 New Technology Aids Scheduling at
Hopkins
Manual scheduling and payroll once was an arduous,
time-consuming job for nurses at The Johns Hopkins Hospital.
But, that changed when the hospital added new technology
that Hopkins nurses expect will result in greater employee satisfaction and
time savings.
In the fall of 2002, Hopkins purchased automated scheduling
software, to cut time spent on scheduling and payroll and provide real-time
labor data for nurse managers, said Lynn Jones, the hospital's former assistant
administrator for the Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, now leader of
the information system project.
In 1996, the labor and delivery, post-partum, high-risk
antepartum, and newborn nursery units at The Johns Hopkins Hospital merged.
This resulted in the need for more than 120 employees to be scheduled on one
master schedule. However, the need for the one master schedule presented
challenges for nurses who create it manually. A nurse would have to balance the
work preferences of the entire staff, while ensuring that each unit was staffed
with the required skill levels on each shift.
The solution was the purchase of the VasTech Nightingale
Nursing Information System, which is now being implemented throughout the
Department of Nursing. “It’s early in our house-wide implementation,
but so far the results are promising,” Jones said of the employees’
reaction to the new technology. Staff now can request and access their
schedules via the Internet as well as leave electronic messages for their
schedule coordinator. Schedule coordinators can control what shifts are
available for individual staff members through a rules-based scheduling
profile.
Schedule coordinators who previously spent time on
scheduling can now spend more time on patient care while being assured of the
correct staffing skill mix on any particular day, Jones said. Nurse managers
who previously spent time manually tracking labor data or preparing payroll now
can have data at their fingertips via a reporting tool generated by the
information system thereby leaving more time for process improvement or unit
decision making using these data, Jones said.
In September 2003, the hospital began training staff in the
surgery units on how to use the system. The system is expected to be used
throughout the entire Department of Nursing by the end of September 2005, Jones
said.
Jones is also participating in a research study with her
colleagues at the School of Nursing to measure the impact by measuring time
spent, workflow efficiency, and participant satisfaction with the Nightingale
scheduling software.
The advanced technology has reduced human error and also has
risen to the demands of the busier combined unit, according to Jones.
Scheduling has historically, and continues to be, a major issue surrounding a
nurse’s work life. “We hope that use of this technology empowers
nurses to feel more in control of their schedules, thereby improving
satisfaction,” Jones said. “Adequate staffing and scheduling on a
unit can also contribute to retention and begin to address some of the issues
surrounding the current shortage,” Jones said.
Jones sees further use of technology, both in the clinical
and administrative arenas, as a way to assist in the increased demands for
healthcare providers because of the current workforce shortage .
Contact:
Lynn Jones
Leader for the
Nightingale Project
The Johns Hopkins Hospital
Phone:
410-955-8174
E-mail: ljonesa@jhmi.edu (Back to the top) |
