# Petal Physician Scheduling Reviews 2026. Verified Reviews, Pros & Cons | Capterra > Is Petal Physician Scheduling the right Medical Practice Management solution for you? Explore 64 verified user reviews from people in industries like yours to make a confident choice. Source: https://www.capterra.com/p/145352/PetalMD-Medical-Scheduling/reviews --- Petal Physician Scheduling 4 (64) [View alternatives](https://www.capterra.com/p/145352/PetalMD-Medical-Scheduling/alternatives/) Provider data verified by our Software Research team, and reviews moderated by our Reviews Verification team. [Learn more](https://www.capterra.com/our-story/) * * * Last updated January 13th, 2026 # Reviews of Petal Physician Scheduling Ease of use 3.6 Customer Service 3.9 ## Showing most helpful reviews Showing 1-25 of 64 Reviews Sort by: Most Helpful Rating Company Size Reviewer's Role Length of Use Frequency of Use VR Verified Reviewer Chief of Emergency Medicine Hospital & Health Care Used the software for: 1-2 years ### "Meets my needs" March 13, 2018 4.0 Pros It is a solution to my needs of keeping track of my schedule which most of my doc's can easily navigate. Cons Having problems setting up because of the level of service we have and being arranged via the hospital. Review Source IW Ian W. Pediatrician and Chief Scheduler Used the software for: 1-2 years ### "great to help our Peds group call schedule" March 16, 2018 4.0 Pros Simplistic symbols he one learn how to use this software. It is helpful to also learn the mobile app is it is also useful on a daily basis. The software is easy for MD's to learn and manipulate to their own needs. It also helps with sorting out call equity issues. Cons Need to spend to time become adept but this is overall a quick process. My biggest issue is I would like the mobile app to allow me as a scheduler to make changes. Currently this can only be done it seems from a desktop which can be limiting. Review Source Response from Petal June 11, 2018 Hello Ian, We're glad to hear that our application helps you on a daily basis, that's what we're aiming for! For the moment, some features for scheduling are only available on the desktop version because scheduling comes with a lot of options; but we understand your concern and we will see what we can do regarding changes. SM Sara M. Doctor Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Have been using Petal for 3 years now. Initially was quite funcional but have lost key features." March 13, 2018 2.0 Pros I appreciate that it is web based and that it shows my colleagues schedules as well. I appreciate that it keeps a contact list for my colleagues. Cons Unable to efficiently swap shifts, a necessity for ER scheduling. This function was initially available however was lost in sequential upgrades. We have been unable to get the changes we need despite repeated requests to the help team over more than a year. Review Source Response from Petal June 11, 2018 Hello Sara, Thank you for the positive review on our app! Regarding the shift swap feature, it is only available with the Standard and Advanced plans. It is indeed a very efficient tool for an ER team, and there should not be any problem getting it. We'll get in touch! CAB Charles Antoine B. physician Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Very easy access, and user friendly " March 13, 2018 4.0 Pros ease of use is very practical especially when you're in a rush. As a physician, I barely have time to eat, and the last thing I want is to spend hours looking up my schedule. Petal MD makes this very easy with its new platform and the application Cons would like the app to allow automatic login features like fave recognition, or thumb print I would also like the app to be able to syng in our other calendars. communication between physicians should be more like a messenger type chat, rather than email type. Review Source Response from Petal June 11, 2018 Hello Charles, It's nice to read a review like yours, because with every solution and feature we develop, we want to save physician's time. Please note that with the Standard and Advanced plan, your calendar should be able to synch with Google Agenda, Outlook and iCal. More info here: https://support.petalmd.com/hc/en-ca/articles/115003905346-How-to-synchronize-my-calendar Our secure messaging system is also presently being analysed by our product team, so you will see improvements coming out in the next few months. Thanks for your feedback! CJ Carlye J. Chief of Uxbridge Cottage Hospital Used the software for: 6-12 months ### "quick response from customer service. easy to use interface" March 19, 2018 4.0 Pros having as app and having it integrate to my gmail calendar is great. allows my staff to put in their absences instead of randomly emailing me dates. Cons It is not easy for my staff to see when a shift is "open" (they have