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When you run a medical practice or a network of medical offices, you need to keep track of schedules for your physician assistants so you know when they need to be in the office, and which ones to call if a doctor has a last-minute emergency. Unfortunately, some of the older software programs have issues with usability and lack special features. Here are some problems that a good physician assistant scheduling software program can solve.
Not Being Able to Use the Software on Any Device
A common complaint among administrators that are trying to schedule physician assistant hours is that they can’t access it from any device. You might not always be near the main computer in the office, and need to update it from a tablet computer or even a smartphone. The physician assistant schedule software should be able to allow access from any device and have modern features such as mobile apps. It should be web-based and allow for 24/7 instant access to schedules.
Being Too Complicated to Update Schedules Quickly
In some cases, you need to make some last-minute shift scheduling changes because a doctor has called in sick or because you have more than the usual number of people in the waiting room needing to be seen. There may also be issues where one physician assistant can’t make it, and you need to switch their schedule with someone else. The software should not be too difficult to access and making these changes should be quick and simple.
Having Restrictions About How Far Ahead to Schedule Physician Assistants
It is also good to look for physician assistant schedule programs that allow you to schedule as far in advance as you need to. This simplifies the scheduling process and makes it much easier to plan for certain days off for some physicians, such as needing time off for a special appointment, taking a vacation, or going on maternity or family leave.
The physician scheduling software programs should not have a lot of restrictions about only scheduling for two weeks at a time, since this just makes it harder to organize schedules. You also want to have tools that make it easy to enter vacation time for the different PAs.
Not Reporting Totals For Physician Assistant Hours
You may also want to use this software to look at the total number of hours on any given day, week, or pay period. This is used for multiple purposes. First of all, you need to know whether or not they accrued overtime, and see if some physician assistants are being overworked and you need to readjust the schedule. It also helps to see if mandatory vacation time should be required if someone never takes vacation days and is at risk of burnout.
Not Having the Ability to Coordinate Among Multiple Offices
Today’s medical practices often have offices spread out the local and regional areas. All too often physician assistants and doctors will rotate their schedules to work at various offices within the medical practice. A robust physician assistant scheduling program allows for simultaneous and instantaneous coordination of schedules across all locations.
Turning to an advanced physician assistant scheduling software program helps to solve all of these problems and more.
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