Optimizing Provider Schedules Yields Time Savings, More Autonomy, Better Work-Life Balance

Reading Hospital, the front runner of Tower Health, is a Level 1 Trauma Center, Magnet Recognized, Certified Chest Pain Center, Advanced Primary Stroke Center, and has received the Highmark Quality Blue Award for reducing the time between arrival and discharge.

Reading Hospital’s Emergency Department is the gateway for patients who are seeking medical treatment. The Emergency Department at Reading consists of a multispecialty support team offering care for trauma, illness, acute care, and injury, among numerous other emergency conditions.

Challenges

Previous scheduling software was unable to optimize and with the ever growing complexity in their scheduling requirements, along with the increasing need for changes and versatility, this was costing more time, money, and resources for dissatisfied providers. Providers found the interface to be cumbersome and not user friendly, therefore difficult to submit time off requests and swap shifts. The software could not handle the complexity of the ED and schedules were manually being created prior to being entered into the scheduling system.

Solution

In 2016, Reading Health’s ED transitioned to Provider Scheduling powered by Lightning Bolt after observing the success of deployment in the Hospitalist Group. After implementation in the ED, positive outcomes were quickly recognized.

Results