Internet-based self-scheduling is associated with a high degree of physician satisfaction in an academic emergency medicine group.

Abstract

There are various methods for scheduling emergency physicians ranging from a schedule created by hand by a physician scheduler, fixed templates, to computer-assisted scheduling. The authors describe a novel method adopted by an academic emergency department using remote asynchronous physician self-scheduling. The physician group follows a pre-determined order in which each physician chooses where to place his or her assigned proportion of day/evening/weekend/night shifts on the shared calendar that is hosted in a cloud-based spreadsheet. This process gives physicians a high degree of control over their schedules, and the participants related a high degree of satisfaction regarding this process. This method of physician scheduling is a low-cost successful alternative to conventional emergency physician scheduling practices.