For dental practices

Dental rota software: a dentist and a nurse in every surgery, reception staffed, hours counted

A practice runs on pairs. A surgery only sees patients when its dentist and its nurse are both in, and the desk has to be staffed from the first patient of the day to the last. InShift names each surgery as a shift type and puts the dentist and the nurse on the same one, keeps the desk and the decontamination room on the same rota, and turns the sessions into hours for payroll without a diary and a calculator.

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Three surgeries, four dentists, five nurses, and a book that assumes everyone is in

A practice with three surgeries has more clinicians than rooms. A principal on four days, an associate on five, a second associate on Thursday and Friday only, a hygienist on Tuesday and Thursday: four people sharing three surgeries by the day. Every surgery that runs needs a nurse chairside, one nurse runs the decontamination room, and the fifth alternates between decon and cover. Reception is two people from a quarter past eight, with one of them on the late until seven on Tuesday. The practice manager holds the whole thing together and is usually also the person who answers the phone at lunch.

The appointment book assumes everyone is in. That is where the rota fails: Surgery 2 is booked solid on Thursday and its nurse is on a course, so the associate works with the decon nurse and decon stops; the hygienist’s Tuesday moves for a month and the book is still full; a receptionist calls in sick at eight and the other one opens the door alone. The hours of nurses and reception live in a diary, and the month end is a calculator and an argument about a Saturday.

Below is how a practice of twelve looks in InShift: the surgeries as shift types with the pair in one cell, the week as a table of who is in which room, the hours per person for payroll, and the practice manager approving a holiday from the phone.

Surgeries

A surgery is a shift type, and the dentist and the nurse are on the same one

Each surgery gets a shift type with the surgery hours: “Surgery 1 08:30–17:30”, “Surgery 2 08:30–17:30”, “Surgery 3 09:00–16:00” on the hygienist’s days. Reception and the decontamination room get their own types under their positions. The “List” view of the planner shows the day by shift type, so every surgery is a column with the two names in it, and a surgery with a dentist and no nurse is a cell with one name that the practice manager sees on Friday for the week after. Part-time clinicians sit on their days only, and “Copy last week” carries the pattern forward.

  • A type per surgery in its own colour, so the pair is two names in one cell
  • Types under a position for the desk and the decon room, invisible to the clinicians
  • “Week”, “Month”, “Year” and “List” views; “Print” for the staff room, “Download Excel” for the principal
  • A nurse trained for the desk gets the receptionist position under “Add positions for cover” and is on both lists
The admin panel screen by screen

The week of a three surgery practice: who is in which room

Four dentists, a hygienist, five nurses and two receptionists. Each surgery is a shift type; the letters are the people on it.

RoomMonTueWedThuFri
Surgery 1A+N1A+N1A+N1C+N1C+N1
Surgery 2B+N2B+N2B+N2B+N2B+N2
Surgery 3D+N3H+N3D+N3H+N3D+N3
DeconN4N4N5N5N4
ReceptionR1+R2R1+R2R1+R2R1+R2R1+R2

A, B, C and D are dentists: A works Monday to Wednesday and C takes Surgery 1 on Thursday and Friday; D has Surgery 3 on three days and H, the hygienist, on Tuesday and Thursday. N1 to N5 are the nurses: three chairside, one in decontamination, and the fifth alternates decon with cover. Reception is “Desk 08:15–17:45”, and on Tuesday R2 is on “Late 10:30–19:00”, a type that exists on Tuesday only.

Hours

The hours behind the appointments: nurses and reception by the hour, associates outside payroll

“Payroll” turns the sessions into money. Every nurse and receptionist has a rate on the “Pay” tab, by the hour or a monthly salary, and the “Accruals” tab shows the period per person: shifts, scheduled hours, the rate, premiums, and the amount accrued, paid and owed. Associate dentists on a share of fees are on the rota and outside payroll with the pay model “Unpaid”, so the practice’s own pay run holds only the people it pays. “Export to Excel” gives the accountant the file, and “Close period” locks the month.

