Scheduling Software for Organizations - Chyma™

McGill Pediatrics Director reduces lost time significantly by managing residency shift work online

Contact: Gabriel Gervais, T: (514) 931-5858 ext.262

MONTREAL, QUEBEC (November 5, 2007) - Chyma Systems just released it latest version of the scheduling software for scheduling physician shifts. This robust application increases versatility and now synchronizes with Outlook. Additional advanced features save doctors even more time.

“Chyma has gained widespread recognition among physicians for playing a leading role in developing an easy, on-line application for coordinating on-call shift schedules,” said Dr. Dennis Reich, Chyma Systems, Director of Medical Information. “We are very excited by the new features in the ‘rules-based scheduler’.

Dr Saleem Razack, Pediatric Residency Program Director at McGill University, uses the latest version of Chyma to manage schedules for approximately 70 residents per month in the pediatrics program at the Montreal Children’s Hospital (MCH)/McGill University. Previously he found the process of generating on-call schedules by hand to require approximately 60-80 manpower hours/month by their chief residents.

“We investigated several on-line solutions over the years, but always found the “rules-based scheduling” to be the lacking point,” says Dr Razack. “There are so many guidelines and parameters to take into account for each person and responsibility, with time off to rest, etc., and thus rules-based scheduling for us was a must.”

Dr Razack explained the diverse parameters he had to consider when scheduling: Some residents may be at the MCH for 4 weeks, some for 4 years, and coordinating different skill levels, shift work in the Emergency Department and overnight on-call shifts, was a challenge. He also had to meet the requirements of the provincial collective agreement between medical residents and the Ministry of Health. Finally, he has residents from many programs in addition to pediatrics and must meet each program’s specific requirements for resident scheduling to accommodate teaching sessions, etc.

“We greatly appreciated the willingness of Chyma’s IT team to work closely with us to tailor the scheduling algorithm to our needs,” says Dr Razack. “A schedule such as ours is almost like a living organism — constant care and adjustments were required in the beginning to de-bug problems as the program was piloted. We applaud the company’s willingness to look at our needs and refine the program in an efficient and timely manner. We are beginning to see manpower savings, benefits such as easier post-schedule changes, and the creation of on-line practice communities (which we did not anticipate), that show us that this tool has the potential to enhance residency education significantly.”

Chyma has a broad communications and scheduling capacity, and that’s why entire communities like Sault Ste. Marie’s emergency responders and all its health regions use Chyma,” said Dr. Reich. “We are rapidly becoming the tool of choice for large groups of doctors, such as the Ontario Medical Association’s section on General Family Practice and their 8,000 members, and PEDS Ontario, and Primary Care Networks in Calgary, just to name a few.”

Chyma Systems is owned by IsaiX Technologies (www.isaix.com), a leading Montreal-based technology company with a focus on communications, training and marketing in the life sciences and financial sectors. Chyma offers numerous tools with its shift trader, including a contact manager, scheduler, knowledge bank, CHE and CME, and medical references.

Overview of new features added to Version 3.06

For greater expediency, users can now create templates by department or by communities. They can also create a template based on another schedule or another template in the same department.

A new interface in the automated rules-based scheduler now provides complete information about each shift transacted, including user name, date and time, duration, status, forward and backward cool down periods around shifts, and conflicts if any.

There is also a new function that previews the month’s schedule and allows it to be saved as an excel file. Administrators also have greater access and control to schedules by accepting or declining events created by other users. Or administrators can utilize an Auto-approve feature.

When an event that requires approval is added to a schedule, emails are sent to the administrator notifying that an event needs approval. Another email is sent to the user when the event is confirmed or declined.

Shift trades are now possible between departments or buildings making administration of a larger facility more efficient.

The “On Now” section conveniently shows 48-hour shifts for improved management of schedules.

Users can add personal events to their calendar for easily coordinating or modifying schedules. A new link allows users to “view personal calendar”. When this calendar is shown, all available shifts are displayed in the personal calendar. Users can look at their personal events and decide if they want to accept or decline an available shift.

Other new features include:

• Schedule grouping in one interface for multi-departments and multi-communities
• Rules-based scheduling to handle complex schedules including medical residents, shift preferences and protocols, and much more
• Vacation approval
• Faster performance with Microsoftâ„¢.Net 2.0 architecture
• Improved conflict catcher
• Easy to navigate Vistaâ„¢ and Macâ„¢ interface
• Who is on? an airport-style rotating “OnNow!” full screen schedule showing physicians on duty. Ideal for display in key hospital and clinic care areas

Contact: Gabriel Gervais, T: (514) 931-5858 ext.262