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When you own or manage a medical practice that requires rotating schedules instead of, or in addition to, a set schedule every day, it can get a little confusing. The administrative office needs to make sure they keep good record of the schedules of their doctors, nurses, and medical support staff, while the physicians themselves also need to make sure they have the schedule right. Add in last-minute shift changes and sick time, and it gets a lot more confusing.
This is where the benefit of physician scheduling software comes in. It allows you to use the software to automatically update schedules and inform employees right away.
How Scheduling Software Helps With Rotating Schedules
Scheduling software provides a lot of different benefits when it comes to rotating schedules. First of all, it ensures that your physicians, physicians assistants, nurses, and other healthcare practice staff know what their schedule is at all times. When they are on a rotating schedule, it isn’t the same every day, but that doesn’t mean they can’t check their phone app or the program on a computer and see exactly what their shift is going to be. This keeps out a lot of miscommunication or second guessing.
The software also helps by saving time when switching schedules and shifts. There is less of having to manually notify employees of their schedule changes or a new rotating schedule. Instead the program can send alerts to them automatically. With reduced confusion and more accuracy, there are less shifts that are understaffed and employees often prefer this simpler method.
Special Scheduling Features That Can Help
Physician scheduling software programs include advanced features that further simplify the rotating scheduling process. For instance, many programs will sync the schedules to multiple third-party apps. This means if you want it sent to Outlook, iCal on iPhones, or Google calendars, it can do that quickly and easily.
Some programs also have the ability to message the physicians with their new shift or any changes via text message. It should also allow you to pull up old schedules to review them, or import the older schedules when using this program for the first time.
Physician scheduling software can look for people not working on a specific day to fill open spots when someone else calls in sick. In addition, your scheduling software can incorporate both fixed schedules along with rotating shift schedules.
Many shift scheduling software programs also have a copy-shift feature that let you copy a previous shift, including the hours, location, and physician, and then paste it into the program to repeat the same shift. You can use this with some variations as well.
To use your emergency medicine scheduling software for rotating schedules, make sure all employees know how to access the app or calendar to view their schedules, and that they know the protocol to change their shift, call in sick, or trade shifts with another physician as needed. This helps to keep the potential scheduling errors to a minimum.
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