to see who has posted it to know it is an open shift as the name is assigned to our administrator). It would be good if folks could see all open shifts in a different color so it easily distinguishes and highlights open shifts. I also would like if I could post ALL the open shifts at once or all shifts of one provider at once to open (eg. if they go on mat leave/sick / leave etc). to manually post all to market place is tedious. Review Source Response from Petal June 11, 2018 Hello Carlye, Thank you for your feedback, we're glad to see that our software helps you as a scheduler and that you appreciate our calendar synchronization feature! We will work on the open shift issue in the following weeks. Stay tuned, because you should see a function for that during the summer. Thanks for your comments! AK Ajay K. CMIO Hospital & Health Care Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Great for managing the schedule but not for making the schedule" March 13, 2018 4.0 Better schedule management that is automated. Pros The UI and functions for schedule maintenance are easy to use and looks clean. The ability manage the schedule and customize without the need for help desk has improved. Cons Needs more features specifically related to communication directly from the schedule to non-petalMD users. Also the ability to create the schedule does not work well with complex schedules. Review Source Response from Petal June 11, 2018 Hello Ajay, Thank you for your kind words about our interface! About the ability to create complex schedules, our software usually has a solution for each reality. Do not hesitate to call us and we can talk more about your particular situation! JB Joanna B. Emergency Physician Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Excellent, professional service" March 13, 2018 5.0 Pros I like the ease of use and the way the schedule is set up to be very simple and appealing. It is an excellent product. Cons Sometimes the software is difficult to use on an iPhone and I have had a couple problems switching shifts. Review Source Response from Petal June 11, 2018 Hello Joanna, Thank you for your positive review, we really appreciate it! Please know that we are currently looking into different possibilities for the next upgrade for the shift swap feature. SR Sofia R. Physician Used the software for: 2+ years ### "I have been using petal at two different hospitals and it's been very effective " March 13, 2018 4.0 Pros Combination of hospitals Ease for switching and trading shifts Being able to find all physicians contact infomatiob in one area Cons Not being able to combine with own schedule - would be nice to import own schedule into petal Constant alerts Review Source Response from Petal June 11, 2018 Hello Sofia, Thank you for your great feedback! Yes, the PetalMD solution can synchronize with your personal schedule, but this only works in one way for now. Regarding the constant alerts, you can manage these in your profile settings and decide which notifications you wish to receive. Here's more info: https://support.petalmd.com/hc/en-ca/articles/115003905226-How-to-change-my-notification-preferences aB aran B. physician Health, Wellness and Fitness Used the software for: 1-2 years ### "Overall good, mobile experience is not great" March 13, 2018 4.0 online scheduling is great, makes trades very easy Pros works well for scheduling, trades are easy. Design is intuitive, and easy to navigate. Easy to see own schedule. Cons Unsure if able to push shifts to mobile device (e.g. google calendar). On screen guides are a pain and difficult to get rid of (e.g. guides show up all the time, not just once). Trades could be more intuitive, eg. selecting another physicians shift and trading for it, vs having to select my own) Review Source Response from Petal June 11, 2018 Hello Aran, Nice to see that you like our overal design and particularly the shift trade features! Regarding the on-screen guide, we identified the one you're talking about and there was indeed a repetition issue. We have since corrected it. As for the trades, we're taking note of your suggestion, thank you! VR Verified Reviewer Program Coordinator Medical Practice Used the software for: I used a free trial ### "-from medical administrator at busy urgent care" August 13, 2018 3.0 Pros \-free trial allowed all of our clinicians and staff to try it out -able to schedule various shifts for staff members Cons \-it was not easy to train all of us to use it without expiring the trial version -many great features are not available in the trial version so we were hesitant to purchase this Review Source EC Edward C. MD Used the software for: 1-2 years ### "Found platform from 1 year ago quite new ce. Newer platform harder to navigate." March 13, 2018 4.0 Pros Monthly schedule nicely laid out. Able to customize schedule requests. Scheduling