Getting Participation For Self
Nurse self-scheduling software can make your life easier, automate the majority of your job, and give you a clearer big-picture of the schedule in real-time. Many nurses prefer to self-schedule.
- Self-scheduling is one way to improve staff morale and reduce turnover. It gives your nursing staff more control over their work/life balance. It also helps battle fatigue from unhealthy shift patterns and nurse burnout. This leads to higher retention and becomes an important recruitment tool.
- Self Scheduling software for nurses gives your staff the power to make their own shift changes and swaps before you start to reconcile the schedule. This reduces the time you spend going back into the schedule once finalized.
- Once rules are in place for holiday and weekend rotations, nurse scheduling software can automate this part of your scheduling process. You can choose to schedule your team yourself or allow your nurses and support staff to schedule themselves inside the rules youve already established into the program.
How Much Does Scheduling Software Cost
Most scheduling software offers subscription pricing ranging from $1 to $4 per user per month. Others offer a set fee per location with an unlimited number of employees ranging from $14 to $35 per month. Most also offer a free plan with limited scheduling features suitable for very small businesses.
Lower-tier plans are typically limited to simple scheduling, access to a mobile device, and schedule sharing. Mid- to higher-tier plans add automated scheduling, scheduling rules, integrations with payroll and accounting software, employee attendance tracking, and more.
How Well Do You Understand Nurse Scheduling Problems
You want to work with a company that understands the challenges you face as a nursing manager. A vendor with some expertise in healthcare will be a benefit. They can offer advice and best practices for solving common problems with scheduling your nurses in addition to your other clinical and support staff. A good vendor will help you set up a good workflow since they have experience with many common hurdles nursing managers face.
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Honorable Mention: Intelycarebest For Access To Temp Staff
IntelyCare is a temp nursing tool for healthcare facilities that need a last-minute fill for a shift or a longer-term substitute. It offers free scheduling software. While it didnt rank as high as the others on our list, it deserves a callout because the schedule ties into the IntelyCare system, meaning if you have an open shift you cannot fill, an IntelyCare nurse may be able to step in.
The scheduler is free to facilities with up to 150 employees. It offers setup guidance and training videos to get you started. The schedule includes predictive analysis to help you spot scheduling conflicts and open shifts, allowing shift swapping among your nurses.
Youll need to register your facility with IntelyCare to use the scheduling app. The staffing platform is fully integrated in cities and regions covered by IntelyCare. You pay IntelyCare nurses on a per diem basis.
IntelyCares scheduler ties to its staffing platform.
B How Much Will The Nurse Scheduling Software Cost Is It Worth The Money
Many vendors charge additional charges beyond the initial amount at the purchase, and it is crucial to ask the exact final cost and verify its worth it. Research and find out if the vendor received good reviews previously and if his system works. A nurse scheduling system will require ongoing maintenance and technical support for which initial training would be required. Make sure to clarify with the vendor that you are looking for these extras and enquire if there are any hidden charges.
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Dont Neglect Patient Acuity Levels
Another aspect of the nursing profession that makes the scheduling process so complex and demanding is that not every patient is the same. Managers have to think about acuity levels when it comes to making staffing decisions, which adds another layer of difficulty to the process.
When a patient is considered to be a high-acuity patient, that means that they are dealing with a challenging medical condition. Their needs for care might be greater and their problems might be less predictable. If managers neglect to do this, then they risk not being able to offer patients the amount of care that their health problems demand.
Furthermore, high-acuity patients might also need to be cared for by nurses who possess specific skills and certifications that not everyone on the staff may have. Therefore, its not only important to always know and keep track of patient acuity levelsmanagers should also be able to easily reference the skills and certifications that nurses have and then schedule them accordingly to care for the patients who have special needs.
A nursing staff manager should be obligated to dedicate the time to create an acuity scale and system that can be easily referenced and followed so that you are able to provide the right care for the right patients. Within this system, managers could also find creative and effective ways to keep track of the skills and certifications and easily reference them when creating schedules.
Facts: Nurse Scheduling Software Will Save You Money
Making sure there is adequate coverage on every shift while avoiding or reducing overtime costs is a big challenge for a nursing manager. The issue isnt limited to just nursing staff either. It also applies to clinical, support, and non-clinical staff, too. Overtime expenses add up quickly and considerably affect a units bottom line. Supplemental agency and /or traveler staff used to fill open shifts also kill department budgets.
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How To Choose The Right Vendor For Nurse Scheduling
This section will guide you through identifying and selecting the perfect vendor for your healthcare institution. It consists of tips and questions to help you make the right decision.
Since nurse scheduling software offers several benefits, many vendors can choose from it. However, you do not want to invest time, talents, and resources into software that does not address your needs. It is best to know what to look for while choosing a vendor or your nurse scheduling software.
Prepare A Schedule In Advance
When using healthcare scheduling software, create nurse schedules in advance to avoid conflicts or over-scheduling. It is easy to assume that the schedule you created is perfect, but it may require several edits if not prepared beforehand and discussed with the team. This gives you scope to consider your nurses availabilities and shift preferences. At the same time, you can strategize the schedule to fulfill the care requirements. If you start developing nurse schedules early on, they will be better organized and require fewer edits.
