Pairing shifts and restrictions on weekends

ottawaanesth

Hi,

We are trialing this program in our anesthesia department and are seriously thinking of adopting it for call schedule making.

I was wondering if these features are possible within the program as of now, and if not, would it be feasible to add them in the future...

1) Is it possible to pair shifts together in the randomizer or fast fill functions? For example, if someone had a shift that went from 12-22 and we wanted to pair it with being on call the next day from 17-8, would it be it possible to set up? Or is the only way to do this is to enter the shifts manually?

2) In our association rules, you can only be on call two weekends per block of 4 weeks. Is it possible in the duty hour restriction rules to set restrictions on how many weekends are worked per block (Friday overnight shifts would be included in a weekend)?

Thank you!

ottawaanesth

admin

Hi ottawaanesth,

Thank-you for trialing the Scheduling Tool.

1) If I understand correctly you would like to set up a rule that makes it so whenever a resident is on shift A they are also automatically added to shift B? Currently you have to do this kind of thing manually, but I have been thinking of ways to implement this sort of functionality. I will probably add this in the future but I wouldn't count on it anytime soon, unfortunately.

2) A "weekends" rule has been asked for before and I do have plans to add that, time permitting.

Regards,

Olivier Forget
Owner and Developer
MedRez.net Scheduling Tool

ottawaanesth

Yes that is exactly right...I'll be looking forward to these 'rules' in the future. Thanks for the prompt reply.

KUwichita

Hey Oliver, This also seems to be a major problem for me . I want to create A weekend Call shift, My program has our residents come in for weekend call on friday 11 am -Sat 6 am , Sat 17- Sun 06 and Sun 18-to Mon at 6 am. The hey is to make the same resident, take all three calls. If we could make a call shift, with more then one day and hours that would work too. Is there any support for this ?

KUwichita

Essentially as I mentioned above, it would be great to somehow link shifts ?

admin

Hi KUwichita,

Thank-you for your interest in the MedRez.net Scheduling Tool.

I agree that it would be great to have rules like that. I will definitely take the time to write that feature as soon as it makes sense to do so. (There is a lot of work that has to be done on the backend before I can deliver this.)

In the meantime, consider manually editing the schedule to get your weekends laid out correctly after the randomizer has run. Manual editing is very quick so it shouldn't take too long. Depending on how you make your schedules now it might still be an improvement.

Regards,

Olivier Forget
Owner and Developer
MedRez.net Scheduling Tool