NextOnCall

The NextOnCall app

For doctors, PAs and everyone else who takes call. Short on time? Start with the one-page quick start.

1. How NextOnCall works

Your practice has a NextOnCall phone number for after-hours calls. When a patient calls it during your shift:

  1. The app rings first, like a normal phone call, even if the app is closed.
  2. If you don't answer in the app, your cell phone rings. It shows the practice's number as the caller, so you know it's a practice call. (If the app can't ring at all, for example because your phone is off, your cell rings after about 10 seconds.)
  3. If you still don't answer, the call goes where your practice chose: the next person on call, a backup number, or the practice's voicemail.

When you call a patient back from the app, they see the practice's number, never your cell.

You're only called during your own shifts. The shifts are on the app's Schedule tab.

2. Install the app

When your practice adds you, you get a welcome text with the download links. You can also use these:

iPhone: App Store Android: Google Play

3. Sign in

There's no password. You sign in with your cell number and a code sent by text.

  1. Open the app. Under Mobile number, enter the cell number your practice added you with, then tap Send code.
  2. You'll get a text: "NextOnCall: Your login code is …". Type the 6 digits; the app signs in as soon as the sixth is in. On iPhone, the code usually appears above the keyboard to tap.
  3. If no text arrives, wait for Resend code (30 seconds). Codes last 10 minutes.
The sign-in screen: a Mobile number box with a number filled in, and the Send code button.
Enter your cell number, then tap Send code.
The code screen: six boxes for the code, a Verify button, and Resend code.
Type the 6-digit code from the text.

No text after a minute? Your practice may not have added this number yet, or added it with a typo. Ask your practice administrator to check your number on their On-Call Team page.

On more than one practice's team? After the code, the app asks "Your number is on more than one team. Which one is this for?" Tap the practice you're on call for. The app is signed in to one practice at a time: calls from the other practice ring your cell phone directly, and its shift reminders don't reach the app. To switch, log out and sign in again.

4. Set up your phone so calls ring

This is the part that matters most. It takes two minutes, once.

Everyone

The app's screen titled NextOnCall is your medical pager, with an Enable notifications button.
Tap Enable notifications, then allow them.
The app's Settings: Notifications enabled, Push notifications on, and the choice of when to be told a shift starts.
Settings should say "Notifications enabled".

iPhone

Android

A banner on the app's Home screen: Calls won't show full screen, with a Turn on button.
Android 14 and newer: if Home shows this, tap Turn on.

The best check is a test call: ask your practice to call its NextOnCall number during one of your shifts, once with the app open and once with your phone locked.

5. Shift reminders

The app's Home screen: You're On Call, the next shift, open swap requests, and recent calls.
Home: on call now, your next shift, and requests from your team.

6. Answering a call

Buttons on the call screen

Mute / UnmuteTurns your microphone off and on.
Speaker / EarpieceSwitches between speakerphone and the earpiece.
Escalate to …Hands the call to the next person up. It only appears when someone is on the next tier right now. The caller hears your practice's hand-off message while that person's phone rings, and you're disconnected. If they don't pick up, you get an "Escalation not answered" notification saying where the call went.
End callHangs up.

7. Calling a patient back

  1. Open the Call tab.
  2. Tap a call under Recent calls and confirm Call, or type a number on the dial pad and tap the green button.
The Call tab: recent calls, two of them voicemails with their transcripts, and a dial pad.
The Call tab: recent calls, voicemails and the dial pad.

The patient sees the practice's number, never your cell, and when they call back they reach the practice line.

If the app can't connect the call, it offers Ring my phone: your cell rings first, and when you answer, NextOnCall connects you to the patient, still showing the practice's number.

8. Voicemail

A voicemail opened: its transcript, with Close, Call back and Listen.
A voicemail opened from the Call tab.

9. Caller notes

Caller notes are shared with everyone in your practice. They're for practical details that help the next person who takes a call from that number, for example "Daughter calls for her mother; call back on this number" or "Prefers Spanish".

The Caller Notes list: three numbers, each with a short practical note.
Caller notes, shared with your practice.

Keep medical details out of notes: no diagnoses, medications or test results. NextOnCall isn't built to hold patient health information. Clinical notes belong in your practice's medical record.

10. Your schedule, coverage and swaps

The Schedule tab shows your days on call in blue and your upcoming shifts. Backup shifts show TIER 2 or TIER 3. The practice's office staff build the schedule on the website.

The Schedule tab: a month calendar with on-call days in blue, and upcoming shifts, one marked ON NOW and one TIER 2.
Your days on call, and your upcoming shifts.
A day opened on the Schedule tab: the shifts that day, with Request coverage and Swap shift buttons.
Tap a day to give the shift away or trade it.

Give a shift away (coverage)

  1. On the Schedule tab, tap the day, then Request coverage. Add a note if you like, then tap Send coverage.
  2. Your team gets a "Coverage needed" notification. The first person to tap Accept → Take shift gets it, and you get "Coverage accepted".
  3. Until someone takes it, the shift is still yours. You can cancel the request from the same day.

Trade a shift (swap)

  1. Tap the day, then Swap shift, add a note if you like, and tap Send swap.
  2. A teammate taps Accept on your request and picks one of their shifts to offer.
  3. You get "Swap proposal received". On Home → Swap shift, tap Confirm to trade, or Reject to reopen your request for others.

To answer someone else's request, open Home → Swap shift (or tap the bell at the top). Requests appear under Open requests.

The Swap Shift screen: a teammate's swap offer and a coverage request, each with Accept and Dismiss.
Open requests from your teammates.

The change happens at once, with no approval step, and your practice can choose to get an email about each one. If you take over a shift, its calls ring your phone from then on.

11. Stats

The Stats tab counts your calls (answered, missed, average length) for your current shift, the last 30 days, the last 12 months and all time, plus your shifts and hours on call.

The Stats tab: calls, answered, missed and average length for the current shift and the last 30 days.
The Stats tab.

12. Logging out and changing phones

13. When something isn't right

"You were signed out"Sign in again with your number and a new code. Until you do, calls ring your cell phone.
Calls ring my cell, not the appCheck you're signed in, that Settings shows "Notifications enabled", and the phone setup above (Android: Full screen notifications, no Force stop, not a sleeping app; iPhone: Focus).
No ring soundTurn the ringer on. iPhone: the side switch and Focus modes silence calls and alerts.
"Updating the app"The app is getting a small update. It restarts by itself in a few seconds, and never during a call.
"Update NextOnCall"Your version is too old. Tap Update now, or update NextOnCall in the App Store or Google Play. Until you do, calls ring your cell phone.
"Something went wrong"Tap Reload app. The problem is reported to us automatically, and your calls still ring your cell phone in the meantime.
A shift is wrongAsk your practice's office staff; they manage the schedule on the website.

Still stuck? Email contact@nextoncall.com with your practice's name, your phone model and what happened. Never include patient details.