Use Caregiver Suggestion to Find a Caregiver for a Schedule
Use Caregiver Suggestion to find an appropriate Caregiver who can work a schedule. The Caregiver Suggestion tool can take into account many different criteria, including the Caregivers' Qualifications, Skills, Preferred Districts, Languages, Availability, and the Preferred Gender on the Authorization. You can also choose to filter on Caregiver Category and Classifications while suggesting Caregivers for the Schedule.
There are numerous ways to access the Caregiver Suggestion tool. Let's look at the options:
Method 1 - From the Caregiver or Client Calendar:
- Open the calendar for the person for whom you have a schedule for which you need to find a caregiver.
- Click on the schedule in the calendar for which you wish to use Caregiver Suggestion.
- Click on the Caregiver Suggestion tool in the toolbar at the top of the calendar.
Method 2 - From any Calendar or the Schedule Review Module:
- Open the calendar for the person for whom you have a schedule for which you need to find a caregiver.
- Right click on the schedule in the calendar or grid for which you wish to use Caregiver Suggestion to show the context menu.
- Under Caregiver Options, click on the Suggestion tool.
Method 3 - From any Setup a Schedule Screen:
- While adding or editing a new single schedule or editing a selected event,
click on the Caregiver Suggestion tool in the ribbon at the top of the screen.
THEN. . .
The Caregiver Suggestion screen will open.
Viewing the results:
Suggested Caregivers will be listed in the Suggested Caregivers tab in the grid portion of the screen. You can determine the suitability of a caregiver by the information displayed in the columns in the grid.
The detail panel to the left of the grid shows the Client's criteria from the schedule that may influence the Suggestion, such as Client's Language, District, required Qualification and Skills etc. You can also use the icons at the bottom of this panel to display detailed information on the Client or currently selected Caregiver.
The Score column in the suggestion grid displays a ranking which is calculated specifically for each caregiver indicating their suitability for this schedule. The higher the score, the higher the suitability. The score is calculated based on a points system; different criteria have different point levels associated with them. The score displayed for the caregiver is the sum of the points for all criteria.
Use the other tabs in the grid display area to view schedules for selected caregivers on a Timeline or in a Day View or to see who has been Previously Scheduled with the client.
To adjust the results:
Changing the Filter Options allows you to control which caregivers are returned as suggestion results.
By adjusting the Filter Options you can choose not to show any caregivers that do not match specific criteria and narrow your results. Conversely, if you are having a hard time finding a suitable caregiver you can remove certain filters to widen your search.
The following options are available:
| Category | Only show Caregivers matching a specific Category. |
| Maximum Results | Limit the number of Caregivers returned in the Suggestion Grid. This will speed up Suggestion but may hide some qualified caregivers. |
| Maximum Available | Limit the number of returned Caregivers in the grid for which Availability will be evaluated. This will speed up Suggestion, but if many Caregivers are returned, some may have their availability reported as "Unknown". |
| Available | Only show Caregivers that are Available at the time of the schedule. Note: Filtering on Availability may slow down Suggestion. |
| Primary Qualification | Only show Caregivers who have the Qualification required by the Schedule's Service (Call Type) listed as "Primary" (not "Also Willing to Perform"). Note: If the Caregiver is not Qualified, they will never be returned. |
| Gender | Only show Caregivers that match the Preferred Gender on the Client's Authorization. |
| Schedule Length | Only show Caregivers that have preferred Schedule Lengths covering the length of the schedule. Note: If the Caregiver has no listed preferred Schedule Lengths, then they will always be a match on Schedule Length. |
| Critical Skill | Only show Caregivers that have all of the Critical Skills required by the Client and/or Authorization. Caregivers may be missing some or all of the Regular Skills required and still be returned. This option cannot be unchecked. |
| District | Only show Caregivers that have the Client's District listed under their Preferred Districts. Note: If the Caregiver has no listed Preferred Districts, then they will always be a match on District. |
| Language | Only show Caregivers that have the same Language as the Client listed on their profile. |
| Show Potential | Include Potential Caregivers in the results. |
| Caregiver Classification | Only show Caregivers with specific Classifications. Caregivers matching any of the specified Classifications will be returned. |
You can also use the Toggle Unavailable tool on the Caregiver Suggestion ribbon to show or hide Caregivers in the grid that are Unavailable for this Schedule. (If not already pre-filtered on Available.)
Distance and Mapping Options:
Caregiver suggestion also provides tools to find the closest suitable caregiver to the schedule.
Use the Calculate Distance tool to display the driving time and distance to and from this schedule from the caregiver's home or previous/next schedule for each selected caregiver. Distance and travel will be automatically calculated using HomeTrak's Trips directions service and be displayed in the appropriate columns in the grid. You can then sort the grid based on the distance column to see which qualified caregivers are nearest the schedule.
You can also use the Show Highlighted Caregiver on Map to view the selected caregiver's address on a map.
Using Caregiver Suggestion with the Pending Caregivers feature:
In most cases, you will use Caregiver Suggestion to find several suitable caregivers to contact and offer the schedule. You can easily use Caregiver Suggestion to add the list of appropriate available caregivers for this schedule and keep track of how and when caregivers have been contacted to offer the schedule, and which caregivers accept or reject the schedule.
You can use these tools to simply add Caregivers to the list of Pending Caregivers for this schedule for later followup, or the tool can be used to actually send an email or text notification to the selected caregivers informing them of the open schedule. (This will also add them to the list of Pending Caregivers with a status to indicate that the message was sent.)
For more information on using the Pending Caregivers features see the document Using Caregiver Suggestion to Notify Caregivers of an Available Schedule.
To select and save a Caregiver to the Schedule:
Highlight the desired Caregiver in the grid and click Save to close the Caregiver Suggestion window and save the selected caregiver to the schedule.
To close suggestion without saving this caregiver to the schedule, click Cancel.