How to Make Scheduling a BreezeThere are some clinicians who struggle nightly to determine a schedule for the following day because they prefer it that way. For most though, the nightmare of scheduling is best solved in one swoop. These clinicians know that their weekly (or in some cases, bi-weekly) battle with determining who they’ll be seeing and when, is worth the sweat it costs, because ultimately it saves them tremendous challenge and hardship during the week.
You don’t want to spend every night fretting about who you’ll see the next day. That’s no way to live and certainly no way to make money. It’s best to know before your week starts who you’ll see, and when; this way you can prepare for the inevitable incoming evals and know where you’ll be able to fit people in. There are numerous ways to control for this unforseen but inevitable event. Some clinicians leave an open slot in the middle of their day for evals or use overlapping two hour time blocks with scheduling to allow for leeway and spontaneous evals. Another strategy some clinicians use is to alternate heavy and light days to allow for space for evals on light days and work longer every other day. And then there’s the strategy of leaving one day a week as eval day, and slogging your way through 3-4 evals in one day (not always recommended because of the paperwork and unknown availability of new patients). Whatever strategy you pick, make sure that it works for you and allows you to keep your work-life balance. Look at the resources page of Hacking Home Health for some scheduling tools that can help you to manage your week!
4 Comments
Ks
1/7/2016 05:53:25 pm
I am curious as to how many patients you typically see in a day. Also, when do you start and end your day?
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Hacking Home Health
1/9/2016 02:23:07 pm
Hi! Thank you for your question. We typically see 5-7 patients in a day and start around 9am. The number of patients that we are able to see is dependent on a few factors including: location of patients, type of visits ( eval, follow up, discharge), and patient availability. We hope this answers your question.
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ks
1/10/2016 07:01:54 pm
Thank you for the information. I have spent the last 15 years in pediatrics and I am thinking of shifting over to home health care. I am looking for some flexibility in my schedule now that my children are getting older and need me to take them to their sports practices, etc... I have always been interested in home health. I am not familiar with the OASIS and the required documentation and that is another concern of mine. I think one benefit would be that I could possibly do my documentation from home....I usually drop my kids off for school at 7:30am and I am sure most patients would not want me at their doorsteps that early, so that may allow me to carve out some time for documentation. Thank you for this wonderful blog.
Hacking Home Health
1/11/2016 04:22:50 pm
Thank you so much for your feedback. We are happy to help! It is possible for you to use your morning time for documentation or calling doctors offices. Occasionally you will be able to find a patient that is an early riser and willing to work with you at that time. Most assisted living facilities have breakfast early and therefore those patients will be awake and ready for therapy earlier. As for the OASIS, you will learn the documentation as you go. It just takes time to learn the different rules and regulations. The flexibility that home health allows sounds like it would be a good fit for you. Make sure you sign up for our email list for exclusive content in 2016 that will include guides for the OASIS questions.
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