Can a nurse trade with a physician or an APP?

No. A nurse shift can go only to another RN. A nurse can swap only for another nurse shift.

Who covers a nurse who calls out sick?

If your department offers call-out shifts to the group, other nurses who pass every check can take the open shift. Otherwise, or once the deadline passes, the scheduler chooses cover from the nurses on the roster.

Does every nurse need an account?

Not to be scheduled. A nurse needs an account to see shifts in Capillary, use the calendar link, send requests or trade. The invitation from the Clinicians tab links their account to their place on the roster.

Emergency department nurse scheduling, with rest checked on every save

Updated October 10, 2026 · 4 min read

In Capillary, a nurse manager or ED scheduler adds nurse shifts for a range of dates and assigns RNs to them. Every save checks each nurse for overlapping shifts, the department's minimum rest, approved time off and published shifts at another site in Capillary. Nurses request days off and time off, trade only with other nurses and see their shifts in their phone calendar.

How a nurse schedule is built

1
Add your nurses
Add each nurse to the roster on the Clinicians tab with the RN credential. Type nurses in one at a time, or import a CSV and review every row before it saves.
2
Add nurse shifts
Name the shift, choose Nurse under Required role, then pick a date range and the start and end times. Each shift you add holds one nurse on every day in the range. For two nurses on days, add the day shift twice, for example as Nurse day 1 and Nurse day 2.
3
Assign RNs
Only an RN can fill a nurse shift. The list for each nurse shift offers only active RNs. Some names carry a hint, such as "time off", "asked off" or "works at another site".
4
Save, then publish
Each save runs the rule checks on every nurse. It stops at the first problem and names the shift. Drafts stay private until you publish. You publish the month for physicians, APPs and nurses together, once every shift has someone on it. An open physician or APP shift holds up the nurse shifts too.

Worked example: 12-hour shifts, 12-hour minimum rest

Twelve-hour shifts are common for hospital nurses. Sixty-five percent of 22,275 registered nurses surveyed in four US states from 2005 to 2008 worked shifts of 12 to 13 hours.

Say your department sets a 12-hour minimum rest, with nurse days from 07:00 to 19:00 and nights from 19:00 to 07:00. Two sample nurses, Maya and Ben, work the day shifts on Tuesday 10 November. Maya is on Nurse day 1 and Ben on Nurse day 2.

Example with sample names: the next shift after Tuesday's day shift (minimum rest 12 h)
Nurse	Next shift	Time off between	Result
Maya	Nurse day 1 on Wednesday, 07:00 to 19:00	12 h	Saves
Ben	Nurse night 1 on Tuesday, 19:00 to 07:00	0 h	Stopped

Maya's 12 hours off meet the 12-hour minimum exactly. The save goes through.

Ben's night would start the minute his day shift ends. The shifts don't overlap, but he would get 0 hours of rest. Saving stops with "Nurse night 1: less than 12 hours of rest from Nurse day 2 on Nov 10."

What nurses do in Capillary

Join with their own account. You send the invitation with Invite beside their name on the Clinicians tab.
See their published shifts in Google, Apple or Outlook calendar through a calendar link. Calendar apps check the link every few hours. A change can take that long to reach a nurse's phone.
Mark days for the months ahead as off if possible, must be off or want to work. Request time off, which waits for the scheduler's approval.
Swap or give away a published shift through shift trades. Only another nurse can take it. In a swap, Capillary checks rest and overlap for both nurses before anyone agrees. If your scheduler requires approval, the trade then waits for them.
Pick up an open shift after another nurse calls out, if your department offers call-out shifts to the group. A nurse who passes every check can take it. It moves to them at once, without waiting for approval.

What it does not do yet

The department has one minimum-rest rule for every group. You can't set a separate one for nurses.
You can't mark a nurse as charge-qualified or tag other skills. Any active RN can fill any nurse shift, even one named Charge nurse day.
It does not staff to nurse-to-patient ratios or acuity. You decide how many nurse shifts each day gets.
The backup (jeopardy) roster lists physicians only. If no nurse takes a call-out shift by the deadline your department sets, the scheduler chooses cover from the nurses on the roster.
RN is the only nursing credential. LPNs, ED techs and paramedics can't be added to the roster yet.
A month holds at most 1,000 shifts across all groups. A department with eight nurses on each of two 12-hour shifts and 10 physician and APP shifts a day fits, at 806 shifts in a 31-day month.
A department's roster holds up to 200 people.
There is no phone app to download. Nurses use the phone's browser and the calendar link.

Try it

The demo shows a full sample month for a small fictional department. Its ten nurses share four 12-hour shifts a day, two days and two nights. It needs no account. To build your own, sign in or create an account and add your roster.

Common questions

Can a nurse trade with a physician or an APP?: No. A nurse shift can go only to another RN. A nurse can swap only for another nurse shift.
Who covers a nurse who calls out sick?: If your department offers call-out shifts to the group, other nurses who pass every check can take the open shift. Otherwise, or once the deadline passes, the scheduler chooses cover from the nurses on the roster.
Does every nurse need an account?: Not to be scheduled. A nurse needs an account to see shifts in Capillary, use the calendar link, send requests or trade. The invitation from the Clinicians tab links their account to their place on the roster.

Build your ED schedule with rest checked on every save.

Capillary checks role, overlapping shifts and rest, including shifts at other sites, before anything is published or traded.

Try the demo Create an account