Practice Management

I've searched a little history to see if I could find relevant information for this, but didn't see it related to this specific question. I would love to hear how other groups allow their radiologists to pick their time off (vacations, etc.). We are approaching 50 radiologists and I know there are groups much larger than we are, so there have to be many ways this is being done. Our system is designed for fairness from newest member to most senior member and has a complex system of rules. I'm finding that the larger we become, the more complicated these rules also become. I'm just looking for ideas of how others are doing this that may be less complicated but fair. We use QGenda, we publish 3 four-month schedule blocks per year and it runs well once published, but obviously a ton of work to produce each 4 month block.

Thanks in advance for any feedback!

Hi Scott - This may be a good question to submit to the Data Committee for a hot topic poll.  

That said, we too use Qgenda and issue the schedule quarterly.

We use a method that fairly distributes the vacation sign up across all radiologists (partner or non partner.)   There are caps on how many rads can sign up each week, and also guidelines on the number of various subspecialties.

We offer the vacation sign up as first pass and rads can sign up for half of their contracted annual weeks, After the half sign up occurs, we assign holiday call for entire year.  After holiday call is assigned, the radiologists can sign up for their remaining contracted weeks.  

There are also rules regarding fair distribution of prime vacation time---xmas, thanksgiving, spring break, etc. Everyone wants time with their kids.

I am interested in others input as well.   Anything to ease the burden greatly appreciated. 

I've searched a little history to see if I could find relevant information for this, but didn't see it related to this specific question. I would love to hear how other groups allow their radiologists to pick their time off (vacations, etc.). We are approaching 50 radiologists and I know there are groups much larger than we are, so there have to be many ways this is being done. Our system is designed for fairness from newest member to most senior member and has a complex system of rules. I'm finding that the larger we become, the more complicated these rules also become. I'm just looking for ideas of how others are doing this that may be less complicated but fair. We use QGenda, we publish 3 four-month schedule blocks per year and it runs well once published, but obviously a ton of work to produce each 4 month block.

Thanks in advance for any feedback!

I've searched a little history to see if I could find relevant information for this, but didn't see it related to this specific question. I would love to hear how other groups allow their radiologists to pick their time off (vacations, etc.). We are approaching 50 radiologists and I know there are groups much larger than we are, so there have to be many ways this is being done. Our system is designed for fairness from newest member to most senior member and has a complex system of rules. I'm finding that the larger we become, the more complicated these rules also become. I'm just looking for ideas of how others are doing this that may be less complicated but fair. We use QGenda, we publish 3 four-month schedule blocks per year and it runs well once published, but obviously a ton of work to produce each 4 month block.

Thanks in advance for any feedback!

HI Scott

Our system is relatively simple for diagnostic rads.  We do selection in 6 month blocks.  The radiologists submit how many weeks off they want, and their ranked preferences for what weeks they want.  The staff will assign requested weeks if available until everyone has 3 preferred weeks scheduled.  Except for super popular weeks like spring break, everyone normally gets their top 3 choices.  If there are more requests than vacation slots available for a given week, then we give preference to those who were at the bottom of the preference list last time.

Once the requests are processed, staff will schedule weekends and holidays, since we try to make them not be adjacent to vacation weeks.  After that's done, anyone who wanted more than 3 weeks off will have those weeks assigned by staff based on availability, with an effort to avoid weeks adjacent to scheduled weekends and to spread them out over the six month period.  There is some trading after that.

Our IR group has a separate process, which is basically a round robin selection, with the order flipped at each interval.

Hope this helps.

Dave

I've searched a little history to see if I could find relevant information for this, but didn't see it related to this specific question. I would love to hear how other groups allow their radiologists to pick their time off (vacations, etc.). We are approaching 50 radiologists and I know there are groups much larger than we are, so there have to be many ways this is being done. Our system is designed for fairness from newest member to most senior member and has a complex system of rules. I'm finding that the larger we become, the more complicated these rules also become. I'm just looking for ideas of how others are doing this that may be less complicated but fair. We use QGenda, we publish 3 four-month schedule blocks per year and it runs well once published, but obviously a ton of work to produce each 4 month block.

Thanks in advance for any feedback!

I've searched a little history to see if I could find relevant information for this, but didn't see it related to this specific question. I would love to hear how other groups allow their radiologists to pick their time off (vacations, etc.). We are approaching 50 radiologists and I know there are groups much larger than we are, so there have to be many ways this is being done. Our system is designed for fairness from newest member to most senior member and has a complex system of rules. I'm finding that the larger we become, the more complicated these rules also become. I'm just looking for ideas of how others are doing this that may be less complicated but fair. We use QGenda, we publish 3 four-month schedule blocks per year and it runs well once published, but obviously a ton of work to produce each 4 month block.

