Ask any hospitalist scheduler what the most frustrating part of his or her job is and the answer will likely be trying to accommodate the needs of their staff while ensuring that the needs of the patients and hospital are met. There are a lot of needs and requirements that must be met in a hospital setting, and it can be difficult for one person to make sure that all of these are met; especially when the hospitalist scheduler has to create a schedule for so many people.
Thanks to advances in technology, however, the challenges that hospitalist schedulers have faced in the past are just that – a thing of the past.
Emergency medicine scheduling software has taken all of the frustrations out of a hospitalist scheduler’s job. This software has eliminated the guesswork that often comes along with this job. It has made it easier to see the needs of healthcare workers and the needs of the hospital and patients. What’s more, it has also made it easier for healthcare workers to access their schedules and manage their scheduling needs.
These are some of the biggest benefits that hospitalist scheduling software can provide:
Makes Schedule Creation Less Time Consuming
Trying to create a schedule by hand or with a template-based document, such as Excel, can be extremely time consuming. In order to meet all of the needs of the staff and the hospital, honor requests, and make sure that a fair schedule is created, generating a schedule using this antiquated method can take days, if not a week or more!
Hospitalist scheduling software significantly cuts down the time that it takes for a scheduling manager to create a schedule. That is because the software stores all pertinent information regarding scheduling needs and makes it easy to access that information and utilize it to create a schedule.
Simplifies Creating Fair Schedules
Antiquated methods of creating hospitalist schedules can make it extremely challenging to create a schedule that is fair and meets the needs of all staff members. It’s not uncommon for hospital staff to be scheduled long, back-to-back shifts, or back-to-back weekends.
With hospitalist scheduling software, the scheduling manager has greater visibility of things that are pertinent to creating a fair schedule, including requests and past schedules. As a result, scheduling managers can generate schedules that are fair for all.
Easier Management of Schedule Changes
It is not uncommon for physician scheduling changes to occur in a hospital. Emergencies arise, illness happens, new hospitalists join the group and former hospitalists leave the group. As a result, changes to a hospitalist schedule are pretty much inevitable, and even one single change can have a huge impact on an entire schedule.
Hospitalist scheduling software makes it easier to handle schedule changes when they arise. Staff members can easily notify other staff members of their need for coverage, and other staff members can easily accept shifts that need to be covered. Shift swaps can also easily be made, making shift scheduling less complicated. This software can ensure that schedule changes don’t wreck havoc on the entire schedule.
Keep your staff, your patients and yourself happy by employing the use of hospitalist scheduling software today!
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