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Time is money, an old cliché that shows its essential truth when it comes to the savings you can reap from ditching manual schedule building and replacing it with software for physician scheduling. Spreadsheets revolutionized scheduling back in the day. And the latest shift scheduling software is revolutionizing the process once again.
Here is a look at four ways that shift and emergency medicine scheduling software can help your bottom line.
1. Spend less on building the schedule
Simply putting together a schedule that works can literally take days and weeks if you are doing it manually, especially if you are staffing a hospital.
If you currently have a scheduling manager do the work, it can be a full time job to stay on top of vacations, sick leave, emergencies, as well as the skill levels and number of staff needed for various departments in the hospital or healthcare facility.
If your organization is one of the many that feels only a physician has the know-how to keep the facility staffed properly, your administrative costs are even higher. Keeping the right type and number of people at work at the right times is complex, especially when you factor in clinical availability and caseloads. But figuring the puzzle out takes a physician away from patient care and also involves a much higher wage cost.
Software takes into consideration work patterns, caseloads and the specifics of each department. All the details are programmed into the process. Automating the process frees up significant time for the person doing the scheduling.
2. Avoid short-staffing
When you are short-staffed, you need to hire locums at much higher rates. This can add significant amounts to the cost of running your medical facility.
The advantage that software brings to this process is its ability to enter staff and caseloads into the software. It flags areas that don’t have proper staffing levels, and even offers suggestions for ways to fill them. This means hiring fewer locums, and saving money.
3. Fewer hours of overtime
Building your shift schedules manually means you probably aren’t getting a good overview of staffing and work balances. It is hard to spot individual cases where a physician or other staff member is under hours. It is also difficult to see trends in departments and skill sets.
Using scheduling software, you can improve the efficiency of your scheduling by seeing at a glance, and in real time, who is working less than the ideal number of hours. Reports let you see staffing levels across departments. It is easier to forecast needs so you can shift personnel and schedule each person for the right number of hours. This means there is less overtime.
4. Happier staffers
Physicians and medical personnel who are constantly required to work overtime get frustrated and burned out. This leads to less productivity and efficiency and lower levels of quality patient care. As a rule, attrition is higher in places where overtime is higher.
With scheduling software, the work is more evenly shared, and staffers find it easier to find work and life balance. This leads to higher job satisfaction and worker retention.
Investing in shift scheduling and doctor scheduling software can add to your bottom line, while at the same time increasing job satisfaction and improving patient care.
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