Most episodes are created automatically from your EMR. When you need to add one by hand (say an appointment didn't sync, or you want to send a questionnaire for an off-system booking), you can create a patient episode from the dashboard. You enter the patient and appointment details, and i-consult schedules the questionnaire SMS for you.

```callout kind="info"
**Before you start**, have these to hand:

- The patient's **mobile number** (required; this is where the questionnaire link is sent).
- The **appointment date and time**.
- How many **days before the appointment** you want the patient to receive the link (your default applies unless you change it).
```

## Create the episode

```steps
1. Open the i-consult **Dashboard**.
2. Click **Create Patient Episode**.
3. Enter the **Patient Name** (for example, "John Smith").
4. Set the **Date of Birth** using the date picker (DD/MM/YYYY). The patient enters this same date to verify their identity, so it must match.
5. (Optional) Enter the patient's **Email**.
6. Enter the **Mobile Phone**. This field is **required** (for example, 0412 345 678). An appointment reminder SMS is automatically scheduled to this number.
7. Set the **Appointment Date** (date and time).
8. Choose the **Consultation Type**: **New** or **Follow-up**.
9. Set the **Consultation Time (minutes)**, between 5 and 180 (30 is typical). This helps i-consult judge how much depth the questionnaire should go into.
10. Set **Days Before Appointment**, between 0 and 30 (default 3). This determines when the patient receives the questionnaire link.
11. (Optional) Add a **Reason for Visit**. Leave it blank if the reason will be collected from the patient during their chat session.
12. Click **Create Patient Episode**. The button shows "Creating...", then "Created!" when the episode is saved.
```

## What you'll see

As you set **Days Before Appointment**, an **SMS Reminder Scheduled** alert previews the send: "An appointment reminder will be sent from {date}", with a badge showing "{n} day(s) from now" or "Sending today" if it falls today.

Once you click **Create Patient Episode**, the new episode appears in your dashboard list with a **Pending** status. From there i-consult takes over. It sends the SMS at the scheduled time, guides the patient through the questionnaire, and generates the structured history, which then flows into your i-scribe transcript box as usual.

```callout kind="care"
Double-check the **Mobile Phone** and **Date of Birth** before you submit. The link is sent to that mobile number, and the patient must enter that exact date of birth to access the questionnaire. A typo means the patient can't get in.
```

## If it doesn't work

- The patient didn't receive the SMS → see [My patient didn't get the SMS](/i-consult/patient-didnt-get-sms). Check the mobile number on the episode and the send timing first.
- The SMS date or time looks wrong → see [The SMS date/time looks wrong](/i-consult/sms-date-time-wrong) for how send timing and timezone work.