Introduction
The on-duty/off-duty status helps your team know who is actively working. When you're on-duty, colleagues can see you're available for handovers and patient care. This visibility improves team coordination, especially during shift changes.
Before You Start
No special permissions required. All users can set their own duty status. Administrators can also set duty status for other team members.
How Duty Status Works
Your duty status is a visibility indicator, not a permission control. Being off-duty doesn't restrict what you can do in CAREFUL – you can still manage patients, complete actions, and send or receive handovers whether you're on or off duty.
When you're on-duty:
- Other team members can see you're actively working
- You appear at the top of the Members tab in team views
- You're visible as available for handovers
When you're off-duty:
- Colleagues know you're not actively working
- You still retain all patient responsibilities unless you hand them over
- You can still access CAREFUL and perform all functions
Setting Your Duty Status
When Logging In
- Navigate to the login page at
/auth/login - Enter your mobile number and password
- Click Sign In
- A dialog box appears asking "Would you like to set yourself on-duty?"
- Click Yes to go on-duty, or No to remain off-duty
When Logging Out
- Click Log Out from the sidebar
- A confirmation dialog appears
- Tick the checkbox "Automatically set yourself off-duty?" if you want to go off-duty
- Click Yes to confirm logout
Changing Status While Logged In
You can change your duty status without logging out:
To change your own status:
- From the sidebar, select My Organization
- Click the Members tab
- Find your name in the members list
- Click the kebab menu (⋮) next to your name
- Select Set to ON duty or Set to OFF duty (depending on your current status)
For administrators to change another user's status:
- From the sidebar, select My Organization
- Click the Members tab
- Find the user in the members list
- Click the kebab menu (⋮) next to their name
- Select Set to ON duty or Set to OFF duty
When to Use On-Duty and Off-Duty
Shift Workers
For staff working in shifts, it's best practice to:
- Set yourself on-duty when starting your shift
- Hand over all your patients before finishing your shift
- Set yourself off-duty when logging out at the end of your shift
- Accept handovers from the outgoing team when you next come on-duty
This ensures clear responsibility handoffs and prevents patients being assigned to staff who aren't working.
Senior Staff and On-Call Roles
For senior clinicians who remain ultimately responsible for patients even when not physically at work:
- You may choose to remain on-duty even when away from the hospital
- Or you can be off-duty but still retain patient responsibility
- Being off-duty doesn't remove your responsibility – you must explicitly hand over patients if you want to transfer responsibility
Outpatient Teams
Teams managing patients only during working hours may:
- Go off-duty at the end of the working day
- Retain responsibility for patients overnight
- Return on-duty the next working day without requiring handovers
This is appropriate when patients don't require 24-hour active monitoring.
Tips
- Team visibility: Team members who are on-duty appear at the top of the Members tab, making it easier to see who's currently working
- Responsibility persists: Going off-duty does NOT automatically hand over your patients. If you want to transfer responsibility, use the handover function separately
- Flexible workflows: Different teams may use duty status differently. Discuss with your Team Owner or Administrator what approach works best for your team
- No restrictions: Being off-duty doesn't prevent you from accessing CAREFUL, managing patients, or responding to urgent situations