options were flexible. Cons Sometimes difficult to find things with new platform. Customer support felt a bit dismissive once. Difficult to call for customer support Review Source Response from Petal June 11, 2018 Hello Edward, Thank you for your positive review particularly about the schedule layouts and options. If you can't talk to customer support immediately, do not hesitate to send a request here: https://support.petalmd.com/hc/en-ca/requests/new?flash\_digest=ee448141956375e49978e6f070fd0ed1f79c48a0 DV Daniel V. Emergency Physician Used the software for: 1-2 years ### "Not physician centric. Very hard to adjust schedule " March 13, 2018 2.0 Pros Accessibility by smartphone app is easy. Access to colleagues contacts. Access to other specialists on call Cons Inability to send trade offers for shifts posted on marketplace. Glitches syncing with apple calendar. Review Source Response from Petal June 11, 2018 Hello Daniel, Good to see that our application makes your communications easier! About the inability to offer a shift posted on the marketplace, we've heard your concern and we're looking for a way to correct this. Thank you for your feedback! JP Joseph P. ER physician Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Relatively good, but with significant hiccups" March 13, 2018 4.0 scheduling across 4 hospitals Pros Able to coordinate shifts at multiple hospitals. Prevents one hospital from double scheduling me against another hospital Cons Bugs. Sometimes the calendar does not want to open. Shifts sometimes show on wrong day if overnight shifts Review Source Response from Petal June 11, 2018 Hello Joseph, Thank you for your feedback! It is indeed a unique feature of Petal Scheduling (PetalMD) to be able to synchronize schedules from multiple hospitals and even clinics. Regarding the issue you mentioned in your post, it should now be resolved. We are sorry for any inconvenience this might have caused. Please, do not hesitate to communicate with our support team whenever you find an issue. RC Rob C. Doctor - emergency and family practice Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Great scheduling tool to be able to organise busy schedule amongst multiple colleagues." March 13, 2018 4.0 Pros Clear layout and ease of use. I can see what shifts I am doing and what shifts the others are doing. Cons I HATE that I can't use the app - not even to see my current planned work shifts plan when I am offline. You HAVE to be online (4g or WiFi) to use it. Review Source Response from Petal June 11, 2018 Hello Rob, Thank you for your feedback! We understand it can be frustrating to only have access to your schedule when you're online, but that is also the best way to be certain that your calendar is 100 % up to date. Giving access to offline calendars would create risks for communication errors and we want to avoid that. We hope you understand! ND Nicholas D. Emergency Physician Used the software for: 6-12 months ### "Very easy to use. " March 13, 2018 5.0 Pros Easy to make trades. Very user friendly. I like the new app as well. The calendar visual is also nice. Cons I cannot offer an already posted shift in a trade but instead have to remove my posted shift before offering it to someone else. Tedious at times. Review Source Response from Petal June 11, 2018 Hello Nicholas, Glad to see that you like our shift trade feature and that you find it user friendly. Regarding the possibility to trade an already posted shift, we'll see what we can do, thank you for your feedback! TP Tennille P. Physician Used the software for: 6-12 months ### "PetalMD is an excellent platform for scheduling; and in particular making trades with my colleagues." March 20, 2018 5.0 Pros The ease of use; on both the desktop, laptop and my iphone. In addition - the push button notifications help me to pick up shifts quickly; or respond to messages from my colleagues. Cons I actually don't have any complaints about it. PetalMD is much better than the previous software we were using. Review Source Response from Petal June 11, 2018 Hello Tennille, We're glad to see that you like Petal Scheduling (PetalMD), thank you a lot for this positive review! JG Jay G. Emergency Physician Used the software for: 1-2 years ### "Pretty smooth scheduling/trading" March 17, 2018 4.0 Pros Easy to navigate. Intuitive. Reasonable mobile interface. Has a great web-based interface. Cost is affordable. Cons Shift trades for shifts on the Marketplace are awkward. Mobile interface is not as user-friendly or as functional as the web-based version. Review Source Response from Petal June 11, 2018 Hello Jay, Thank you for your positive review about the conviviality of navigating our software. We're always listening to users' advice, so that we can upgrade the interface periodically! Speaking of which, we're currently looking at the issue you mentioned