Choosing a check-in kiosk for a therapy clinic: a buyer checklist

Start with the front-desk jobs the kiosk must do

Write down what happens at your front desk between a child arriving and a child leaving, then mark which steps a kiosk should take over. A kiosk can replace the paper sign-in sheet and the spoken “who is here?” check. It does not, by itself, replace intake forms, insurance checks or payments, so list those separately and decide which tool covers each one.

• Arrival: how a child or parent confirms the child is here, and who on staff sees it.
• Checkout and pickup: how departure is recorded, and who collected the child.
• Family notices: whether parents are told about arrival and pickup, and through which channel.
• Staff time: whether shifts and breaks are recorded on the same device.
• Everything else done at the counter, such as forms, payments and insurance, which a kiosk may not touch.

Test what the shared screen shows

A kiosk sits where other families can see it. Walk up as a parent would and read every screen as a stranger standing behind them: the list of names, the confirmation and each error message. Ask the vendor what a screen can show about a child, a parent or a clinician, and which of those details the clinic can switch off.

In TherapyCRM Kiosk, name tiles show a first name and a character, not a surname or a birthday. A last initial appears only when two children on the same day’s list share a first name. The confirmation screen can say who the visit is with and in which room, using the therapist’s first name, and it can say that a text is going to a family member by relationship and first name, such as “Mom (Anna)”. An optional setting also celebrates a child’s birthday on the check-in and checkout screens, and the setting itself warns that others at the front desk can see it. Decide whether that level of detail suits your waiting room, then test it with a fictional visit.

Test how a child finds their name

Children arrive at different ages and reading levels, often with a sibling and a bag. Hand the kiosk to a six-year-old and a tired parent, not to a staff member who already knows the screen. Check that the lookup copes with siblings, two children who share a first name, nicknames and names with accents, and that a child who cannot read yet can still find their tile.

TherapyCRM Kiosk lets a child narrow the list by tapping the letters of their first name or, when the practice has enabled it, by a birthday view. Practice settings control whether the letter row always shows or appears only when the list is long, and whether every child is asked for a birthday after choosing a name. Children who share a first name are always asked. The birthday is typed on the screen and masked once the child moves to the next field. If two children match on first name, birthday and character, the kiosk asks the family to find a grown-up at the front desk rather than guess. The controls support screen readers and the iPad’s Reduce Motion setting.

Check pickup and who may be recorded

Arrival is easy to record. Pickup is where a clinic carries the risk. Ask how the kiosk decides who can be named as collecting a child, what happens when a family has a custody restriction or conflicting records, and whether a staff member can step in. A kiosk should never offer a name it cannot vouch for.

In TherapyCRM Kiosk, checkout is saved first. A kiosk setting, “Optional pickup details”, adds a “Who picked you up?” step afterwards, and a family can skip it, so a clinic that must record who collected every child needs the front desk to confirm each pickup. When the step is shown, it offers only guardians who have exactly one current, unrestricted custodial record, and when no guardian qualifies the screen tells the child that a grown-up at the front desk will confirm. Custody restrictions and required staff assistance stay in force, and arrival and pickup notices apply custody restrictions too, so a clinic should record custody before the first week of kiosk use rather than after the first disagreement.

Ask what happens when the connection drops

Waiting rooms have patchy Wi-Fi. Switch the router off during a demo and watch what the kiosk does. Can a child still check in? Is the arrival time recorded as it happened or as it synchronized? Can anyone see what is waiting? What happens to checkouts? An honest answer includes limits.

TherapyCRM Kiosk keeps a cached list of today’s expected children in encrypted storage on the iPad, with the key held in the device Keychain. During a brief interruption a child can still check in. The arrival is queued with its original time and sent when the connection returns, once, even if the connection fails mid-send. Checkout is different: while the kiosk is offline it asks the family to find the front desk, and a checkout whose result is uncertain after a drop is held for review instead of being retried automatically. The kiosk tells families when it is offline and how many saved visits are waiting for a grown-up. The cached list expires after minutes, not hours, so this covers interruptions rather than a day without internet.

Run the same three-step test on every kiosk you shortlist:

• Check in a fictional child, switch off Wi-Fi, check in a second child, then try a checkout.
• Note what each screen tells the family and what it tells the front desk.
• Restore Wi-Fi and confirm both arrivals appear once, with the times they happened.

Look at what staff and families get afterwards

A kiosk is only as useful as the record behind it. Ask who can see today’s arrivals, how a mistake is corrected, how a child asks for help, and what parents are told.

In TherapyCRM, saved attendance appears in the practice record. An administrator chooses which family notices go out: texts, emails or phone notifications for check-in and for checkout. Messages go only to family members who have consented and have a working channel. A child who needs help can ask from the kiosk, which raises an alert for staff. A staff member with the right role can correct a visit by voiding it, restoring a check-in or fixing the times, and must give a reason; the original values and the reason are saved in the audit trail. Parents who use TherapyCRM Family also see the day’s visit status, from checked in to in session, ready for pickup and picked up.

Plan the iPad, the stand and the lock-down

Hardware decisions are dull and decisive. Decide who supplies the iPad, where it stands, how it is charged and who can leave the app. Apple’s Guided Access setting keeps an iPad in a single app until someone with the passcode ends the session; check Apple’s current instructions for your iPad model before you rely on it.

TherapyCRM Kiosk runs on iPad and iPhone, and most practices keep a dedicated iPad at the front desk. An administrator signs in with a practice account, chooses the branch and the sign-in methods, and sets up the device. Staff open kiosk settings only with a personal PIN and only when their role allows it. The clinic supplies the device; TherapyCRM does not sell kiosk hardware.

• Who owns the iPad, and who covers loss or damage.
• Stand height, glare and the angle of the screen from the waiting area.
• A charging plan that lasts the whole day.
• The passcode, and who knows it.
• A spare device or a paper fallback for the day the iPad fails.

Score every kiosk on the same fictional family

Complete one scorecard per vendor, using the same fictional family, the same siblings and the same Wi-Fi switch-off. The right-hand column shows how TherapyCRM Kiosk handles each test, so you can compare any other product against it.

Where TherapyCRM Kiosk fits, and where it does not

TherapyCRM Kiosk records arrival, checkout and pickup and staff shifts and breaks for practices that use TherapyCRM. It needs an active TherapyCRM practice account; the pricing page shows current plans and the free trial. It does not verify insurance, collect payments or replace intake forms. TherapyCRM serves English-language practices in Canada outside Quebec, does not submit insurance or government claims, including Ontario Autism Program claims, and has no telehealth or video visits.

Frequently asked questions