Working at two hospitals on one schedule
Updated October 8, 2026 · 2 min read
If each hospital schedules separately, neither scheduler sees your shifts at the other site, so a double booking or an 8-hour turnaround between sites can slip through. Keep both sites' shifts in one schedule or one calendar, and check the time off between every pair of shifts, minus the drive.
What slips through between sites
| Site A | Site B | Time off | Problem |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mon 15:00 to 23:00 | Tue 07:00 to 15:00 | 8 h | Quick return |
| Tue 23:00 to Wed 07:00 | Wed 15:00 to 23:00 | 8 h | Quick return |
| Thu 07:00 to 17:00 | Thu 19:00 to Fri 07:00 | 2 h | Day straight into a night |
| Sat 15:00 to Sun 01:00 | Sat 23:00 to Sun 07:00 | None | 2 h overlap |
Each row looks fine on each site's own schedule. A 2016 systematic review defined a quick return as 11 hours or less between shifts and found some signs of harm to sleep, sleepiness and fatigue after them. The EU Working Time Directive sets a minimum daily rest of 11 consecutive hours in every 24-hour period.
Count the drive
Time off is not time asleep. If home is 30 minutes from Site A and 45 minutes from Site B, an 8-hour gap from 23:00 to 07:00 leaves 6 hours 45 minutes at home, before eating or showering.
In a laboratory crossover trial with 63 participants, 8 hours off between an evening and a day shift cut total sleep by about an hour compared with 16 hours off between two day shifts.
What to check across both sites
- Overlaps, counting the drive between sites.
- Time off between every pair of shifts, wherever they are.
- Nights in a row and days in a row, counted across both sites.
- Total hours a week across both sites.
For emergency medicine residents, ACGME counts moonlighting toward weekly limits: moonlighting in an ED counts toward the 72 total hours a week allowed on emergency medicine rotations, and other moonlighting toward the 80-hour limit. PGY-1 residents may not moonlight.
One schedule for both sites
In Capillary, a clinician's shifts at every site appear in one list and one calendar link, and saving or publishing checks role, overlapping shifts and minimum rest, including shifts the person works at another site. To check a run of shifts by hand, use the rest between shifts calculator.
Common questions
- Do ACGME's rest rules apply to moonlighting shifts?
- Moonlighting hours count toward weekly totals, but ACGME's FAQ says its other work-hour rules, such as time off between shifts, do not apply to them. Moonlighting still must not affect a resident's fitness for work.
- Who is responsible for checking?
- Each site can only check what it can see. Until both sites' shifts are in one place, the clinician is the only person who sees both.
- Should I put both schedules in my phone?
- Yes. Subscribing to both calendar links puts every shift in one view; see how to subscribe.
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.