Technology Residency Scheduling Software

[AceRockolla]

Hi All, I am curious if anyone has experience with resident schedule software - particularly amion.com (spiralsoftware.com) and New innovations scheduling solution MedScheduler. Our program's amion license is coming up for renewal and our current chiefs are unsure if they want to renew it or go with a different product.

Since I am one of next year's chiefs, I was hoping someone has some experience with amion and other products to provide adivce on which one to pick. I did a little googling and found a couple more (h2o2, lighting bolt solutions, etc.) but have no idea if they are better/worse.

Any input would be appreciated. Thanks!

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[Chocolate Bear]

I wonder if your department contacted the publishers of the software, they might let you try them out, since they could stand to make some money from you guys. I know some companies have allowed groups to sample and review software in the past in order to generate feedback and/or sales. Worth a shot, right?

 

[ItsGavinC]

I find New Innovations to be terribly confusing and somewhat burdensome for entering events. This is something that you would want to test-drive before committing to it. It may meet the needs of your program--who will be entering scheduled events on a daily basis? Will that task fall solely to the chief(s)? With New Innovations you may find yourself spending more time than you'd like doing this.

 

[DOctorJay]

I agree with the above. we have new innovations and it is much more complex than necessary. I have contacted them about whether or not they are considering adding an iphone app and they said it's in the works but who knows if it'll ever happen. they have apps for winmob and palmos which make entering duty hours a bit easier on a daily basis but the rest of it is too cumbersome currently.

definitely try to test drive the different options.

 

[AceRockolla]

I agree with the above. we have new innovations and it is much more complex than necessary. I have contacted them about whether or not they are considering adding an iphone app and they said it's in the works but who knows if it'll ever happen. they have apps for winmob and palmos which make entering duty hours a bit easier on a daily basis but the rest of it is too cumbersome currently.

definitely try to test drive the different options.

Thank you for all the input. It will be the responsibility of the chiefs to put in all the scheduling data so I think I would want something that is the least confusing, burdensome and time consuming. Per the current chiefs, the amion.com software they use now isnt that great. Has anyone else had this experience?

I like the idea of test-driving the software and didn't realize companies may be willing to let us try their products before commiting. I will let you know what I find out.

 

[AceRockolla]

It looks like we are going with the New-innovations block and assignment scheduler. I think the integration with our evaluation and duty hours system made this choice more appealing. I think the one thing I most concerned about is how easy/difficult it will be for residents to access their schedules. I will let you know how it turns out. Thanks for all the input.

 

[H2O2 Scheduling]

I would like to point out that yes, you should definitely ask to test-drive the software before you buy it. When determining whether a scheduling software is suitable for you or not there are all sorts of considerations to take into account. You will not be able to know for sure if the program will work adequately for you or not until you try it out.

Also, you should expect to receive full customer support while you're doing the free trial, so don't hesitate to call their support number or send an email. It won't hurt you to know how eager they are to help you and how quickly they turn around with an answer to your question/problem. No point getting stuck with software you can't get support for.

While you're at it, let them know what has worked for you and what hasn't while trying their program. It may not help you much, but if the developers are listening (which they should be) the software could improve in time for the next chief in your program. As they say: the squeaky wheel gets the grease.

Olivier Forget
H2-O2, MedRez.net