There are countless factors that affect shift scheduling across health systems, medical specialties and hospitals. Time-off requests, staffing requirements, schedule length, shift equity and more all contribute to the hard job of scheduling doctors efficiently. Because of this, manually creating the schedules has become extremely tedious and requires hundreds of hours each year.
Even so, over 45% of U.S. hospitals continue manually schedules, using paper or spreadsheets, according to research. At times, hospitals even assign a doctor to manually create the schedule which diverts them from providing quality patient care. By implementing emergency medicine scheduling, you can reduce the nightmares of manual scheduling and give the doctors back their valuable time.
Here are some benefits of automating your physician scheduling this 2020 year.
1. Automated Scheduling
Physician scheduling software is updated in real-time, providing you with permission-based access all the way down to the doctor’s level. This automated software helps you build accurate and efficient schedules based on your policies and rules to ensure:
- On-call shifts are equally distributed
- Staffing quotas are met
- The right doctor is in the right place exactly when needed
2. Increased Efficiency and Fewer Errors
Shift scheduling uses metrics and reporting creating a more complete and equitable schedule over time. This provides you with a real-time look at how your schedule performs each day. It reduces overtime and helps complete accurate assignments.
3. Shifts Fairly Distributed
In many medical specialty groups that have various subspecialties, not all doctors can perform every shift and this adds to the complexity of the schedule. However, an automated scheduling program can easily address this with the correct rules. The software can help you distribute shifts fairly and help you balance out:
- Holidays
- Weekends
- On-call shifts
- Night shifts
- The group's least favored shifts
- The group's most favored shifts
The more shift types and physicians you have in a scheduled group, the larger the number of equity factors you'll have that you'll have to take into account. Therefore, it becomes even more essential to use scheduling software that will automatically take equity into account.
4. Mobile Access
All physicians and other staff will have an integrated mobile experience which includes integration with their choice of calendar application (iCal, Outlook or other platforms). Emergency medicine scheduling software will provide your clinical team members with a 100% mobile experience.
5. Quick Request Processing
Requests for shift changes and the ability to swap shifts online are now possible and this feature of the software makes this possible by supporting the same rules engine used for creating the schedule. With this feature, you can now honor both physician preferences and policy and still allow your physicians to have more control over their schedules.
As we begin a new decade, it’s time to move your physician scheduling forward by using automated scheduling software that provides you with all the above benefits — and more.
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