Background
Located in Adelaide South Australia the
Institute of Medical and Veterinary Science (IMVS) was established in 1938 to provide laboratory diagnostic services for the Royal Adelaide Hospital (RAH) and the general medical community.
Since that time, the IMVS has expanded its services and currently provides a comprehensive range of quality diagnostic and consultative services in all branches of pathology for the RAH, other public and private hospitals, medical practitioners and specialists, industry and the general community.
The IMVS employs over 1000 people, serving the South Australian community through its 4 metropolitan and 10 regional laboratories. The IMVS undertakes many active research programs in the field of human disease and contributes to the education, teaching and training of students in the various fields of medical science.
Problem
A major business objective of the IMVS is the provision of a diagnostic and public-health pathology service for the whole of South Australia, which meet National Authority of Testing Associations (NATA) and ISO 9001 quality standards. An important part of consistently meeting such stringent standards was good management of professionals 24 hours a day 7 days a week in the Pre Testing Area in the Division of Clinical Pathology. Here samples are prepared for testing in the laboratory as well as being registered onto the pathology system.
Staff scheduling and deployment was a problem. The rosters were ‘messy’ due to changes in shifts and the multiple changes onto the weekly rosters were manually written up. Supervision for the business process was hampered because it was difficult to see who was in and who was available to cover staff shortages.
Another problem involved a similar struggle through the manual rosters to find all the correct times and overtime that had been worked. Sandra Rajan Pre Testing Supervisor knew there had to be a better way and wanted a system that not only managed the “numbers”, but also deliver the means to ensure fair and equitable rostering of the teams.
Solution
Working arrangements and schedules were well defined and management goals had been established for sometime. It was the day to day management of the operation where
Schedule24 Professional would help the most. Schedule24 was deployed for each supervisor managing their respective teams.
Training was developed in-house to make sure Schedule24 was correctly used to support established working practices. Once the initial training was completed supervisors found Schedule24 easy to use as part of the daily business routine, and it became equally clear it was saving time.
Above all because Supervisors are now able to check and prepare weekly and daily schedules, this enables them to ensure fair and equitable staff rosters are delivered. This was a major management goal for the Pre Testing laboratory. Not only do rosters look more professional, they are easier to check and staff are confident they are always current with their information.
Whenever help was needed on installation, or techniques that would make life easier, Schedule24 support was very good and readily available.
About Institute of Medical and Veterinary Science
Located in South Australia, the IMVS provides quality medical pathology services, is active in many research programs and contributes to the education, teaching and training of students in the various fields of medical science.
Adelaide (IMVS Head Office)
Frome Rd, Adelaide SA 5000
PO Box 14 Rundle Mall, SA 5000
Australia |
Phone: 08 8222 3000
Fax: 08 8222 3011
Web site: http://www.imvs.sa.gov.au |
Products