Thanks in advance for any feedback!

As a radiologist operations sub-specialist I spend a lot of time on radiologist schedules. Every group has different clinical requirements that impact how vacation selection works. How time away from work integrates with daily clinical need is of vital importance to a healthy schedule process.  But once base parameters are set, a common method is to run a Draft, basically rotating vacation picks up and down a list of radiologists. In larger groups the picking pools are often divided into sub-specialty pools.

Some groups assign a lead radiologist to be in charge of vacation selection as a separate role from the lead radiologist responsible for creating the work schedule. 

I've searched a little history to see if I could find relevant information for this, but didn't see it related to this specific question. I would love to hear how other groups allow their radiologists to pick their time off (vacations, etc.). We are approaching 50 radiologists and I know there are groups much larger than we are, so there have to be many ways this is being done. Our system is designed for fairness from newest member to most senior member and has a complex system of rules. I'm finding that the larger we become, the more complicated these rules also become. I'm just looking for ideas of how others are doing this that may be less complicated but fair. We use QGenda, we publish 3 four-month schedule blocks per year and it runs well once published, but obviously a ton of work to produce each 4 month block.

Thanks in advance for any feedback!

Thanks for your response, Janet!

We also use drafts for our picks (onlinedraft.com is an inexpensive and easy to use tool that we found). Some examples of ideas we're looking to see how other groups do this:

a) Establishing the order for making picks (i.e. is it a set order that rotates from year to year, is it done by a random assignment (chance), is it done by seniority, etc.).

b) How many weeks per pick (if allowed)?

c) If more than one week per pick, does it have to be contiguous or can it be two separate weeks?

d) Are all vacation weeks picked for the entire year, in a quarterly block, semi-annually?

Those are just a few questions I guess I should have posted in my original email.

Thanks,

As a radiologist operations sub-specialist I spend a lot of time on radiologist schedules. Every group has different clinical requirements that impact how vacation selection works. How time away from work integrates with daily clinical need is of vital importance to a healthy schedule process.  But once base parameters are set, a common method is to run a Draft, basically rotating vacation picks up and down a list of radiologists. In larger groups the picking pools are often divided into sub-specialty pools.

Some groups assign a lead radiologist to be in charge of vacation selection as a separate role from the lead radiologist responsible for creating the work schedule. 

I've searched a little history to see if I could find relevant information for this, but didn't see it related to this specific question. I would love to hear how other groups allow their radiologists to pick their time off (vacations, etc.). We are approaching 50 radiologists and I know there are groups much larger than we are, so there have to be many ways this is being done. Our system is designed for fairness from newest member to most senior member and has a complex system of rules. I'm finding that the larger we become, the more complicated these rules also become. I'm just looking for ideas of how others are doing this that may be less complicated but fair. We use QGenda, we publish 3 four-month schedule blocks per year and it runs well once published, but obviously a ton of work to produce each 4 month block.

Thanks in advance for any feedback!

Thanks for your response, Janet!

We also use drafts for our picks (onlinedraft.com is an inexpensive and easy to use tool that we found). Some examples of ideas we're looking to see how other groups do this:

a) Establishing the order for making picks (i.e. is it a set order that rotates from year to year, is it done by a random assignment (chance), is it done by seniority, etc.).

b) How many weeks per pick (if allowed)?

c) If more than one week per pick, does it have to be contiguous or can it be two separate weeks?

d) Are all vacation weeks picked for the entire year, in a quarterly block, semi-annually?

Those are just a few questions I guess I should have posted in my original email.

Thanks,

As a radiologist operations sub-specialist I spend a lot of time on radiologist schedules. Every group has different clinical requirements that impact how vacation selection works. How time away from work integrates with daily clinical need is of vital importance to a healthy schedule process.  But once base parameters are set, a common method is to run a Draft, basically rotating vacation picks up and down a list of radiologists. In larger groups the picking pools are often divided into sub-specialty pools.

Some groups assign a lead radiologist to be in charge of vacation selection as a separate role from the lead radiologist responsible for creating the work schedule. 

I've searched a little history to see if I could find relevant information for this, but didn't see it related to this specific question. I would love to hear how other groups allow their radiologists to pick their time off (vacations, etc.). We are approaching 50 radiologists and I know there are groups much larger than we are, so there have to be many ways this is being done. Our system is designed for fairness from newest member to most senior member and has a complex system of rules. I'm finding that the larger we become, the more complicated these rules also become. I'm just looking for ideas of how others are doing this that may be less complicated but fair. We use QGenda, we publish 3 four-month schedule blocks per year and it runs well once published, but obviously a ton of work to produce each 4 month block.

