Top 4 Most Popular Nurse Scheduling Software

Andrew Conrad profile picture
By Andrew Conrad

Published
5 min read

Nurses keep your medical practice running smoothly. Nurse scheduling software makes it easier for you to make their lives easier.

word-image

Running a medical practice can literally be a matter of life and death. So when it comes to scheduling the nurses who keep your practice running smoothly, you can’t afford to use an insufficient tool, or spend months and months finding a nurse scheduling software program that works for your team.

COVID-19 has put a strain on staffing and scheduling at medical practices of all sizes, from rural doctor’s offices to major metropolitan hospitals. This can have a negative impact on patient experience as well as the morale of your nursing staff, with as many as half of all U.S. nurses and physicians reporting burnout even before COVID-19.

You shouldn’t have to struggle with a cumbersome, unintuitive nurse scheduling system during “normal” times. In 2020, an unusable staff scheduling system could lead to undertreated patients, alienated medical staff, unfilled shifts, and worse.

In this guide, we’ll look at four top options in the nurse scheduling software market (see methodology below) to help nurse managers track and manage nurse shifts, including time off requests, open shifts, substitutions, and more. Each of these options has a user review rating of at least 4 out of 5 in our directory with 10 reviews or more.

word-image

1. Connecteam

User rating: 4.7 out of 5 Reviews: 90+

Connecteam is an all-in-one employee management app serving industries of all shapes and sizes, including medical practices. It’s designed from the bottom up to be mobile-friendly, allowing your nursing staff to have their scheduling information in their pocket whether they’re resting at home or helping a patient. It earned accolades for Best Value and Best Ease of Use based on user ratings in our directory (methodology here).

word-image

Drag and drop template scheduling in Connecteam (Source)

Key features:

  • Predictive scheduling

  • Recurring shifts

  • GPS status updates

  • Built-in chat

Pricing: Starts at $29/month for up to 200 users when paid annually. Upgraded plans add features and additional schedule groups. There is also a free plan with limited features.

2. ScheduleAnywhere

User rating: 4.6 out of 5 Reviews: 25+

As the name implies, ScheduleAnywhere was developed to enable teams (including nursing teams) to manage their schedules from anywhere. The software, which has been helping healthcare professionals for more than 20 years, is designed for healthcare, law enforcement, and other teams that operate 24/7.

a-screenshot-of-the-employee-schedule-calendar-vie

The employee schedule view in ScheduleAnywhere (Source)

Key features:

  • Shift-swapping

  • Built-in messaging

  • Online schedule distribution

  • Custom calendar views

Pricing:

  • $25/month for up to 10 employees

  • $50/month for 11-25 employees

  • $2/employee/month for 26-50 employees

Prices include live phone and email support.

3. ScheduleFlex

User rating: 4.4 out of 5 Reviews: 230+

Powered by Shiftboard, an open source employee scheduling software developer with more than a decade on the market, ScheduleFlex is specifically designed for teams that require flexible, dynamic work scheduling. Those teams include call centers, warehouse and distribution centers, and, of course, nursing teams.

ScheduleFlex earned a spot in our Top 20 Employee Scheduling Software report based on user reviews and web search interest.

a-screenshot-of-the-shift-management-screen-in-sch

Shift management in ScheduleFlex (Source)

Key features:

  • Float pool management

  • Skills tracking

  • Shift dispatching

  • Automated group scheduling

Pricing: ScheduleFlex implementation and subscription pricing is not available online. Contact the vendor to request a demo and get a quote.

4. Snap Schedule

User rating: 4.5 out of 5 Reviews: 10+

Snap Schedule nurse scheduling software is designed to cover every aspect of modern medical scheduling, from regulatory and union requirements to overtime management. Snap Schedule also offers flexible pricing, with both a SaaS subscription model and a perpetual license (one-time payment) model.

a-screenshot-of-the-daily-calendar-view-in-snap-sc

The daily view in Snap Schedule (Source)

Key features:

  • Online time clock

  • Shift swapping

  • Auto generated shift scheduling

  • Analytical insights and reporting

Pricing: Snap Schedule 365 starts at $450/year plus $36 per employee. A perpetual license for one computer is $450, with three-computer packages available for $950.

More nurse scheduling software options

If none of these options fit all of your requirements, explore our complete nurse scheduling software directory where you can sort by the highest rated options and filter for specific features. You can even filter for options that offer a free trial.

Finding an efficient, easy to use nurse scheduling system can go a long way to making your practice run smoother. But we know that no matter how much you prepare, you may still run up against COVID-19 related nurse staffing shortages. The CDC recommends the following strategies for those situations:

  • Cancel all non-essential procedures and visits

  • Contact local healthcare coalitions to identify additional nurses

  • If possible, provide safe alternative transportation and housing to help nurses report to work

  • Implement plans to transfer patients to facilities with adequate staffing

Monitoring patients remotely could also help alleviate some of the strain and risk associated with on-premise nurse staffing. Our recent article on remote patient monitoring looks at four benefits, including:

  • Lowering the risk of spreading infection among staff and patients

  • Accepting patients from a wider area

  • Providing better quality of care

  • And preparing your practice for the future



Methodology

To identify the systems featured here, we entered the term “nurse scheduling software” in Google during the week of Oct. 19 in an incognito window with the location set to the U.S. Provided they fit our market definition for nurse scheduling software, the top solutions on the first page of search results are presented/included above in alphabetical order.


Looking for Scheduling software? Check out Capterra's list of the best Scheduling software solutions.

Was this article helpful?


About the Author

Andrew Conrad profile picture

Andrew Conrad is a senior content writer at Capterra, covering business intelligence, retail, and construction, among other markets. As a seven-time award winner in the Maryland, Delaware, D.C. and Suburban Newspapers of America editorial contests, Andrew’s work has been featured in the Baltimore Sun and PSFK. He lives in Austin with his wife, son, and their rescue dog, Piper.

visitor tracking pixel