Shift Prep Checklist

Why Pre-Shift Prep Matters

Most failed Night Shift Hospital shifts do not end because the game is unfair — they end because the squad skipped basics. Someone joined voice late, nobody reviewed the night's modifiers, or two players assumed the same treatment zone. Each skip costs mistakes from a pool of only ten.

The Shift Prep Checklist is an interactive on-page tool that walks your crew through verification steps before Steam launches the session. Check items off as you complete them, see progress at a glance, and reset when you queue again.

Think of it as the hospital equivalent of a pilot's pre-flight list. Fast to complete, boring on repeat, and invaluable when fatigue or new players enter the group. Use it with the role planner and mistake calculator for full coverage.

What the Checklist Covers

Communication checks confirm everyone is in the correct voice channel, microphones work, and push-to-talk keys are set. Night Shift Hospital rewards callouts; silent squads misroute patients. See the voice chat guide if anyone uses new hardware.

Role and zone verification ensures each player knows their assignment from the role planner or your custom split. Cross-check names against the hospital layout so directions like 'surgery wing' mean the same thing to everyone.

Rules and events review covers nightly modifiers, disaster types, and any playtest patch notes you read on the nightly rules page. Five minutes reading beats five mistakes from surprise mechanics.

Technical readiness includes confirming Steam friends can join, controllers or keybinds match the PC controls reference, and frame rate is stable enough for procedure timing. Stutter causes missed inputs that count as errors.

How to Run the Checklist

Open the checklist tool before the host starts the lobby. One person — usually the host or coordinator — shares screen or reads items aloud while others confirm verbally.

Tap each checkbox only when the item is truly done, not when you plan to do it later. Partial prep defeats the purpose. If someone is still downloading a playtest build, pause the list until they are ready.

The progress bar at the top shows completion percentage. Do not start the shift until you hit one hundred percent or the group explicitly agrees to skip optional items — optional rows are labeled in the tool.

After the shift, hit reset to clear checks for the next run. Optionally note which items you skipped in Discord if you debrief; skipped voice checks often correlate with communication mistakes on the calculator.

Onboarding New Players

Send new Steam friends the checklist link before their first night. Ask them to read the beginner guide and check off what they can solo — controls, basic symptoms — before lobby time.

During onboarding, add a teaching item: new player pairs with a veteran for one zone only. The checklist includes a mentoring row you can enable so nobody forgets the buddy rule.

First shifts should combine the checklist with lower expectations on speed, not on mistakes. Accuracy beats throughput while learning. The mistake calculator still applies — use it to show newcomers how expensive rushed clicks are.

If a new player fails the voice check item because they lack a mic, decide as a group whether text callouts are acceptable. Text works for playtest but slows disasters; note that tradeoff on the checklist comments.

Nightly Disaster Preparation

When the night's event is a disaster type, enable the disaster subsection in the checklist. It adds rows for confirming alarm sounds are audible, disaster roles are assigned, and emergency routes through the map are agreed.

Review the emergencies guide for the specific disaster if you have not seen it before. The checklist prompts you to name the lead and backup — usually coordinator and triage swapping disaster focus.

Disaster nights are when teams skip prep because they feel rushed. Resist that urge. An extra ninety seconds on the checklist saves multiple mistake slots once fires or blackouts hit.

After a disaster shift, add a debrief checkbox mentally: did our disaster lead call early enough? Feed that into the next session's planner assignments.

Building Long-Term Habits

Veteran groups may internalize the list and finish in under a minute. Keep using it anyway — complacency is how returning players forget a patch changed nightly rules between playtest builds.

Customize mentally by adding squad-specific traditions: screenshot the completed list for your Discord progress channel, or only let the host click the final item when everyone says ready.

Pair checklist completion with assigning the mistake logger and opening the calculator at ten. That trio — checklist, roles, calculator — is the wiki's recommended standard operating procedure for July 2026 playtests and beyond.

The checklist saves no data to Steam or the cloud; refreshing the page clears progress. Finish each run in one sitting or screenshot completed states if you pause between lobby and launch.

Quick Reference

Approximate time blocks in the interactive shift prep checklist.