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ER physician scheduling is an extremely challenging and time-consuming task, particularly in busy emergency rooms, like those in urban communities.
According to research from the National Center for Biotechnology Information and U.S. National Library of Medicine, not just in the U.S., but worldwide, ER overcrowding is something that has been under the spotlight for the past ten years. With this in mind, it’s crucial to understand that this overcrowding is not necessarily related to ER capacity or patient volumes, rather, it’s an illustration of the efficiency of the health system as a whole.
Simply defined, emergency room overcrowding is a situation where the demand for emergency service exceeds the supply, and the ability of medical staff to provide care within reasonable timescales.
In terms of efficient emergency room physician scheduling, this is imperative for both patient quality of care, and for a positive work / life balance for the doctors.
How Shift Scheduling Software Can Help
As already discussed, managing the physician scheduling in an ER is very time-consuming, often taking many hours or even days to strike a workable balance. For this reason and to free up manpower, many facilities are utilizing physician scheduling software to help their departments run more smoothly.
In fact, a workable and solid schedule can be created within minutes, rather than hours, or even days. As the software takes factors such as requested time off, shift requests, vacation requests, and shift preferences of physicians into account, for many ERs it’s become invaluable.
Another useful factor of emergency medicine scheduling is that parameters can be easily set in the software, such as rotating schedules, rotating weekends, and rotating holiday coverage. With just a few simple clicks of a mouse, your shift scheduling hours can be easily cut down to be completed in a manageable, and far less stressful time.
Scheduling software creates a more even workload for your doctors, and consequently a better, more productive, and less stressful working environment.
Creating the schedule for an emergency department involves juggling constantly changing variables, and keeping emergency rooms staffed with the right balance of medical professionals to consistently meet patient demand is almost a science within itself.
Through utilizing physician scheduling software, patients have the best in care, as well as physician burnout being prevented. It’s generally considered that over the coming years, traditional physician scheduling will become an antiquated memory for overworked emergency room administrators and scheduling managers.
As technology moves forwards in every walk of life, the medical world needs to keep up with a constantly changing and evolving world. Efficient physician scheduling software is therefore crucial to all concerned.
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