Staffing Issues
The hospital finally came off “diversion” last week. But readers should know that different from last year, we were on diversion this past week partly because of shortages in staff. Last year, it was always because of no available beds.
We now have more monitored beds but they are spread out in several locations. This has created increased staffing problems for the management of these beds.
From a physician standpoint, what is troubling is the amount of unfilled nursing jobs. As of Saturday February 18, 2006, there were 50 nursing jobs available and posted on the Hospital’s website: http://www.floydmemorial.org/
This comes as no surprise to physicians who have continually voiced our concerns about this problem.
When the new addition was being contemplated several years ago, the CEO met with physicians for their comments. The first and most important concern we voiced was the shortage of staff. This was a known problem that existed at the time and we knew a continued shortage would occur with the addition.
Our CEO informed us that “staffing was the easy part” of the project. Physicians just shook their heads and knew he didn’t have a clue.
The question remains, if the administration is doing everything so well, and the CEO stated that staffing was the easy part, then why are there 50 open nursing positions. The new addition added fewer than 10 beds to the total number.
Physicians and other staff members know the answers. The surveys have shown the answers. How far down will we have to sink before things change? Will it be salvageable when they finally “get it”?
We now have more monitored beds but they are spread out in several locations. This has created increased staffing problems for the management of these beds.
From a physician standpoint, what is troubling is the amount of unfilled nursing jobs. As of Saturday February 18, 2006, there were 50 nursing jobs available and posted on the Hospital’s website: http://www.floydmemorial.org/
This comes as no surprise to physicians who have continually voiced our concerns about this problem.
When the new addition was being contemplated several years ago, the CEO met with physicians for their comments. The first and most important concern we voiced was the shortage of staff. This was a known problem that existed at the time and we knew a continued shortage would occur with the addition.
Our CEO informed us that “staffing was the easy part” of the project. Physicians just shook their heads and knew he didn’t have a clue.
The question remains, if the administration is doing everything so well, and the CEO stated that staffing was the easy part, then why are there 50 open nursing positions. The new addition added fewer than 10 beds to the total number.
Physicians and other staff members know the answers. The surveys have shown the answers. How far down will we have to sink before things change? Will it be salvageable when they finally “get it”?
posted by Anonymous at 6:10 AM
5 Comments:
It looks like you are blaming hospital management for a problem that is plaguing the entire hospital industry. A quick “Goggle” search turned up the information shown below. Do you believe that the Southern Indiana/Louisville area is exempt from this problem? Did you vote to stop the expansion because of staffing issues? Should that have been a “deal stopper” for the expansion or are we better with it than we were without it? Or is this just another example of taking situations out of context to rip Bryant Hanson?
High nurse turnover and vacancy rates are affecting access to health care.
• According to a February 2002 report on health workforce shortages prepared by First Consulting Group for the American Hospital Association and other trade groups, the average nurse vacancy rate in U.S. hospitals was 13%. Over one in seven hospitals reported a severe RN vacancy rate of more than 20%. High vacancy rates were measured across rural and urban settings and in all regions of the country. Survey respondents indicated that a shortage of personnel is contributing to emergency department overcrowding and ambulance diversions. www.aha.org
I acknowledge the nursing shortage problems across the country and it certainly varies from hospital to hospital.
But the nursing shortage is managed differently at various hospitals by the management style and the value placed on nurses.
Some hospitals go as far as offering Valet Services for their nurses to help with everything from child care, to laundry and dry cleaning, to helping with transportation when their cars need to go in the shop.
Valuing your key employees has not been a priority under this administration and the surveys support this.
It should not have been a deal stopper for the new addition. But physicians knew this was going to be a major problem.
As an RN with a bachelors degree I seriously doubt the problem of the nursing shortage will ever get better on a long term basis. Hospitals entice nurses to change places of employment with promises of monetary bonuses, vacations and cruises etc. only to see most of those nurses leave when the time requirements of indebtedness related to their bonsuses etc are fulfilled. As a physician one thing you could do to help retain nurses is create a more friendly doctor-nurse relationship in the hospital. It is a sad statement to make, but many patients care suffers because of nurses "being put out with the egos, criticism, verbal abuse and haranguing by physicians. This does not apply to all or even most doctors at Floyd but as the old saying goes, one bad apple can destroy the image of the whole bunch. Give us feedback on how to deal with this problem and maybe we can convince more nurses to migrate our way. Furthermore until some nurse managers are required to staff their units better nurses aren't coming to Floyd. The pathetic staffing on some units is truly dangerous to patients and to EVERYONE trying to care for them.
Please read the blog for Tuesday. I totally agree with every one of your statements and wrote about it for wednesday.
I can tell you why I no longer practice 'bedside' nursing: the inability to feel that I could adequately and safely address all my patients' needs within the time constraints of my shift. I put patient care first and found that it was not enough. Nurses are asked to document more and more and to stretch themselves further and further. They must be all things to all people: to their patients, the doctors, other departments, visitors, families, you name it. Its an impossible job and I've seen very few who do not eventually succumb to the extreme stress and leave bedside nursing. If hospitals would cut costs in administration and place more value on nursing care, hospital care would be a vastly different scene. I always urge anyone with any family member or friend in a hospital to have someone there with the patient nearly all the time, as there are grievous mistakes made and risk involved with being an inpatient, all because administration ALWAYS seems to choose other things (like decor or admin. salaries) over a hospital that is properly staffed with nurses.
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