about the marketplace. So, please don't forget to visit our What's New section in your help center for all our latest innovations from time to time. JB Jody B. Physician Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Tedious to schedule work events. Far too many clicks necessary." March 14, 2018 3.0 Pros That other approved users can modify my schedule. That I can access it from a mobile platform. Calendar view is improved now that I'm using an Android device. Cons When filling in weeks of schedule months in the future, after each event is scheduled and then confirmed, being sent back to today's date and having to navigate back to where you were. This is exceedingly tedious and frustrating. It triples the time required to set a schedule in the future. Review Source Response from Petal June 11, 2018 Hello Jody, Glad to know that you like our Android application! Please note that you can now select every date you need for absences on a single calendar page. More info here: https://support.petalmd.com/hc/en-ca/articles/115004788603-How-to-add-multiple-absences MT Michel T. Physician Hospital & Health Care Used the software for: 6-12 months ### "Great software, easy access to schedule from my phone" February 2, 2018 5.0 Saves a lot of time for me and my team during the planning. Real-time calendars eliminates risks of communication errors that used to happen before. Pros I like the app design of the calendar and the notifications on my mobile phone. It's much more easier to communicate any info related to the schedule, like absences or shift modification requests. A must-have for physicians with complex schedules. The features got the what it takes to address complexity. Cons I can't thing of anything, it does what it needs to do. Maybe too many features I don't need to use. Review Source Response from Petal June 11, 2018 Hello Michel, Thank you for your amazing feedback! DM DUNCAN M. NEUROLOGIST Used the software for: ### "physician user and now group planner at medium sized teaching hospital" November 26, 2015 5.0 PROS: intuitive, easy to navigate, useful bonuses like email notifications to group members automatically built in. Designers seem to have anticipated all of the tasks that would previously have been done manually by MD or admin assist (this is not usually the case with software replacing human functions) Excellent telephone support: personable, no long wait or complicated menu selection, bilingual CONS: has many additional features I don't use (may be useful to others). Have learned to ignore these. Not a problem at present, only a minor criticism but designers should exercise caution if adding more features in future so as not to compromise ease of use by complexity. Review Source JL Jess L. ED physician Used the software for: Less than 6 months ### "easy scheduling and trading " March 13, 2018 4.0 Pros Easy to post shifts for trades or transfer. Easy to see what shifts I have for the month. Easy transfer of calendar to sync with my phone Cons errors occasionally with shift trades, resulting in multiple emails between users to clarify. Difficulty commenting on already posted trades. Review Source Response from Petal June 11, 2018 Hello Jess, Thank you for your kind words regarding the calendar synchronization and shift trade features! VR Verified Reviewer Emergency Physician Hospital & Health Care Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Physician lifestyles have been totally transformed" March 13, 2018 5.0 Pros PetalMD is an intuitive scheduling platform that allows physicians to have a life outside of work. Docs can finally be there for their family, friends and themselves. Physicians who work at two sites or also have run a clinic outside the hospital no longer have to suffer hours by their computer and phone sorting through multiple trades when they are double-booked. Trades through a "marketplace" or directly between physicians are error-checked by the computer for schedule conflicts and updated to the master schedule in real-time. We no longer fax an updated copy of the schedule every few days to the hospital, not certain if the most recent version is the one posted; hospital clerical staff can have limited-access accounts to view the master schedule online. The technical support is always quick, helpful, and professional - the answer to my problem is always found. If your group is anything like my group, then they will have zero regrets going to this platform. I make the schedule for my department and I have found the scheduling system adaptive to our group's many unique needs. Cons There is a learning curve to using the scheduling system and I would recommend training at least one other person other than the scheduler to avoid downtime if the scheduler is away unexpectedly. The training process was very helpful but becoming an expert in all the functionality