Shift trades that check rest before anyone agrees
Updated October 8, 2026 · 2 min read
Capillary lets ED physicians and APPs swap or give away shifts in the browser. Before anyone agrees, it checks whoever would pick up a shift for overlaps and your group's minimum rest, including shifts at another site, and its swap finder offers only swaps that pass. The published schedule changes when both people agree, or when the scheduler approves if your group asks for approval.
The trouble with trading by text
A trade arranged in a group text goes to whoever answers first. That person may have worked the night before, or be on at the other hospital that day, and nothing in the thread checks. The scheduler finds out when the schedule is already wrong.
How a trade works in Capillary
- 1
Choose the shift
Open one of your published shifts and choose to swap it or give it away. Capillary checks every colleague on the roster who works in your role.
- 2
See only what passes
For a swap, a calendar shows how many swaps pass every check on each day. Swaps that fail are listed with the reason, so you know why a colleague is missing.
- 3
Check both people
In a swap, Capillary checks your colleague against your shift and you against theirs: no overlapping shifts, and at least the group's minimum rest before and after, counting published shifts at another site.
- 4
Agree, and the schedule updates
Your colleague accepts. If your scheduler turned on approval, the trade waits for them. Then the published schedule changes, and each phone calendar shows the change at its next refresh.
Worked example: trading a Saturday evening
Say your group's minimum rest is 11 hours and you want to trade Saturday's evening shift, 15:00 to 23:00. Before you send anything, Capillary has already checked your colleagues.
| Colleague | Nearby shift | Rest | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| B | Friday night, 23:00 to 07:00 | 8 h before | Not offered |
| C | Sunday day, 07:00 to 15:00 | 8 h after | Not offered |
| D | Off Friday to Sunday | 11 h or more | Offered |
B would go from a night shift ending at 07:00 to an evening shift starting at 15:00. C's problem comes after your shift, which is why rest is checked on both sides. If you swap with D, the same checks run the other way: D's shift has to fit around your other shifts too.
What it does not do yet
- Trades stay inside one department's roster. You can't swap with a colleague at your other site, though your published shifts there still count in the checks.
- There is no app-store app. Clinicians trade in the phone's browser and see their shifts in their phone calendar through a calendar link.
Try it
Open the demo to see a full sample month for a fictional department; it needs no account. To set up your group, sign in or create an account. The ED scheduling page covers the rest of the product.
Common questions
- Does the scheduler have to approve every trade?
- Only if the scheduler turns approval on. Either way, Capillary checks every trade before it goes through.
- Does it check my shifts at another hospital?
- Yes, when that hospital's department also schedules in Capillary. Your published shifts there count in the overlap and minimum rest checks.
- Which minimum rest does it use?
- The number your group sets for the department, such as 11 or 12 hours. The same number applies when the schedule is built and when shifts are traded.
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.