Thanks in advance for any feedback!

Thanks for your response, Janet!

We also use drafts for our picks (onlinedraft.com is an inexpensive and easy to use tool that we found). Some examples of ideas we're looking to see how other groups do this:

a) Establishing the order for making picks (i.e. is it a set order that rotates from year to year, is it done by a random assignment (chance), is it done by seniority, etc.).

b) How many weeks per pick (if allowed)?

c) If more than one week per pick, does it have to be contiguous or can it be two separate weeks?

d) Are all vacation weeks picked for the entire year, in a quarterly block, semi-annually?

Those are just a few questions I guess I should have posted in my original email.

Thanks,

As a radiologist operations sub-specialist I spend a lot of time on radiologist schedules. Every group has different clinical requirements that impact how vacation selection works. How time away from work integrates with daily clinical need is of vital importance to a healthy schedule process.  But once base parameters are set, a common method is to run a Draft, basically rotating vacation picks up and down a list of radiologists. In larger groups the picking pools are often divided into sub-specialty pools.

Some groups assign a lead radiologist to be in charge of vacation selection as a separate role from the lead radiologist responsible for creating the work schedule. 

I've searched a little history to see if I could find relevant information for this, but didn't see it related to this specific question. I would love to hear how other groups allow their radiologists to pick their time off (vacations, etc.). We are approaching 50 radiologists and I know there are groups much larger than we are, so there have to be many ways this is being done. Our system is designed for fairness from newest member to most senior member and has a complex system of rules. I'm finding that the larger we become, the more complicated these rules also become. I'm just looking for ideas of how others are doing this that may be less complicated but fair. We use QGenda, we publish 3 four-month schedule blocks per year and it runs well once published, but obviously a ton of work to produce each 4 month block.

Thanks in advance for any feedback!

I've searched a little history to see if I could find relevant information for this, but didn't see it related to this specific question. I would love to hear how other groups allow their radiologists to pick their time off (vacations, etc.). We are approaching 50 radiologists and I know there are groups much larger than we are, so there have to be many ways this is being done. Our system is designed for fairness from newest member to most senior member and has a complex system of rules. I'm finding that the larger we become, the more complicated these rules also become. I'm just looking for ideas of how others are doing this that may be less complicated but fair. We use QGenda, we publish 3 four-month schedule blocks per year and it runs well once published, but obviously a ton of work to produce each 4 month block.

Thanks in advance for any feedback!

I've searched a little history to see if I could find relevant information for this, but didn't see it related to this specific question. I would love to hear how other groups allow their radiologists to pick their time off (vacations, etc.). We are approaching 50 radiologists and I know there are groups much larger than we are, so there have to be many ways this is being done. Our system is designed for fairness from newest member to most senior member and has a complex system of rules. I'm finding that the larger we become, the more complicated these rules also become. I'm just looking for ideas of how others are doing this that may be less complicated but fair. We use QGenda, we publish 3 four-month schedule blocks per year and it runs well once published, but obviously a ton of work to produce each 4 month block.

Thanks in advance for any feedback!

Hey Scott,

Perfect question.

RRG does their vacation selection in 6 month blocks.  We start with two weeks being selected about 5 months before the 6 month block (selecting in August for the Jan - Jun period).  Then another 2 weeks being selected in about another 2 months (selecting in October for the Jan - Jun period).  After this is completed, everyone requests the remaining open weeks.  We do a random drawing for the sort order of selection.  The sort order is reversed and inverted for each selection to ensure everyone has a chance to be first in the vacation assignments.  We do assign popular vacation weeks (Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's).  I have to ensure we have at least one sub-specialist working every day.  We have 4 daily vacation slots for a group of 15 rads selecting vacation.  I can use a day off slot to increase the vacation weeks to 5 during a popular week (school vacations).  I've found everyone gets the vacation weeks they really want/need (mostly during the first 4 selections).  Most rads are using their last selections simply for spacing.  Any unused vacation slots are turned into days off.

Thanks for presenting this question......Chris

I've searched a little history to see if I could find relevant information for this, but didn't see it related to this specific question. I would love to hear how other groups allow their radiologists to pick their time off (vacations, etc.). We are approaching 50 radiologists and I know there are groups much larger than we are, so there have to be many ways this is being done. Our system is designed for fairness from newest member to most senior member and has a complex system of rules. I'm finding that the larger we become, the more complicated these rules also become. I'm just looking for ideas of how others are doing this that may be less complicated but fair. We use QGenda, we publish 3 four-month schedule blocks per year and it runs well once published, but obviously a ton of work to produce each 4 month block.

Thanks in advance for any feedback!