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Tips For Creating A Perfect Nurse Schedule
Of all the industries in which employee scheduling demands are very involved and complex, putting together a nurse schedule stands in a league of its own in terms of the challenges that are presented to schedulers. As this is an industry that faces a chronic lack of staff and requires 24/7 coverage, creating nursing schedule templates is especially difficult. Managers are dealing with nurses who have different skillsets and certifications, a mix of part-timers and full-time staff. And on top of all practical challenges, there is another element that makes putting together great schedules absolutely vitalpatient care.
The care your organization is able to provide to patients will depend greatly on how supervisors are managing the nursing staff. Are you scheduling the right nurses with the right skills to care for the right patients? Are the nurses constantly overworked? Are they able to balance their personal lives with their shifts? All of these questions need to be asked and answered if you aim to provide the proper care for your nurses and your patients.
Creating a nursing schedule template that will meet all of these standards is no easy task, but there are things that you can do to optimize your shift scheduling process. Heres where to start.s where to start.
Medical Staff Scheduling Software Features
Employee Database Medical staff scheduling software provides a centralized database of employee information. This database, whether its offered by the software or the software provides a seamless integration with your existing database, is important because it records, stores, and maintains accurate provider information. To be effective, medical staff scheduling software automatically takes into account factors such as credentials, seniority, competencies, compliance requirements, and security levels when setting schedule guidelines.
Employee Monitoring All medical staff scheduling software can monitor employee activity in some way. Even the most basic scheduling solution can track and store staffs days off, paid time off, and overtime. More advanced scheduling software can analyze those metrics to add context to HR departments, intelligently reconcile staffing information, and identify patient or provider trends.
Customization A flexible, customizable scheduling solution can best handle the complexities that must be addressed to optimize the workforce. Its not just a matter of whether a scheduling software can scale, its whether the tool can withstand any scheduling-relevant preferences, rotations, and last-minute updates. Health care professionals shifts arent static they constantly change every shift period.
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The Bottom Line On Nurse Scheduling Software
The above shows the capabilities of each app. With the recent pandemic and the necessity to move to digital solutions, nurse scheduling software should be a must at your facility. Check out our tips on how to prepare a job schedule so the process is more efficient.
If you want to run an effective medical practice that will increase patient focus, and keep your staff retained, then its time to make the switch to nurse scheduling software.
How Does Scheduling Software Work
Employee-scheduling software offers users a visual interface that lets them drag and drop employees into shifts as needed. It also calculates total costs to make sure employers arent going over budget and allows managers to make and approve schedule changes on the go, typically through a mobile app.
Many platforms also let employees view their schedules and updates, request changes and time off, swap shifts, and clock in and out of shifts. Managers can then review and approve the timesheets, and with many of the platforms we reviewed, export them directly to payroll.
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Nurse Scheduling Case Study
We have provided an example of how nurse scheduling software can transform healthcare practice.
A hospital in New York had a large patient volume, especially during the summer months. The increased number of patients called for more staff and the need to schedule them properly. Nurse managers in the hospital would manually prepare the schedules for each nursing unit.
Challenges faced
- Burn out among the nurses
- Time and resources spent in finding replacements
Solution
The hospital integrated a nurse scheduling app for managing time, labour, and costs. The team received training in the use of the software. Different parameters were defined, and nurses were involved in the scheduling process. Self-scheduling was also encouraged to improve the performance efficiency of the staff. The scheduling process was performed with healthcare automation which saved time and resources.
Results
- The nurses at the hospital found the self-scheduling software user-friendly and empowering. They were less overloaded at work and were able to look after the patients well.
- The hospital saved thousands of dollars every year and found a 90% reduction in the time invested in nurse scheduling.
- Time was also saved in reducing unnecessary overtime labour costs.
- There was an improvement in nurse retention.
Employee Preferences And Time Off Requests
Employee logins are configured to capture scheduling preferences or requests and to submit time-off requests for admin approval. Preferences can be configured to capture days available and/or days not available. These postings then transfer to the daily, weekly, and monthly schedule views allowing administrators a deeper level of transparency for making better scheduling decisions.
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Market Overview Of Nurse Scheduling
Here, we have provided the market trends in nurse scheduling and how you can use them. Market trend analysis can go a long way, and this section tells you why.
Nurse scheduling forms an integral part of the healthcare industry, contributing to its growth and expansion. At the same time, it is also a major concern in the healthcare industry. As discussed previously in this article, doctor appointment scheduling can be cumbersome and time-consuming. Learning about market trends is crucial for healthcare businesses to understand the potential nurse scheduling holds for growth and expansion. This would prevent healthcare leaders from hesitating before investing in nurse scheduling software. It is important to understand market trends so that you are informed of what to expect and whether or not there are any risks. Following trends in nurse scheduling will give you an upper hand, where you will know whats coming well beforehand.
The nurse scheduling software estimated at USD 267.83 million in 2018 may reach USD 789.56 million by 2027. The estimated growth rate between 2018 to 2027 is a CAGR of 13%.
