On-Call Scheduling (Lightning Bolt)
Lightning Bolt - St. Joe's On-Call Scheduling Solution
St. Joseph's Healthcare Hamilton is launching a new on-call scheduling tool called Lightning Bolt. Once fully operational, departments will be able to enter and manage their own on-call schedules instead of e-mailing paper schedules to Telecommunications, creating a more efficient and transparent process.
Implementation will be occurring in three phases:
- Phase 1: Went live on July 25, 2023. During Phase 1, on-call schedules are available to view here, or using the link to the right. During Phase 1, contact information in Lightning Bolt is only available to Telecommunications.
As part of Phase 1, there are no changes to workflow for those who are on-call, including attendings, residents, fellows, medical students, staff, etc. Paging requests will continue to go through Telecommunications. Schedules and changes to the on-call schedules will continue to be e-mailed by department schedulers to Telecommunications at on-callschedules@stjoes.ca, who will enter the information into Lightning Bolt.
- Phase 2: De-centralization of on-call scheduling to department pilot groups entering their own on-call schedules into Lightning Bolt directly, enabling real-time consults/updates. Please note, this will apply to SJHH internal employees and Staff Physicians only. Telecommunications will continue to support external schedulers.
- Phase 3: Upon a successful Phase 2, continuation of Phase 2 to all remaining SJHH internal departments with on-call schedules.
To ensure a successful implementation, there are a few notes to keep in mind:
- All schedules and changes should be emailed to the Telecommunications Department by a Department Scheduler to on-callschedules@stjoes.ca at least four (4) weeks in advance of a shift as per the collective agreement. Resident schedules can be provided two (2) weeks in advance of a shift. If a schedule or change is not received in this manner, Telecommunicators will inform the requester to do so. Urgent schedule changes are an exception.
- Contact information will only visible to Telecommunicators in Phase 1. All St. Joe's staff are asked to update their contact information in the self-serve ServiceNow User Profile Manager. If contact information is not updated in the ServiceNow User Profile Manager, it will not show in Lightning Bolt from the daily sync at 7:00 a.m.
If there is an urgent same-day contact information change, please contact Telecommunications in Phase 1 at on-callschedules@stjoes.ca or (905) 522-1155 ext. 33311 so they can manually update Lightning Bolt. However, for urgent contact changes, it is the department scheduler's responsibility to also contact ServiceDesk at (905) 522-1155 ext. 33040 to make this change immediately to their profile or else it will be overwritten by the old information during the 7:00 a.m. sync.
It is important users log into their St. Joe's email or PC at least once every five (5) months to ensure their account is not marked as inactive.
Why is this important?
- Telecommunications currently manages over 60 on-call schedules manually
- Paper schedule changes are made by hand and there is no easy way to share paper schedules.
- Currently there is no standardized schedule format and often contact information is missing.
- Going digital will allow for tracking of changes and creation of reports such as call equalization.
- Digital access will be at the users' fingertips.
Support
For Telecommunications: Training materials are available to Telecommunications on MyCollaboration.
For Department Schedulers: On the St. Joe's network, click here for resource materials.
For those who are On-Call: During Phase 1, there are no changes to workflow to those who are on-call. During Phase 2 and 3, go-live support and training materials will be communicated.