Hospitalists often work seven days, 12- to 14-hour days, followed by seven days off. And, although this schedule appeals to newer doctors with no other obligations, many hospitalists who are older with less stamina or those with families might find the traditional 7-on/7-off schedule a bit inconvenient and they could suffer burnout.
From fixed blocks of scheduled time and time off to total flexibility, you’ll find many variances in hospitalist scheduling. Their schedules depend on various factors, some that are not under the doctor’s control.
Traditionally, you'd use a spreadsheet or pen and paper to manually develop hospitalist schedules. However, these methods have become impractical since your priority is accommodating flexible scheduling requests. Having to make changes would require manual modifications and could lead to:
- Missed distribution
- Miscommunication
- Hospitalists either not knowingly skipping scheduled shifts or showing up for unscheduled shifts
Hospitalist scheduling software can help prevent mistakes and confusion by allowing you to make changes online. It also provides your hospitalists with real-time access to their schedules either within or outside your facility through an internet-connected device, whether smartphone, tablet or computer.
7 Benefits of Using Physician Scheduling Software 1. It allows for most complex settings and parameters to configure any template or rotation combination.
2. Schedules rotations first, then backfills with doctor flexible rules (i.e. night shifts or call) to reduce open shifts.
3. Uses advanced algorithms for processing complex schedule requirements.
4. It allows you to set individual doctor shift-type preferences. This includes holidays, requests, and vacations.
5. It allows you to space out rounding and admitting shifts adequately.
6. Allows you to optimize schedules with variable or uniform continuity of care; set certain workweek shifts on what days/weeks a doctor starts a rotation.
7. Tracks number of shift providers work based on their contracted amount of time and verify their pay.
While the 7-on/7-off schedule is fairly popular and used often, it can cause stress and physician burnout. Shift scheduling software can help automate the process and ensure physicians are scheduled accurately, accounting for time off, and fairly. Emergency medicine scheduling software can help to reduce burnout, which is common in hospital settings.
Emergency scheduling software is a revolution in hospitalist scheduling. The manual scheduling process is a very tedious and typically inaccurate task, even if using a computer spreadsheet. After using scheduling software, you should be able to accurately and rapidly create schedules with just a click of a button. It offers the above seven benefits and more. Above all, it can help create a more efficient hospital, happier staff, and improvements in patient care.
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