of the schedule creation took me about 6-8 months to master (at least a couple of schedules). The scheduling system has to be meticulously programmed in its parameters or else it can do something really silly with people's schedules. Support has been great to adjust little rules to iron out these "bugs" in the rules I created with the PetalMD consultant. They always figure out a way to avoid similar problems in the future for me. We are now in our sixth iteration of the schedule and every round the schedule making gets easier. The mobile app does not have nearly as much functionality as the desktop website version. Some missing features can be very important like no error-checking for shift trades. Review Source Response from Petal June 11, 2018 Wow! Thank you for this amazing and complete review! We're really glad to see that you fully appreciate the time saved by our software; this is one of our goals! Jonathan Tristan W. Dr. Used the software for: 1-2 years ### "overall pretty good" March 13, 2018 4.0 Better way to book off time. Pros there are a number of different calendar views that make it easy to navigate. I can clearly see what I have booked off. I am able to see who is working with me during the day and who is available for trades. trades are straight forward. Cons I book off months in advance and there are only a few options for time off, there should be more Sometimes, my days off are dropped. Printing can be hassle - I like a particular view which is sometimes hard to find in the list of options. The more users the more confusing the trade situation. I usually have this ironed out before hand and then go into Petal to make the switch. Otherwise it moght be a bit more difficult. Review Source Response from Petal June 11, 2018 Hello Jonathan, Thank you for your kind words about the calendar views and trade features! Please know that we are currently working on upgrading these features to make them easier to use. As far as your comment on the time off functionality, the planner of a group can create the categories that s/he wants to allow the group to use. So you should check with your group planner. This is not a PetalMD limitation. JD Jim D. MD Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Clunky would be an exaggeration when trying to be positive" March 13, 2018 1.0 Pros that both hospitals I work at share this software. Of course, that stops march 31 when one hospital leaves Petal Cons it is dysfunctional! If I post a shift for trade I cannot then choose that shift in exchange for a trade with someone else - it prevents me from doing exactly what I have requested. I have to remove my trade request in order to make a trade! Shifts up for trade are not visible on a calendar. I have to keep switching from the list of trades up on marketplace to my calendar then to the group calendar to see if some can accommodate the switch. Otherwise i have to click on each individual to see if they are free - incredibly painful! I usually end up getting our Petal manager/scheduler to make the changes because it is otherwise so hard Review Source Response from Petal June 11, 2018 Hello Jim, It's unfortunate that the hospitals you work in will no longer be using PetalMD. We're truly sorry for the situation. Please know that we took note of your comments regarding the shift trade feature and that we are currently looking into ways to upgrade it. At the moment you still can initiate only 1 transaction by shift, but you can send it to multiple members in the same requests. We are still concentrating on improving this feature. To show the marketplace offer in your personal calendar, you can select this option via the display button in your personal calendar. This option will remain the default, so no need to shuffle between your calendar and trade section. Thanks for your comments. VR Verified Reviewer Very elegant, extremely functional Hospital & Health Care Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Great but expensive " December 6, 2019 5.0 I mostly enjoyed the ability to share the calendars through this product on my different other calendar organizers, this was done in style for sure. Pros Design is elegant and intuitive with colour coding and the like, very easy to use, synchronized with different calendars easily with no hassle which is a huge plus, messaging service was very well integrated. Cons Main thing was cost, our hospital had to move to a much inferior product because if the significant increase in the cost of service. Review Source Response from Petal November 11, 2020 Thanks for your feedback, we would be happy to revisit working with you if you are interested in exploring options again. Similar Products Featured ## Send me user reviews about this product ### Fill out the form and we'll send a list of the top-rated software based on real user reviews directly to your inbox.