NEWS
Rex Hospital in Raleigh, NC featured by local TV stations
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June 28, 2008
RALEIGH, N.C.-- Busy hospitals are constantly juggling schedules to be sure they have enough staff on hand to care for patients. Rex Hospital in Raleigh has gotten some high tech help with the problem.
A computerized system provides nurses and managers with an on-line inventory of open shifts. Nurses can check it from work or even log in from home to bid on the shifts they want to work.
"With close to 1,000 nurses working here, there's a lot of scheduling issues, changes to schedule, folks looking for new shifts, folks looking to trade shifts," said Mary Lou Powell, Chief Nursing Officer. "It's been done on paper or by phone calls or e-mail in the past, so we were looking for one standardized way that makes it easy for everybody."
Some, like Karen Ristau, are using it to pick up extra hours, usually at premium pay.
"You've gotten a certain amount of bills due at the end of the month," said Ristau. "So it's good to know that you've got the shifts to pay for them."
Ristau says managing her schedule helps save on gas too, with fewer trips to and from her home in Bunn.
"For nursing and probably for most folks, their schedule is probably the most important thing to them," said Powell. "So this gives them instantaneous knowledge, and they control their schedule and their flexibility."
It can save the hospital money too. When multiple nurses bid on the same shift, managers can choose staff based on how much they'll have to pay.
"It makes it easier for both parts," said team leader Vanessa Snellings. "Because we're not having to catch up with them and they're at home and it's more convenient for them."
Less than a week into the progam, 1,000 available shifts had been filled.-
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