps them manage their business. This covers appointment scheduling, treatment notes, accounts and billing and a whole bunch of other stuff too.

What functionality is powered by Pusher?

We use Pusher to make our appointment calendar realtime. Any time any change is made to an appointment (or a new one is added), we use Pusher to live update everyone else in the business. We also use Pusher to send through audio alerts to practitioners to let them know when a patient has arrived in the waiting room.

How does this new functionality improve the user experience for your users?

It makes a big difference for our users, previously double bookings could occur if an appointment was added and another person in the business hadn’t refreshed their calendar. It also means practitioners can leave the appointment window open and see the current state of their schedule at any time.

Have you got any technical tips or code that could help other Pusherinos?

Pusher works great with SoundManager2. It is a great cross-browser compatible way to push out sounds.

Tech Stack

• Pusher Ruby gem
• Pusher JavaScript library
• SoundManager2
• Application: Ruby, Rails, JQuery