Hospitalist scheduling
Hospitalist scheduling is block scheduling, and block patterns have a specific failure mode: they look perfectly even and drift badly over a year.
Why block patterns drift
A seven-on seven-off rotation divides a year into 26 blocks. With a group that does not divide neatly into the pattern — and most do not, once part-time, leave, and a night rotation are included — the blocks that land on holidays and the blocks that are nights do not distribute evenly by rotation alone.
The result is a schedule that is defensible block by block and lopsided across twelve months. The person who keeps getting the Christmas block can see it and usually cannot prove it.
Blocks as rules, not as layout
A block pattern is expressed as rules: how many consecutive days are worked, how many days off are required after a block, and which shift types a block is made of. The generator produces the pattern.
That is more flexible than laying the pattern out by hand, because the generator can shift a block boundary to accommodate leave or a coverage need while keeping the rules satisfied — and tell you when it cannot.
Nights and swings counted separately
Days, swings and nights are different burdens and should not be averaged together. Each is its own shift template with its own tally, so the group can see and even out night load independently of total shift count.
A hospitalist carrying a fair number of total shifts and twice the group's night load is a common and invisible situation. Separate counts make it visible.
Admitting load
Where admitting is a distinct responsibility rather than a property of being on service, it is its own counted burden too. Groups that track it usually find the distribution is not what they assumed, because admitting load follows the admitting day pattern rather than the shift pattern.
Long-window equity
The tally window is yours to set. For a block pattern it should be at least a year, because that is the horizon over which holidays and night blocks come round — and a window shorter than the drift cannot see it.
Equitable weekend and holiday rotation
Common questions
Does it support seven-on seven-off?
A block pattern is a repeating sequence of assignments, and a seven-day block is seven consecutive assignments generated as a unit. The pattern is expressed as rules — consecutive days worked, required days off after a block — so the generator produces it rather than you laying it out.
Can night and swing coverage be distributed separately from days?
Yes. Each is its own shift template with its own counted burden, so a hospitalist group can track and even out nights, swings and weekends independently instead of treating all shifts as interchangeable.