Guide to Scheduling in OnCall
Guide to Scheduling
in OnCall
Table of Contents
Introduction ...................................................................................................................................... 2
Creating Schedules ......................................................................................................................... 2
Overview .......................................................................................................................................... 2
Before you Begin ............................................................................................................................. 2
Self-running Tutorials in OnCall ....................................................................................................... 2
Guide to Icons.................................................................................................................................. 3
Setup a New Schedule .................................................................................................................... 5
OnCall Interface ............................................................................................................................... 9
Enter staff demographics, work preferences and special requests ............................................... 11
Set call/shift hours and other service information .......................................................................... 13
Create a call schedule ................................................................................................................... 14
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Guide to Scheduling in OnCall
Introduction
Creating Schedules
This document helps you create physician schedules for attendings and other staff in OnCall.
There is a separate document for creating residency schedules. You will learn how to set up your
schedule in OnCall and publish it to the www.amion.com website.
Overview
OnCall is a powerful, cost-effective tool for managing physician schedules. OnCall is also great
for scheduling residents, nurses, moonlighters and other medical groups. Schedules created in
OnCall are published at the www.amion.com web site where staff view schedules from any
computer that has Internet access.
The OnCall software must be downloaded and installed on your PC before you will be able to
create a new schedule or retrieve an existing schedule. Refer to the OnCall Installation
Instructions documentation at www.amion.com/ocFAQs.html to download the OnCall software to
your computer.
Before you Begin
If your organization is new to OnCall you will need:
 Staff names
 Pager numbers (if used)
 Email addresses
 HOT TIP If you have the current year’s schedule already in OnCall and are starting the
schedule for the new year, you don’t need to re-enter data. You can skip to the section on
“Scheduling call”, but first:
 Open your current schedule
 Use the blue arrow
to move forward to the new year
 Save your schedule with a different name for new year
Self-running Tutorials in OnCall
Launch OnCall from your computer (refer to the OnCall Installation Instructions if you have not yet
downloaded and installed OnCall). The Tutorials show many of the tools available to you when
scheduling in OnCall.
The OnCall Info, Help, & Tutorials box comes up when you open OnCall for the first time. You
can also bring up the tutorials through the Help menu.
To View the tutorials:
1. Select Help from the Browser menu bar
2. Select Contents
3. View Attendings tutorial.
Figure 1: Access the Tutorials
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Note: The self-running tutorials can be stopped, continued or paused at any time.
Guide to Icons
OnCall icons take you to different views and turn on/off functions. They are displayed in the
toolbar.
Figure 2: Icons in the OnCall toolbar
If you mouse over an icon, you see a description of the icon or tool tip.
Figure 3: Tool tip
Make a habit of using the tool tips and you will soon be able to work your away around OnCall.

Hide the Toolbar

Select view format:
o
Schedule in Table Format.
o
Schedule in Calendar Format (see Figure 4).
o
View Work Preferences or special requests
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o
View Statistics or tallies for services, days, hours or shifts worked (see Figure
5).
Figure 4: Scheduling in Calendar format
Figure 5: Statistics – Call tally by shift

Toggle Infoboxes
o

Set up Schedule Content subset views
o
Main Infobox - context sensitive to view
o
Set day-range viewspan for schedules and tallies
o
Customize shift times – context sensitive to shift
o
Post-a-note anywhere on your schedule
Get help
o
Tutorials, update software, and release version
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Setup a New Schedule
When you first open OnCall a Welcome box opens. Select Create a New Schedule. This takes
you to a second box where you select the type of schedule you would like to create. If you don’t
see this go to File / New.
Figure 6: Welcome to OnCall box
Figure 7: Create a New Schedule box
Click on No – use a calendar year … to work with the calendar-year implementation of OnCall
designed specifically for attendings, hospitalists, call services, nurses and other groups of
medical staff.
Next the General Setup box comes up. Here you enter details of your services, staff types, staff
and anyone who will be displayed in your schedule.
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 HOT TIP You can return to the General Setup box at any time through File / General Setup
or ^G to add new staff or services.
