Extract List of On-Duty Doctors
As a Ward Clerk, I frequently need to pull a unique list of doctor names from the weekly shift schedule to quickly see who is working on any given day or week. Manually sifting through the schedule and noting down names is time-consuming and prone to errors, especially with multiple shifts and recurring doctors.
=UNIQUE(C2:C11) How it works: The UNIQUE function is designed to return a list of distinct values from a specified range. By applying `=UNIQUE(C2:C11)` to the 'Doctor Name' column, Excel automatically filters out all duplicate entries, providing the Ward Clerk with a clean, concise list of every doctor scheduled to work during the specified period. This dynamic array function updates automatically if the source data changes, ensuring the list of on-duty doctors is always current.
Data Setup
| Day | Shift | Doctor Name |
|---|---|---|
| Monday | Morning | Dr. Smith |
| Monday | Afternoon | Dr. Jones |
| Tuesday | Morning | Dr. Smith |
| Tuesday | Afternoon | Dr. Williams |
| Wednesday | Morning | Dr. Jones |
| Wednesday | Afternoon | Dr. Brown |
| Thursday | Morning | Dr. Smith |
| Thursday | Afternoon | Dr. Williams |
| Friday | Morning | Dr. Brown |
| Friday | Afternoon | Dr. Jones |
Step-by-Step Guide
Open your Excel sheet containing the weekly shift schedule.
Identify the column that contains the 'Doctor Name' (e.g., Column C).
Select the cell where you want the unique list of doctors to appear (e.g., cell F2).
Type the formula `=UNIQUE(` into the selected cell.
Select the range of cells containing the doctor names from your schedule, excluding the header (e.g., `C2:C11`).
Close the parenthesis `)` and press Enter.