One emergency department schedule for physicians, APPs and nurses
Updated October 10, 2026 · 3 min read
Capillary keeps one schedule for the whole emergency department, with each shift marked Physician, APP or Nurse. A group filter narrows the calendar, shift list, counts and workload panel to one group. You publish the month for all groups at once, after every shift in every group has someone on it.
Three groups on one schedule
Every shift belongs to one group, set by its Required role. A physician shift takes an MD or DO. An APP shift takes a PA or NP. A nurse shift takes an RN.
Each group keeps its own shift times. The scheduler types the start and end of every shift. Physicians can work 8-hour shifts while nurses work 12-hour shifts on the same schedule.
Mon
07:00 MD Chen
07:00 RN Novak
07:00 RN Adams
10:00 APP Park
15:00 MD Shah
19:00 RN Moreno
19:00 RN Petrov
23:00 MD Bell
Tue
07:00 MD Ruiz
07:00 RN Silva
07:00 RN Mensah
10:00 APP Nguyen
15:00 MD Kim
19:00 RN Torres
19:00 RN Okafor
23:00 MD Morgan
- Day
- Evening
- Night
- APP
- Nurse
The group filter
- The filter lists All groups, Physicians, APPs and Nurses, each with its number of shifts that month. It appears once a department has two or more groups.
- Choosing a group narrows the calendar and the shift list to that group. The counts at the top (shifts, assigned and open) cover that group only.
- The workload panel then lists only that group's people, with each person's shifts, nights and weekend shifts.
- With a group chosen, new shifts you add default to that group.
- The assignment list for a shift offers only active people in its group.
- On the published schedule, Export CSV downloads the group you are viewing. Each row is one shift, with its name, group, start, end, timezone and person.
Worked example: November in the demo department
The demo's small fictional department staffs eight shifts a day across the three groups.
| Group | Shifts a day | Length | Shifts in November |
|---|---|---|---|
| Physicians | 3 | 8 h | 90 |
| APPs | 1 | 10 h | 30 |
| Nurses | 4 | 12 h | 120 |
| All groups | 8 | 8 to 12 h | 240 |
With All groups selected, each day's list shows every group's shifts in start order. From 10:00 to 20:00, a physician, the APP and two nurses are on. At all other hours, three people are on.
Say a nurse night on Saturday 14 November is still open while you view Physicians. The Open shifts count shows 0, because the open shift is a nurse shift. A note beneath it reads "1 open shift in other groups. Publishing needs every shift assigned." The Publish button stays greyed out until a nurse is assigned to that night and the draft is saved. Publishing then releases all 240 shifts together.
On the published schedule, choose Nurses, then Export CSV. The file holds the 120 nurse shifts, one row each.
Trades and call-outs stay inside each group
- When someone swaps or gives away a shift, only people in the same group can take it. A nurse can swap only for another nurse shift.
- When someone calls out, the open shift is offered only to their group, if your department turns those offers on. When the scheduler picks cover, the list shows only that group.
- The backup (jeopardy) roster lists physicians only. At the deadline your department sets before each shift, the scheduler is emailed about every open call-out. Physicians on backup are emailed only about physician shifts.
What it does not do yet
- Every scheduler can edit and publish every group. You can't yet limit a nurse manager to nurse shifts.
- A month publishes for all groups together. One group can't publish ahead of the others.
- If two schedulers edit the same month at once, only the first save goes through. The other sees "Someone changed this schedule. Reload before saving." Their unsaved changes have to be made again after the reload.
- One minimum-rest rule applies to physicians, APPs and nurses alike.
- The groups are physicians (MD, DO), APPs (NP, PA) and nurses (RN). Techs, scribes, LPNs and paramedics can't be scheduled yet.
- A month holds at most 1,000 shifts across all groups. A roster holds up to 200 people.
Try it
Open the demo, choose November 2026 and switch between the groups. It needs no account. To set up your own department, sign in or create an account. The ED scheduling page covers the rest of the product.
Common questions
- Can our nurse manager and physician scheduler both build the schedule?
- Yes. Invite each of them as a scheduler from the Team tab. Both can edit and publish every group. Agree on who publishes each month.
- Do physicians, APPs and nurses need separate departments?
- No. Everyone joins one department. The credential on each person's roster entry decides which shifts they can fill.
- Can we export only the nurse schedule?
- Yes. On the published schedule, choose Nurses, then Export CSV. The file holds only that month's nurse shifts.
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.