Figure 8: General Setup box
Work your way through the tabs entering data as prompted.
Most schedulers don’t need to use the Sites tab. It can help large groups when you need to factor
travel time between shifts at different sites and or schedule doctors credentialed at one site but
not others. Skip the Sites tab.
Step 1. Click on the Services tab.
Step 2. Enter service names (e.g. call, backup call, ICU) and click on the Add button after each
entry.
Figure 9: Enter Services
 HOT TIP You can track Vacation, Sick, GME days and other special days too (e.g. Leave,
Maternity). These are entered as “services”. Be sure to leave the On schedule box unchecked so
days off don’t appear as services on your schedule.
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Figure 10: Vacation, Sick, GME – track days off
The Clear button clears the Service name from the edit box. The Delete button removes the
service from your schedule.
Step 3. Click on the Staff Types tab.
Step 4. Add types of staff you’ll be scheduling using abbreviations such as MD, PA, RN, FT, PT,
etc.
Staff types are color coded . You can select the color yourself for each staff type, or let OnCall
choose one for you.
For part-time staff use the pull-down box to indicate what percentage of full-time hours staff work.
Figure 11: Add Staff Types
Step 5. Click on the Staff tab.
Step 6. Enter names of staff. Keep names short by abbreviating, or use “Last name, First Initial”.
Associate staff with a staff type using the drop-down box listing Staff types.
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Figure 12: Enter Staff Names
Step 7. Click on Save to save your file. Save it in the OnCall folder.
Figure 13: Save Schedule
 Please note: File names should include the year you are scheduling and an abbreviated
department name, e.g. patt2005 (for pediatric attendings for 2005). OnCall uses an extension
.sch for schedule files.
Step 8. Click on the Finish tab.
Step 9. Select Option 1 which assumes staff is available to take call unless they request days
off. Use Option 2 if you are scheduling moonlighters or other part-timers who tell you when they
can work.
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Figure 14: Finish – Staff availability
Step 10: Click Display Schedule.
OnCall Interface
You begin with a blank calendar for the month of January. Your Services are named to the left of
the calendar and, for now, there is one line of call for each service.
There are several things to notice before starting your schedule.
Menu options.
 File:Save, Print, Print Preview, Publish to the Web, set Preferences, and bring up the
General Setup box.
 Edit: Undo (up to 20 steps), Redo, Copy, Cut, Paste, Find, Replace, and more.
 View: toggles on/off Clinic Days, Special Requests, and other items in your schedule.
 Options: toggles on/off Color code staff by type, Pattern fill call, Flag conflicting
shifts. You can Sort rows and set up where you want your cursor to go after entering
data in a cell.
 Reports: Set up Service staffing and Clinic staffing reports, and transpose table.
 Window: toggles on/off functions such as the Autoscheduler and Template tools. Set
Call and Shift Patterns and Day-of-week staffing. Edit Font and Holidays. Set up
subset views with Schedule content box. View Span Settings and set Workload
Targets.
 Help. Contents (tutorials), About OnCall (version details), and Update OnCall.
Icons. These are at the top of the display and were explained earlier.
Scroll forward and back arrows. The blue arrows at the top of your calendar step you through
your schedule month by month. Click forward to move to the month you would like to schedule.
(See Figure 15)
Resize bars. Click on these bars and drag the mouse to change your margin, increase the
column width and row depth. You’ll use these if you have a lot of staff to put into your schedule.
(See Figure 15)
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Figure 15: Scroll arrows and Resize bars
Infobox. This context-sensitive box displays details pertaining to the area of the schedule you
have clicked in your schedule.
Click on a Service name to the left of your calendar and you’ll see the Call service infobox
(Figure 16). This infobox lets you set shift times times for each service, set up the type of call,
assign the number of slots you need to fill, and more.
Figure 16: Call service infobox
Click on the calendar in any date cell to bring up the All staff infobox (Figure 17). This lets you
enter staff into the schedule, show tallies, see how busy staff are within a month.