  • “Pay” tab: per hour, “Per shift”, a monthly salary, or “Unpaid” for the associates
  • “Accruals” per person: shifts, scheduled hours, rate, premiums, accrued, paid, owed
  • “Premiums” for bank holidays as “Holiday work” and for hours “Over the daily norm” on a long day
  • “Export to Excel” for the accountant, “Close period” to lock the month

The practice manager’s phone

A nurse’s holiday approved between patients, and the surgery kept out of the book

The practice manager gets the requests in the app as well as in the browser. “Requests” shows the pending ones with “Approve” and “Reject” on each: a nurse’s week in June asked for in February, a swap between two nurses for Thursday, a sick day sent at seven in the morning. Once approved, the day stays on “Requests” and shows under “Off” in the day view, so the desk knows which surgery to keep out of the book. The nurse gets the answer as a push notification.

  • “Time off”, “Swaps” and “Open” tabs, with “Mine” and “Pending”
  • “Approve” or “Reject” with one tap; the person gets a push either way
  • “Approve time-off” and “Approve substitutions” are rights of the role, for “My locations” or the “Entire network”
  • A swap is offered within the same position only: a nurse’s Thursday goes to a nurse
The app screen by screen

Moving a practice onto InShift

An hour for a practice of twelve, the team joining included.

  1. 1

    Sign up and the practice

    Email or Google. The practice is a location; a second practice is a second location, and a nurse who works at both is switched to “Also works at other locations”.

  2. 2

    Positions and the surgeries

    Dentist, hygienist, dental nurse, receptionist, practice manager. Shift types “Surgery 1 08:30–17:30”, “Surgery 2”, “Surgery 3”, “Decon 08:00–16:30”, and under reception “Desk 08:15–17:45” and “Late 10:30–19:00” on Tuesday only.

  3. 3

    The team and the rates

    “Add multiple” pastes the team with a position; hourly rates for nurses and reception, salaries for the managers, “Unpaid” for the associates; “Vacation days per year” on each card. “Invite team” prints a code and a QR for everyone who has not joined yet.

  4. 4

    The first week and publish

    The dentist and the nurse on each surgery, the desk, decon, then “Publish”. Next week is “Copy last week”; the part-timers keep their days.

Frequently asked questions

How does the rota keep a nurse with every dentist?▾

By putting both on the same shift type. Each surgery is a type, so the pair is two names in one cell of the “List” view, and a surgery with one name stands out. There is no automatic check that stops a dentist being placed without a nurse; the practice manager sees it in the planner before pressing “Publish”.

Can part-time dentists and the hygienist keep fixed days?▾

Yes. They are placed on their days in the first week and carried forward with “Copy last week”; a change is a change to that week only. A shift type can also be limited to days, so the hygienist’s “Surgery 3 09:00–16:00” exists on Tuesday and Thursday and nowhere else.

What about the decontamination room and the floating nurse?▾

“Decon 08:00–16:30” is a shift type under the nurse position, in its own colour, and the nurse on it that day is visible next to the surgeries. A nurse trained for the desk gets the receptionist position under “Add positions for cover”, so a receptionist’s sick day can be swapped to them.

How are the hours counted for nurses and reception?▾

From the rota. Every shift counts its hours from start to end, and “Payroll” adds them per person for the period at the rate on the “Pay” tab, with bank holidays and hours over the daily norm as their own columns. “Export to Excel” gives the accountant the sheet, and “Stats” in the app shows each nurse their own hours.

Do associates on a share of fees go on the rota?▾

Yes, with the pay model “Unpaid”: their days are on the rota and in the surgeries, the desk sees when they are in, and “Payroll” counts nothing for them. Their share of fees stays in the practice management software.

What does it cost for a practice of twelve?▾

Free for one location and up to 10 people. Beyond that it is a subscription per active person on the “Employees” list, with locations, payroll and the team app included. The numbers are on the pricing page.

Get the whole practice on one rota

Surgeries, positions and the first week take an hour, and every nurse sees their days in the app the same afternoon.

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