Staff

A complete guide to the Staff module — managing clinic staff records, roles, work schedules, salary information, and department assignments.

Written By Dev010

Last updated 19 days ago

The Staff module maintains the clinic's operational HR roster. Staff records store employment details, work schedules, qualifications, and salary information for every member of the clinic team. This is separate from user accounts — a staff record is an HR record while a user account is a system login credential.

Accessing the Module

Sidebar → Staff

Direct URL:

https://yourdomain.com/dashboard/staff

Who can access:

Action	Admin	Doctor	Receptionist	Nurse
View staff	✅	❌	✅	❌
Create staff record	✅	❌	❌	❌
Edit staff record	✅	❌	❌	❌
Delete staff record	✅	❌	❌	❌

Staff management is restricted to Admin role for create, edit, and delete. Receptionist has view-only access. Doctor and Nurse accounts do not see the Staff module in the sidebar.

Staff vs Users — Important Distinction

CareNova maintains two separate but related concepts:

Concept	Table	Purpose
Users	`users`	System login accounts — email, password, role, dashboard access
Staff	`staff`	HR records — employment details, schedules, salary, qualifications

A person can exist in both tables — their users record gives them system access while their staff record stores their employment information.

A staff record does not automatically create a user account, and a user account does not automatically create a staff record. They are managed independently.

When onboarding a new team member, create both a user account (so they can log in) and a staff record (for HR tracking). See the First-Time Setup Checklist for the recommended onboarding workflow.

Staff List

The main staff page shows a complete list of all staff records.

Each row displays:

Full name
Role
Department
Phone
Email
Join date
Status badge (active / inactive)
Salary
Action buttons (edit, delete)

Creating a Staff Record

Click the Add Staff button on the staff list page. A sheet slides in with the staff creation form.

Required Fields

Field	Notes
Full Name	Staff member's complete name
Role	Their position in the clinic (e.g. Doctor, Nurse, Receptionist, Admin)

Optional Fields

Personal Details:

Field	Notes
First Name	First name separately from full name
Last Name	Last name separately from full name
Phone	Contact phone number
Email	Work or personal email address
Address	Home or work address

Employment:

Field	Notes
Department	Assign to a clinic department
Join Date	Date the staff member started
Status	`active` by default — set to inactive for former staff
Salary	Monthly or annual salary amount
Qualifications	Degrees, certifications, and professional qualifications
Notes	Any additional HR notes

Work Schedule:

Field	Notes
Work Schedule	JSON field storing working days and hours per day

Work schedule is stored as a structured JSON object. See the Work Schedule section below for the format.

Saving the Staff Record

Click Save to create the record. It appears immediately in the staff list.

Editing a Staff Record

Click the Edit button on any staff row. The edit sheet opens with all existing values pre-filled.

All fields are editable. Common edit operations include:

Updating salary after a pay review
Changing department after a transfer
Updating qualifications after completing a certification
Setting status to inactive when a staff member leaves

Work Schedule

The work schedule field stores a JSON object defining which days a staff member works and their hours for each day.

Work Schedule Format

{
  "monday": { "start": "08:00", "end": "17:00" },
  "tuesday": { "start": "08:00", "end": "17:00" },
  "wednesday": { "start": "08:00", "end": "17:00" },
  "thursday": { "start": "08:00", "end": "17:00" },
  "friday": { "start": "08:00", "end": "14:00" },
  "saturday": null,
  "sunday": null
}

Set a day to null for days the staff member does not work. This schedule is used for HR reference and visibility — CareNova does not currently enforce work schedule constraints when booking appointments.

Part-time Schedule Example

{
  "monday": { "start": "09:00", "end": "13:00" },
  "tuesday": null,
  "wednesday": { "start": "09:00", "end": "13:00" },
  "thursday": null,
  "friday": { "start": "09:00", "end": "13:00" },
  "saturday": null,
  "sunday": null
}

On-call Schedule Example

{
  "monday": { "start": "00:00", "end": "23:59" },
  "tuesday": { "start": "00:00", "end": "23:59" },
  "wednesday": null,
  "thursday": null,
  "friday": null,
  "saturday": null,
  "sunday": null
}

Staff Roles

The role field in the staff table is a free text field — it is not restricted to the four system roles (admin, doctor, receptionist, nurse). This allows you to record more granular job titles:

Example	Staff RolesNotes
Doctor	General practitioner
Dentist	Dental specialist
Ophthalmologist	Eye care specialist
Head Nurse	Senior nursing staff
Receptionist	Front desk
Lab Technician	Laboratory staff
Pharmacist	Dispensing staff
Administrator	Admin and management
Cleaner	Support staff
Security	Security personnel

The staff role field is for HR display purposes only. It does not affect dashboard access or permissions — those are controlled by the users.role field on the user account.

Salary Tracking

The salary field stores the staff member's salary as a numeric value. This is a reference field — CareNova does not currently calculate payroll automatically from this value.