Figure 17: All staff infobox
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Click on the Work preferences button
to bring up a calendar for entering work preferences
by staff member. The Individual Staff infobox (Figure 18) comes up to let you enter staff
demographics, days of week unavailable, special requests and more.
Figure 18: Individual staff infobox
Enter staff demographics, work preferences and special
requests
Next you will want to enter your staff’s work preferences and any special requests for the
upcoming period that you plan to schedule.
In the Individual staff infobox you can also enter staff demographics: pager and telephone
numbers and email addresses. If you enter pager and phone numbers, these can be displayed at
the web site to make it easy for operators and other staff to contact the person on call. By
entering email addresses, staff will be able to submit special requests online once your schedule
is published.
By entering requests before you start your schedule, you cannot accidentally put someone into
the schedule on a day they can’t work.
Step 1: Click on the Work preferences button
staff infobox.
to bring up a calendar and the Individual
Step 2: Enter demographic information for each person.
 HOT TIP If you're entering pager, phone number and/or email addresses, you can hold the
<Ctrl> key down and hit the left or right cursor arrow keys to go to the next or previous person
while keeping the flashing text cursor in the field you're entering.
If you need to enter and display additional contact information, see our FAQ at
http://www.amion.com/ocFAQs.html.
Step 3: Bring up the calendar for the first staff member for whom you need to enter work
requests. In the pull-down box at the top select:
.
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Step 4: Enter any regular days off in the gray work preferences box above the demographic
information.
Step 5: There are two ways to enter requests. We recommend that you use the simple yes/no
method, but the other option is there if you want to enter a day or a range of days with a note.
A. Simple yes/no (recommended): Click on days in the schedule to make a person unavailable
for call. To clear the request, click again to remove the X. You can add a note using the Post-anote feature or by the keyboard shortcut Alt+N.
When you begin scheduling, the person’s name will not be available in the selection list for the
day requested off.
B. Special requests with notes: Click on the green Special Requests button in the Infobox:
In the Special Requests Window, click on the + sign to add a request.
Click on a date in the calendar, or use the arrow keys in this Window to find the date. The request
date appears in the white box area. Use the up/down arrows to add days. Enter a note to
accompany the request the description box. To delete a request, click on the red X icon.
When you begin scheduling, the person’s name will be available in the selection, but highlighted
in green indicating the request. The note you entered will come up when you mouse over the
initials.
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Set call/shift hours and other service information
To set up details for each of your services bring up the Call Service Infobox (click on a service
name in the Schedule in Calendar format window).
Step 1: Select the type or frequency of service from the pull-down box:
Select the hours, using the up/down arrows to change the times.
Select the number of lines of call (rows in the schedule for each service) that you requre.
Select the days of the week where staffing is required. Click on the Staffed every day button to
bring up the day-of-week staffing box.
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Click on days to select or deselect your staffing requirements.
Create a call schedule
You are ready to start entering staff into the schedule. First you will learn to quickly populate your
schedule for the first month using a simple method to enter staff. Once you’ve seen how easy it is
to quickly enter staff, you can learn to work with the more advanced tools to complete schedules.
Step 1: Click on the
Schedule in Calendar format button. For simple schedules, use this
format to create your schedule. If you have many shifts and services, it may be easier to schedule
in Table format, but start with the Calendar format.
 HOT TIP You can change the order in which your services are listed. Click on a service name
and drag it up or down the list to the position you’d like and release the mouse button.
Step 2: Click on a date cell where you’d like to begin your schedule. For example, click on the
date cell for your first service for Jan 2. Immediately the initials pop up of all staff available to work
in this service. (Figure 19)
Figure 19: Schedule staff using intials
Step 3: Select the person who should take the call that day by clicking on his/her initials. Once
you’ve made the selection, the cursor moves forward to the next cell.
If you prefer you can select staff from the All staff infobox. This box will have an X by the people
who requested the day off.
Figure 20: Schedule staff using all staff infobox
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Step 4: Continue to move from cell to cell, inserting staff for each service, until you’ve finished the
month. Then go and insert staff names for all the additional services.
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