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In healthcare, adequate physician and clinical staff coverage has long been a source of worry.
Managing a healthcare facility entails a wide range of tasks. Inefficiency in the workplace, personnel issues, and erroneous scheduling are all issues that can have a negative impact on patient care. Schedulers, physicians, administrators, and patients will benefit from a fair and well-organized physician scheduling system.
Getting the best scheduling program can mean the difference between success and disaster for your practice, whether it's for emergency medicine scheduling, shift scheduling, physician scheduling, hospitalists, mid-level rotations, or other activities that require proper staffing.
But how do you know which scheduling program is the best to use? Here are some of the features that you should access when choosing a physician scheduling program.
Automate responses to routine questions
Make sure your physician scheduling software includes a built-in advanced auto-responses feature when you are choosing it. It should be able to send automated responses such as "confirm," "cancel," and "reschedule" based on keyword activities.
Usability
A complicated program has the potential to cause a lot of problems in the future. Choose an easy-to-use scheduling program. Because the structure of physician scheduling software varies based on the manufacturer, it's essential to know what your physicians want.
It can be challenging to implement a new system and adapt to it, so make sure it is simple to use and that they will be comfortable navigating it. And, as noted below, having tech and customer support, both online and via online resources is key to usability.
Mobile access
Mobile access is a key feature to look for when selecting a physician scheduling program. Having mobile access will ensure that physicians will be able to use the software from anywhere and receive information on schedule changes and notifications on their mobile devices.
They should be able to submit requests, check their schedules, and see who is available to work on a 24-7 basis. It should also sync with their smartphone calendar, ensuring that their schedule is always up to date.
Tech support and customer service
As with any robust scheduling system, you need to feel confident that you have unparalleled customer and tech support. There should be comprehensive online how to help page resources for ready access.
Excessive staff overtime concerns
Physicians usually work irregular shifts and overtime. Choosing the right scheduling program, which will also carry out shift scheduling, will provide the physicians with the ease of knowing their exact schedule time and date ahead of time. It can help to keep tabs on overtime and back-to-back shift scheduling to help avoid physician burnout.
Note that the best physician scheduling programs are extensive systems that should be chosen based on cost, convenience, features, integration, reporting capabilities, resources, and available customer support.
As a medical scheduler, you have no room for error and no time to be concerned about whether your calendar is being utilized to its full capacity. Physician scheduling software can help alleviate some of your concerns. So, make your decision based on what is best for you.
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