Health care facilities are experiencing a problem with high turnover rates of qualified nurses.  According to reports from the American Health Care Association and the American Hospital Association, there are roughly around 135,000 vacant positions for nurses nationwide.  By 2016, more than one million new and replacement nursing jobs will be needed which will make this field one of the top professions in job growth.

But a New Orleans start up wants to help with a simple web application that will address  health care administrators problem of retraining qualified workers while helping nurses create a flexible and enjoyable work schedule.  Schedulist, a web-based staff scheduling solution geared toward the health care industry wants to help curb the problem that plagues the nursing field.  Using a SaaS (Software As A Service) model, the app was designed from the ground up to address the needs that other scheduling software was not.  Chris Laibe, CEO of Schedulist, says the company wanted to look at what was out there in other scheduling software and then talk to users to see what was lacking so those features and others could be incorporated into their software.

What Makes It Different

Schedulist boasts that its algorithm gives you near limitless flexibility and control over every facet of your schedule.  The app also has a feature called social scheduling, whereby a friend can see your schedule and allow you to swap times or work on the same shift.  The social networking aspect also goes further allowing people to do things like shift bidding, shift swapping, and continuous automated scheduling.  Shift bidding allows you to bid for extra work, shift swapping lets you exchange your shift with another coworker, and automated scheduling analyzes your work patterns to schedule you on days that fit your criteria.  People can also be notified via e-mail or text when they have an upcoming work schedule, the app has an internal messaging system, and ways to allow announcements or messages to be seen by staff.

Let's Not Forget About The Boss

Administrators in health care facilities want to be able to schedule a nurse with the right skill sets at the best time to maximum productivity.  The application has interactive tools for users that have to manage the scheduling of staff.  A manager can pull up information about a particular nurse and prioritize them by qualifications, merit, and experience.  Control over time is also crucial and with a color coded time chart it allows an administrator to increase or decrease hours depending on budget constraints.  It also gives you a breakdown of how much you are spending on a shift when you make a change.  What's more, it allows them to add in schedules using manual, assist, or fully automated mode.  If you want to ask your staff their opinion on a new selection in the cafeteria or make sure your RN's get the message about the new mentoring program, the software allows you to send internal surveys, polls, and announcements.

According to Mr. Laibe the main goal is to bind employees to their facility and build loyalty to their workplace.  If a nurse can have a flexible work schedule, in the productive environment, with coworkers they like, then they are less likely to leave or find a new job.  Furthermore it gives administrators a better handle on scheduling conflicts, control of costs and allows them more interaction within the workplace.  To learn more about Schedulist or to view a demo, please visit them at http://www.schedulist.com