Clinics & practice groups
Locum tenens staffing groups scheduling software
This is written for locum tenens agency schedulers and locum-heavy group coordinators. Scheduling here commonly runs into credentialing and licensing delays holding up an otherwise-ready assignment start date - the kind of problem a shared spreadsheet doesn't solve on its own. Below: the shift patterns programs like this typically use, and how RotaBay's generator handles the parts that create the most friction.
The hard part
What makes this hard to schedule
- Credentialing and licensing delays holding up an otherwise-ready assignment start date
- Fitting a locum into a host facility's existing schedule pattern with minimal disruption to the regular staff
- Coordinating handoffs between an outgoing locum and the next covering physician
- Last-minute assignment cancellations or extensions creating scheduling churn for the host facility
RotaBay
How RotaBay handles it
Credentialing and licensing delays holding up an otherwise-ready assignment start date
A published who's-on page
Every schedule publishes to a no-login page the whole team can check from a phone. Disputes over who's actually on the hook end before they start.
Fitting a locum into a host facility's existing schedule pattern with minimal disruption to the regular staff
Swap requests with an audit trail
When someone needs to trade a shift, they request it from the published page and it's applied with a full audit trail - no more chasing a manual spreadsheet edit at 11pm.
Coordinating handoffs between an outgoing locum and the next covering physician
Fairness-weighted generation
Nights, weekends and holidays carry a higher fairness weight than a plain day shift, so the generator spreads the unpopular slots evenly across the group instead of always landing on the same few people.
Typical patterns
How this schedule is usually built
Agency-assigned scheduling consultant
Common patternLocum staffing agencies commonly dedicate a scheduling consultant to each physician and client facility, coordinating assignment timing with the agency's licensing and credentialing teams so the physician has what they need before the assignment starts.
Short-term assignments filling gaps in a host schedule
Common patternLocum assignments typically range from a single day to over a year, and are used to fill gaps in a facility's existing block or shift schedule rather than to create an independent schedule of their own.
Locums slotted into the host site's native pattern
Common patternA locum physician is generally scheduled into whatever pattern the host facility already uses - 7-on/7-off, night float, 24-hour call, or otherwise - rather than following a locum-specific schedule structure.
Credentialing lead time as the binding constraint
Common patternHow quickly a locum can be slotted into a facility's schedule is generally limited less by shift availability and more by how long licensing and credentialing at that facility takes to complete.
Shift structure
A typical week's shift types
FAQ
Common questions
Agencies typically dedicate a scheduling consultant to each physician and client facility, coordinating the assignment's timing with licensing and credentialing so the physician is ready to start on day one.
Related specialties
A closer look at the pattern
Separate 12-hour day and night shifts, seven days a week — hospitalist and ICU style.
Generate a locum tenens staffing groups schedule free
Set your shifts and rules, RotaBay builds a fair, rule-compliant schedule in seconds - free to start, no card.