Nurse Staffing

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Vacation Time- RNs are allowed to take one week of vacation in the spring and one week of vacation in the summer. All vacation requests must be submitted in writing 90 days prior to vacation date. Vacation approval will be returned to the employees within two weeks of submission. In the event, that more than one staff member requests the same time frame, and we are up able to secure coverage from an external source, the vacation time will go to the employee with the most seniority. Once a RNs seniority is used to determine vacation, that nurse will not be able to use their seniority to determine vacation request for two years. Please be sure to talk to one another in order to prevent this from happening. We want everyone to take their vacation in the time frame they would like.

Tardiness Policy- Nurses are expected to meet in the break are at 7am or 7p for morning huddle and assignment. Clocking in past this time results in a tardiness occurrence. Three occurrences in a rolling 12-month period will result in a verbal warning. Five occurrences in a 12-month period result in a written warning. Eight occurrences in a rolling 12-month period will result in a final warning. Nine occurrences in a rolling 12-month period will result in immediate termination. (Brent 1999)

Absentee Policy- Callout must be made 4 hours prior to the scheduled shift, or it will result in disciplinary actions. Calling out for a scheduled shift for whatever reason will result in an occurrence. Three occurrences in a rolling 12-month period will result in a verbal warning. Four occurrences in a 12-month period result in a written warning. Six occurrences in a rolling 12-month period will result in a final warning. Seven occurrences in a rolling 12-month period will result in immediate termination.

Low Census- When the census is low on our unit, and there aren’t any needs for nurses throughout the hospital, we will ask for volunteers to leave. Vacation time will be used in this event. An employee may volunteer as many times as they would like. If there are not any volunteers, then the employee with the most vacation time will be picked. Once an employee has been asked to leave for the day, they will be will not be asked to leave again till everyone on the shift has had a turn to leave.

Rotation to Another Unit- When the census is low on our unit, and there are nurse needs throughout the facility then the nursing supervisor may pull a sub-acute RN to work on a medical, surgical unit only. Please let me know if you are uncomfortable with medical-surgical patients and what skill we need to add to our annual competencies to help make everyone comfortable.

Conflict resolution- In the event there is a conflict within the department; please try to resolve the problem. In the event, that it your efforts are ineffective, please contact me. Nursing leadership throughout the facility is trained in sensitivity and communication. Classes are also offered to employees who feel that they may need communication and sensitivity training. (Brinkert, 2011) I would love to help no matter the problem.

Emergency Request- Emergency request must be made to me ASAP. Please be sure to attempt to cover your shift if you have the ability to. In the event that you cannot do so, the nurse on charge or myself will do so.

Please let me know if you have any questions, concerns, or suggestions that may improve this new policy.

-Helorie T. Thompson, RN

Nurse Manager

*The management method that I have illustrated above is the decentralized system. It depicts self-organization and appreciation for the employee.

References:

Brinkert, R. (2011). Conflict coaching training for nurse managers: a case study of a two-hospital health system. Journal Of Nursing Management, 19(1), 80-91. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2834.2010.01133.x

Dent, B. (2015). Nine Principles for Improved Nurse Staffing. Nursing Economic$, 33(1), 41-66.

Garrett, C. (2008). The effect of nurse staffing patterns on medical errors and nurse burnout. AORN Journal, 87(6), 1191-1191-2, 1194, 1196-200 passim. doi:10.1016/j.aorn.2008.01.022

Needleman, J. (2015). Nurse Staffing: The Knows and Unknowns. Nursing Economic$, 33(1), 5-7.