Pittsburgh University
School of Dental Medicine
Automated Clinical Scheduling
Applications Used:
About
The University of Pittsburgh School of Dental Medicine, celebrating its 120th anniversary in 2016, has been known for its focus on innovation and its ability to output some of the best dentists from a local level to a global level since its inception. It continues to move itself forward, noting its commitment to advancing the future of dental medicine through teaching, research, and service.
The Challenge
Marnie Oakley and her clinical scheduling team had been accustomed to a manual process with their scheduling that took more than a month of focused effort. She knew they had an involved process with their third- and fourth-year student groups adding another level of complexity when it came to placing students into their rotations based on the departments’ rules. She and her team could have never imagined the possibility of automating the process and getting an outcome that met all of the school’s requirements, but that became a reality when they met AllofE. Pittsburgh wanted to automate their scheduling process, but had been hard pressed to find a company that spoke their language and understood the nuances of their scheduling rules. They needed schedule results in a format that was easy to read and understand.
The Solution
Through a series of meetings, the Pittsburgh team sat down with their AllofE project manager and implementation manager to define their scheduling rules, including timely patient care, D3 and D4 team matchups, number of students per rotation, and availability in morning and afternoon sessions. Marnie said she had been reluctant at first, but she was very relieved to learn that AllofE really spoke her language. With eduSched’s automated scheduler, AllofE customized the scheduling algorithms based on university requirements and rules to generate an optimized schedule for Pittsburgh School of Dentistry Year 3 and Year 4 students.
The Effect
Through eMedley’s eduSched automated scheduling, the school was able to review their schedule outcomes in several different views that made it easy to understand that they had received the schedules they were looking for. With a few adjustments based on a few of the original rules, the Pittsburgh team had the schedules they needed to provide to their departments and to their students.
Moving Forward
The University of Pittsburgh School of Dental Medicine and AllofE Solutions will continue to partner to run the schedules based on each year’s evolving requirements. Marnie herself has spoken out about her experience to other dental schools, saying, “At Pitt, we cannot say enough good things about AllofE. They have the most commendable customer service and were tremendously affordable.”