For payroll processing, see the Payroll module which manages pay periods, bonuses, deductions, and net salary calculations.

The salary field is visible to all users with staff.view permission — currently Admin and Receptionist. If salary information should be restricted, adjust the staff.view permission in Dashboard → Permissions to limit access to Admin only.

Qualifications

The qualifications field is a free text area for recording a staff member's professional credentials:

Medical degrees (MBBS, MD, BDS)
Specialist certifications
Nursing qualifications (RN, BSN)
Professional registrations (license numbers)
CPD certificates
Language certifications

Example:

MBBS - University of Medicine, 2015
MD Cardiology - Royal College, 2018
BLS/ACLS Certified - 2023
Medical License: ML-2024-00123

Deactivating a Staff Member

When a staff member leaves the clinic, deactivate their record rather than deleting it to preserve historical records.

Edit the staff record → set Status to inactive → Save.

Also remember to:

Disable their user account login in Supabase → Authentication → Users — click the user and select Ban user to prevent further logins
Reassign their patients to another doctor if they were a primary doctor
Review any open appointments assigned to them

Deleting a Staff Record

Click the Delete option from the staff row action menu.

A confirmation dialog appears before deletion.

⚠️ Deleting a staff record is permanent. The staff table is separate from users — deleting a staff record does not delete the user's login account. Manage user account access separately in Supabase Authentication. Deactivate instead of delete to preserve HR history.

Database Schema Reference

staff

Column	Type	Description
`id`	uuid	Unique staff record ID
`full_name`	text	Full name
`first_name`	varchar	First name
`last_name`	varchar	Last name
`role`	text	Job title or role
`department_id`	uuid	FK → departments (set null on delete)
`phone`	text	Contact phone
`email`	text	Email address
`address`	text	Address
`salary`	numeric	Salary amount
`qualifications`	text	Professional qualifications
`work_schedule`	jsonb	Working days and hours
`status`	text	active / inactive
`joined_date`	date	Employment start date
`notes`	text	Additional HR notes
`created_at`	timestamptz	Record creation timestamp
`updated_at`	timestamptz	Last updated timestamp

An index is set on department_id for department-based filtering.

Relationship to Other Modules

Module	Relationship
Departments	Staff assigned to departments
Payroll	Payroll records reference staff salary base
Users	Separate system login accounts for the same person

Workflow Examples

Onboarding a new doctor:

Create user account — Supabase → Authentication → Add user (or via /signup flow)
Approve user account — Dashboard → Pending Approval
Create staff record — Sidebar → Staff → Add Staff
- Full name, role: Doctor
- Department: assign appropriately
- Join date: start date
- Salary: agreed amount
- Qualifications: degrees and licenses
- Work schedule: their working days
Both records now exist — user account for login, staff record for HR

Recording a salary update after annual review:

Sidebar → Staff
Find the staff member → Edit
Update the Salary field
Add a note in the Notes field with the review date and reason
Save

Transferring a staff member to a different department:

Sidebar → Staff
Find the staff member → Edit
Update the Department field
Save
Also update their user account department if needed — Supabase → Table Editor → users → update department_id

Offboarding a departing staff member:

Sidebar → Staff → Edit
Set Status to inactive
Add a note with departure date and reason
Save staff record
Supabase → Authentication → Users → find the user → Ban user (prevents further login)
Sidebar → Patients — reassign their patients to another doctor
Review open appointments and reassign or cancel

Viewing all staff in a specific department:

Sidebar → Staff
The staff list shows the department column for each row
Visually filter by department name in the list

Or query directly in SQL Editor:

SELECT s.full_name, s.role, 
       s.phone, s.email,
       s.joined_date, s.status
FROM staff s
JOIN departments d ON s.department_id = d.id
WHERE d.name = 'Dental'
ORDER BY s.full_name;

Troubleshooting

Staff module not visible in sidebar:

Confirm your role has staff.view permission in Dashboard → Permissions
Only Admin and Receptionist have view access by default
Doctor and Nurse do not see this module

Cannot create or edit staff records:

Staff create and edit is restricted to Admin only
Receptionist has view-only access

Department dropdown empty when creating a staff record:

No active departments exist yet
Go to Sidebar → Departments and create departments first
Confirm departments are set to Active

Staff member can still log in after being set to inactive:

Setting status to inactive in the Staff module only updates the HR record
To prevent login, go to Supabase → Authentication → Users → find the user → Ban user
These are two separate actions that must both be completed

Salary visible to Receptionist:

By default staff.view is granted to both Admin and Receptionist
To restrict salary visibility to Admin only, go to Dashboard → Permissions and remove staff.view from Receptionist role

Work schedule not saving correctly:

Confirm the JSON is valid — check for missing commas, brackets, or quotes
Use null for days off — not false or empty string
Check browser console for validation errors on save

Next Step

Continue to the Lab Vendors module guide to learn how to manage external laboratory suppliers in CareNova.