One of Canada's Largest Cardiology Department Chooses PetalMD

Imagine having to schedule a pool of more than 60 cardiologists who work at four different hospital sites, when each site has a schedule of its own and operates with independent processes. This challenge is even more intimidating when you have to assign nearly 50 different shift types, including 10 that require 24/7 coverage, and many cardiologists with sub-specialties. Yet this is the reality of one of the cardiology department with the largest number of cardiologists using a single schedule in Canada.

To meet this schedule management challenge as effectively as possible, Vancouver General Hospital, Regional Cardiac Program Leader, Faisal Aziz chose to adopt the PetalMD solution.

Case study for download: 

Why Choose PetalMD for Scheduling?

M. Faisal Aziz wanted to work with a team that knows the reality of the Canadian health system. So he chose a solution developed in Canada that was able to respond to the scheduling challenges faced by their cardiology department. After having taken the time to explore the various options available and having adopted the PetalMD technological solution, M. Aziz found significant improvements.

The 6 main scheduling challenges face by the cardiology department included

1. The Complexity of the Schedule Planning Process
2. The High Number of Stakeholders Involved in the Absence Request Process
3. The Difficulty of Ensuring Complete Shift Coverage
4. The Lack of Data to Ensure Fairly Distributed Shifts
5. The Risk of Communication Errors after Shift Swaps
6. The Imminent Departure of Schedulers

How the challenges were successfully addressed with PetalMD

1. The Schedule is Produced Much Faster, Thanks to Automation
2. Shift Swaps are Easier
3. It is Easier to Ensure Optimal Shift Coverage
4. There is a Fair Distribution of Shifts Through Scheduling and Reporting Features
5. Communication Errors are Greatly Reduced
6. Shift Distribution is More Equitable Between Cardiologists
   
   

The More Complex a Physician Schedule is, the More Technology Saves Time

The authorized staff within the cardiology department can now generate a digital schedule for a group of 66 cardiologists using an automated procedure, thus reducing the time spent on scheduling by 75%.

In addition, cardiologists can now exchange shifts with their colleagues on their own, directly from their electronic agendas, without any intervention from the schedule manager and without having to apply the change to the schedule manually. The time gained through automatic updates becomes a considerable asset for the team considering that more than 200 shift exchanges occur monthly within the department.

Download the Complete Case Study

Would you like to learn more about the challenges faced by the cardiology department at four of the most important hospitals in Vancouver? What about discovering the key features that were used to address these challenges? Want more information on the process of deploying the solution? Feel free to download the full case study available below.