Easily Create A Schedule That Works For Everyone
In a single click, you can quickly add shifts and publish them to all your employees. Create single, multiple, or team shifts, and upload shift bulks with an Excel file. Plus, the calendar view, drag & drop options, and ability to copy last weeks shifts, you save a ton of time on creating and organizing so you can focus on the big picture.
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Is Scheduling Software Worth The Cost
Businesses with a small number of employees working regular shifts probably wont benefit from scheduling software. Once their workforce and shifts grow and employees scheduling needs change, its a different picture.
At this point, scheduling software can keep scheduling a quick and easy process, even as workforce and coverage needs change. It can also help them keep their costs down and ensure that theyre not paying unnecessarily for overtime or over-scheduling employees.
Finally, once a business starts managing more employees, scheduling software can help get employee timesheets into the businesss payroll and accounting software more quickly.
Addressing Nurse Scheduling Challenges
Creating a work schedule for nursing units is a delicate balance between keeping your eye on the budget and providing high quality patient care. Keeping staff morale high, OT low, and valuing a healthy work/life balance is key to your unit running like a machine. If nurses are happy, most likely patients are too, and thats really the goal here.
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Full Scope Of Not Optimizing Your Nursing Schedule
All kinds of problems can develop when nurse managers do not make the most effective use of nursing staff when managing the schedule. Optimizing the nursing schedule will give your department the maximum benefit of staff resources at any given time. An optimized schedule will balance job satisfaction, patient care, salary costs, and other performance areas. However, when optimization is ignored, your department suffers from lower productivity, lower employee satisfaction, and higher costs, with patients potentially paying the price through a lower quality of care.
The Complete Nurse Scheduling Software Solution
No-conflict scheduling
Drag-and-drop or auto-generate shift schedules for an unlimited number of nurses and shifts. Support fixed, rotating, split, multiple shifts, time off, and on calls.
Tasks & breaks scheduling
Effortlessly schedule multiple tasks, duties, and breaks of any length in a single shift. Ensure adequate coverage by skills, positions and proactively manage break and rest compliance.
Time clock & attendance
Clock in/out of work on a mobile device or via an on-site iPad. Record work hours, on-call, and attendance for accurate payroll.
Leave & time off accruals
Set up different leave types, reasons, and accrual rates. Avoid accidentally scheduling on-leave nurses. Nurses can see their leave balance and request time off on the go.
Ensure shift coverage
Show the number of nurses scheduled in each shift by positions, skills, or reasons. Flag over or under staffed positions or skills while making shift assignments.
Schedule by skills / positions
Define skills/certifications and associate them with nurses. Fill a shift based on the required skills and positions. Provide multiple options for identifying who are qualified to bid on open shifts.
Self-scheduling
Nurses and staff can check their schedule, determine what shifts work for them and which dont, request PTO, pick up extra hours by replying to open shifts and shift swap shifts with co-workers.
Employee communication
Automated shift callouts
Labor cost control
Extensive reports
Anywhere, anytime access
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Get Up & Running In Days Notmonths
ScheduleAnywhere is healthcare scheduling software that is easyto use and easy to implement. Our nurse scheduling software andmobile app include everything you’ll need to schedule andcommunicate with your nursing staff quickly and efficiently. Yourdepartment, facility or organization can be up and running in days,not months.
Reasons Nursing Directors Choose Shiftboard
Day-Of Shift Coverage Tools
Fill shifts quickly and accurately to ensure every shift is filled by a nurse with the right skills and certifications. View coverage gapsand real-time schedule status to ensure coverage across all departments.
Fast, Efficient Scheduling
Free up scheduling leads for higher value activities by automating key steps in the scheduling process such as shift assignments, call-out management and more.
Real-Time Staff Communication
Streamline communication with your nurseswithout having to hit the phone tree every time theres a last-minute change. Instead, stay connected with automated calls, alerts and notifications for new shifts and last-minute updates.
Employee Self-Serve Access
Enable your nurse staff to view their schedules, confirm new shift assignments and trade shifts to save time and reduce headaches for both nurses and schedulers.
Union Agreements Compliance
Accurately enforce all union agreement restrictions to avoid grievances, litigation, and penalties. The only compliance guarantee available in the marketplace.
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More Nurse Scheduling Software Options
If none of these options fit all of your requirements, explore our complete nurse scheduling software directory where you can sort by the highest rated options and filter for specific features. You can even filter for options that offer a free trial.
Finding an efficient, easy to use nurse scheduling system can go a long way to making your practice run smoother. But we know that no matter how much you prepare, you may still run up against COVID-19 related nurse staffing shortages. The CDC recommends the following strategies for those situations:
- Cancel all non-essential procedures and visits
- Contact local healthcare coalitions to identify additional nurses
- If possible, provide safe alternative transportation and housing to help nurses report to work
- Implement plans to transfer patients to facilities with adequate staffing
Monitoring patients remotely could also help alleviate some of the strain and risk associated with on-premise nurse staffing. Our recent article on remote patient monitoring looks at four benefits, including:
- Lowering the risk of spreading infection among staff and patients
- Accepting patients from a wider area
- Providing better quality of care
- And preparing your practice for the future
Methodology