Holiday schedule rotation for physician groups
Updated October 8, 2026 · 2 min read
Write the rotation down: list which days count as holidays and which shifts each one needs, rotate who works each holiday from year to year, and keep a running count per person. Publish it well ahead, and let people trade holiday shifts under the same rest and overlap checks as any other trade.
Define the holidays first
Agree on the list of holidays and on what each one covers. One academic ED group treats weekend holidays such as Memorial Day and Labor Day as 3-day blocks starting at midnight on Friday, and standalone holidays such as Christmas as running from midnight the night before to midnight at the end of the day.
Then count the shifts inside each holiday. With day, evening and night physician shifts, Christmas Day holds 3 holiday shifts and a 3-day weekend holiday holds 9.
Decide which holiday an overnight shift belongs to. A night from 23:00 on December 24 to 07:00 on December 25 falls mostly on Christmas Day, so write down how it counts.
Ways to rotate
| Method | How it works | Watch for |
|---|---|---|
| Fixed cycle | Each person works each major holiday on a set cycle, for example every other year | New hires need a place in the cycle |
| Paired holidays | Holidays are grouped in pairs; each person works one of each pair and switches the next year | The holidays in a pair should be of similar weight |
| Points | Holiday shifts count for more than ordinary shifts, and yearly totals are balanced | Agree on the weights before the year starts |
| Rotating pick order | People choose holiday shifts in turn, and the order moves down one place each time | Each turn needs a deadline |
Whichever method you use, keep a running count of holiday shifts per person across years, so fairness is judged over the whole cycle rather than one season. The academic group above uses its rotation to spread holiday work evenly and to make sure enough physicians are lined up for each holiday.
ACEP's companion paper on shift work notes that some groups reward night work with fewer weekend and holiday shifts. If yours does, write the credit into the rotation.
A two-year example
Six physicians cover three major holidays, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Day, each with a day, evening and night shift. That is 9 holiday shifts a year, or 1.5 per person.
| Holiday | Year 1 (day, evening, night) | Year 2 (day, evening, night) |
|---|---|---|
| Thanksgiving | Physicians 1, 2, 3 | Physicians 4, 5, 6 |
| Christmas | Physicians 4, 5, 6 | Physicians 1, 2, 3 |
| New Year's Day | Physicians 1, 2, 3 | Physicians 4, 5, 6 |
Over the two years each physician works 3 holiday shifts, one on each holiday. For the next cycle, move the day, evening and night positions one place so the same person does not always get the night.
Requests and trades
Collect holiday requests with the rest of the month's requests, before the due date, and decide them by the written rotation rather than by who asked first. Let people trade holiday shifts, but run each trade through the same rest and overlap checks as any other, and say whether the holiday credit moves with the shift. See what a shift swap policy should check.
In Capillary scheduling, clinicians send day requests and time off before your due date, you approve time off, and published shifts can be given away or swapped with rest and overlap checked before anyone agrees.
Common questions
- How do we fit in a physician who joins mid-cycle?
- Give them the next open place in the cycle. If you balance running counts, start theirs at the group's average so they are not first in line for every holiday.
- Does a shift on Christmas Eve count as a holiday shift?
- Only if your policy says so. Decide in writing whether eves count and which holiday an overnight shift belongs to, then apply it the same way every year.
- Can part-time physicians work fewer holidays?
- You can scale each person's holiday share to their share of total shifts. Write the rule down so it applies the same way to everyone.
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.