Case Studies

Case Study: ICU in Western Australia

A hospital in Western Australia's ICU The ICU of a hospital in Western Australia faces the ongoing challenge of creating a dynamic 24-hour, 3-month-long medical roster for over 20 people. They want to implement automatic scheduling. Certain skills need to be present 24/7 Hours worked for each employee are within strict limits Certain shift types (e.g., long days and nights) are distributed equally Both individual preferences and availability are accounted for Junior employees are always supervised Continuity of care, i.e., having the same person do the same role for several days. To address this ongoing challenge, the ICU of the hospital decided to use RosterLab, a software that streamlined the rostering process. RosterLab allowed all staff members to input their preferences, leave requests and availability, which it considered while ensuring that all the roster requirements are met. It also optimised staffing requirements and reported on whether it was possible to meet their minimum staffing requirements during each period of the day. Result: By using RosterLab, the ICU of the hospital was able to automatically create an effective 24-hour medical roster that meets all the department's requirements. "RosterLab has saved me countless hours and made this process manageable" - Peter Saved time by using RosterLab’s AI to make a months-worth of the future roster in under an hour. Reduced the time and administrative burden of rostering by allowing individuals to make their preferences, availability and leave requests directly via the mobile web application. Enabled the department to visualise the cause and effect of different rostering constraints that are often considered individually, but not collectively. Formally defined the ICU’s entire rostering ruleset of contractual obligations, service needs and fairness principles through RosterLab’s proprietary generalised rules engine. Improved continuity of care by ensuring staff work the same role for several days Provided records of requests being met to report back to staff Improved staff job satisfaction by meeting and considering more of their preferences and requests. The ICU of this hospital continues to use RosterLab to manage its complex rostering needs. The software has proven to be a reliable, effective, and easy-to-use solution to the department's ongoing challenge. The software's user-friendly interface and quality customer service have contributed to the department's satisfaction with the ongoing rostering process. "The number one reason I am so happy with RosterLab is the quality of the customer service. The staff are incredibly helpful and make themselves available to help with the initial set-up after which rostering becomes very simple." - Peter

Case Study: Dargaville Medical Centre

Dargaville Medical Centre is a Cornerstone Accredited General Practice comprising of experienced doctors, knowledgeable nurses, and friendly administrative staff. The dedicated staff there have over 12,000 registered patients. The practice manager, Judy, writes highly detailed rosters to maximise the efficacy and satisfaction of the staff available to her. Her roster writing challenge for just coverage includes scheduling shift-specific roles and ensuring adequate service coverage within the availability of the nursing team. Integrated into this challenge are the staggered shift times and rotation of specific duties to aid in cross-training the team there in all aspects of providing top-tier healthcare to the local community. "The rostering requirements for our staff are an absolute nightmare, with multiple staff each having their own unique needs, e.g. days and hours they can work, along with multiple skill sets/roles that the practice needs to be fulfilled on a daily basis. This meant it could take a staff member several days to complete a four-week roster." - Judy Harris, Practice Manager All this has to be done every four weeks with this level of detail, it's surprising that roster writing takes her only a couple of days a month. Those hours were spent in Excel, a process that Judy described as “an absolute nightmare”. When Rosterlab engaged with Dargaville Medical Centre, we saw firsthand the manual Excel process that Judy goes through. Rosterlab created an initial template to use as a starting point. This made it a lot easier for both parties to communicate on common ground, and within a few Zoom sessions, the sample rosters made by Rosterlab were looking quite close to the requirement. From then, all that was needed was a bit of training on how to make specific adjustments to the roster parameters within the Rosterlab app. "With Rosterlab, the process has been dramatically reduced, and believe it will only get quicker. Rosterlab has been extremely responsive to our suggestions and needs for our rostering. This included making MULTIPLE additions and alterations to their programme to suit our requirements." - Judy, Practice Manager Nowadays, the Rosterlab AI generates a roster for Dargaville Health Clinic in under a minute. Each new roster is created specifically to suit the current situation, taking into account changes in leave and other requests. The practice manager checks over this roster with access to a bevy of dynamic statistics and makes some human adjustments within the Rosterlab app. All in all, the entire process is now around three hours a month. "Rosterlab has been a pleasure to work with, and we highly recommend it to other medical practices and businesses. If Rosterlab can help with our complicated rostering needs, we are confident it will work for anyone." - Judy, Practice Manager Rosterlab is dedicated to bringing time savings, union compliance, fairer rosters and more empowered staff to healthcare organisations like Dargaville Medical Centre. You are the healthcare professionals; let us be the rostering professionals for you. Book a demo today for your unique rostering case.