Nursing shortage: Here is what some Hospitals are doing

Written by Sam Khan,MD


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•Flexible Spending Accounts.

Wellness Program •Employee Health Services •On-Site Fitness Centers •Lectures, Training & Workshops •Massage Therapy

Vacation, Leave & Time Off •Paid Time Off (personal, sick, holidays) with annual cash-out option •Extended Illness Bank •Family & Medical Leaves •Personal Leaves •Bereavement Leave •Paid Military Leave •Sunshine Fund (no interest loan & donations to employees in need) •Pension Plan with Employer Matching Contributions •Adoption Benefit (up to $4,000) •Credit Union (free checking, low cost loans)

Traditional benefit packages are not always sufficiently alluring to nurses. It is possible that employee benefits could be used more effectively to retain nurses and reduce costly staff turnovers One example is payroll reduction program commonly known as 125 Reimbursement Plan. Using this planrepparttar employee can allocate a pre tax dollar amount per year which is anticipated as potential expense to cover health and welfare expense. The employer avoids having to match FICA tax and workman compensation expense by reducingrepparttar 104455 amount of income upon which these figures are calculated. Not only doesrepparttar 104456 employee net take home pay increases butrepparttar 104457 employers matching FICA taxes and related pay roll expenses are reduced (consult your tax advisor for more details on this program).

Employee’s Voice •Annual Employee Survey •Roundtables with CEO, VPs •System and Divisional Townhall Meetings •Staff Meetings & Committees •Reward & Recognition Task Force

•Roving Cart (suggestion box) •Nurse Week Activities •VP Rounds on Nursing Units (all shifts) during Weeks On-Call and for Special •Employee ofrepparttar 104458 Month and Year Awards •Employee Service Awards •5&10 year plaques •15 year dinner •20+ year banquet •Special Performance Awards - Recognition at Annual Employee Service Awards Dinner •Celebrate, Motivate and Decorate Task Force

Collaborative efforts between health care organizations, societies, hospitals , private sector. Some examples: •In San Diego, six hospital systems have committed $1.3 million to support a program called, "Nurses Now", which will add faculty and additional student slots to San Diego University. •The American Hospital Association News reports that in Laredo, Texas, a hospital CEO worked with Texas A&M University to develop a four-year bachelor's program and is providing $425,000 in scholarships to local students overrepparttar 104459 next five years. •In Morris County, New Jersey,repparttar 104460 Board of Freeholders offered scholarships to students who agreed to work in a long term care facility. •The Dallas-Fort Worth Hospital Council raised $600,000 to expand student enrollment at local schools.

Magnet Hospitals: This elite class of hospitals generally do not have problem with high nurse turn over and recruitment. These classes of hospital (only 1-2 % of all US Hospitals) attain and keep this designation only if they meet stringent standards and ongoing 4 yearly evaluations. "The label 'Magnet hospitals' originally was given to a group of U.S. hospitals that were able to successfully recruit and retain professional nurses during a national nursing shortage inrepparttar 104461 early 1980s. Studies of Magnet hospitals highlightrepparttar 104462 leadership characteristics and professional practice attributes of nurses within these organizations... Hospitals selected metrepparttar 104463 following criteria: 1) nurses withinrepparttar 104464 hospitals considered them good places to practice nursing, 2)repparttar 104465 hospitals had low turnover and vacancy rates, and 3)repparttar 104466 hospitals were located in areas where there was significant regional competition for nursing services." (JONA, January 1999). Magnet designated health care organizations consistently outperform their peers in recruiting and retaining nurses, resulting in increased stability in patient care systems acrossrepparttar 104467 organization. Foreign nurses/Importing nurses.

Philippines isrepparttar 104468 largest source of foreign nurses. Nurses from many other countries including Europe have come recently and in last many years to work inrepparttar 104469 US. WWW.CGFNS.ORG is a US based agency that hasrepparttar 104470 authority currently to screen foreign nurses for eligibility for state licensing boards and work visas. Acquiringrepparttar 104471 services of foreign nurses is not new inrepparttar 104472 US. Recentlyrepparttar 104473 number of non-US origin nurses has increased significantly. A number of hospitals are using programs to hire foreign nurses. This is not an easy task asrepparttar 104474 process is tedious and takes months and may be years. CGFNS (Commission on graduates of foreign nursing schools) is one source of information for this process. Hospitals generally use recruiters specializing in this area and immigration lawyers to hire foreign nurses. Foreign nurses have to show that their training is adequate, they are proficient in English language and are eligible for visa otherwise

To summarize it seems thatrepparttar 104475 major influences on recruitment and retention are salary and raises, benefits, shift rotations and scheduling flexibility , staff communications , tuition reimbursements, type of nursing care delivery system, nursing leadership, reputation ofrepparttar 104476 hospital and responsive management.

Copy right Medjobcity inc. Author: Sam Khan, MD info@medjobcity.com For more career -related info, articles and health care job info visit www.medjobcity.com . Webmasters: This article can be used for your website if copied in its entirety with author’s reference and website URL www.medjobcity.com. Please send us e mail stating that you are postingrepparttar 104477 article on your web site.



I own medjobcity.com, a website site for health care jobs and career information.I am a practicing physician in Pennsylvania and medjobcity.com is my 2nd job.I like to write on career related issues in health care.


11 Moments of Truth

Written by Sandra Schrift


Continued from page 1

2. Likes your physical presentation (appearance, voice, and smile).

3. Is touched intellectually and emotionally by what you say. 4. Recognizes you as a model of who or whatrepparttar person would like to become.

5. Hears that you care.

6. Thinks he/she will be challenged and get what he/she needs from you.

7. Knows that your fee is above their budget and feels you’re worth it.

8. Experiences that you are consistently excellent technically.

9. Is sure that his/her success and well-being are your priority.

10. Is able to reach you effortlessly.

11. Can count on you to treat his/her organization with unique needs.

Sandra Schrift 13 year speaker bureau owner and now career coach to emerging and veteran public speakers who want to "grow" a profitable speaking business. I also work with business professionals and organizations who want to master their presentations. To find out HOW TO MAKE IT AS A PROFESSIONAL SPEAKER, go to http://www.schrift.com/success_resources.htm Join my free bi-weekly Monday Morning Mindfulness ezine http://www.schrift.com/monday.htm


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