Summer 2004
 Job Shadowing at Shore Health
Introduces Students To Health Care Careers
Hospitals aimed at making a dent in the nationwide shortage
of health care workers are reaching out to young children with job awareness
programs that introduce them to health care careers.
One such hospital is in our backyard—Shore Health
System, parent of Memorial Hospital in Easton, Dorchester General Hospital in
Cambridge and a host of outpatient facilities on the Eastern Shore.
"The idea is to enhance the image of nursing and health
careers," said Sherry Councell, program support specialist for Shore Health
System's Job Shadowing program.
The Job Shadowing program partners local, middle, and high
schools with the hospitals that Shore Health System manages. Since May 2001,
Shore Health System has partnered with over 16 schools, Councell said. Through
this partnership, students visit the hospitals and outpatient facilities where
they are exposed to various health care professionals and health care careers.
The students often get tours of the hospitals’ emergency rooms, various
diagnostic departments, as well as one-on-one mentoring from medical
professionals. Sometimes, medical professionals from Shore Health System visit
the classrooms instead.
"Students in the eighth grade must develop a four-to-six
year career plan," Councell said. However, many eighth graders have no idea
what they want to do. It is important to let students know what's out there in
the health and human services field. We need help in health care, and sometimes
students are not encouraged to pursue a career in these areas."
“The most common career responses students give to a
survey are becoming a family physician, a pediatrician, or an emergency room
practitioner,” Councell said. Students are frequently unaware of the
amount of money, problem solving, tenacity, and determination it takes to
successfully complete the education for these choices. She arranges for
students to spend time with various hospital professionals, so they can see
firsthand what working in health care is all about. Councell supplies students
with career profiles that include the education, salary, future job outlook, as
well as the pros and cons of the job. The information she gives students comes
from the Occupational Outlook Handbook and includes the latest United States
statistics for physicians, nurses, and allied health professionals so students
can make better career choices.
Recently, Councell visited eighth graders at North
Dorchester Middle School, where she spoke to about 160 students about nursing
careers. Nursing is a field with many options, and Councell is an advocate for
the profession. She encourages students to consider a career in nursing,
because of the many specialties within the profession.
The hospital also hosted some mid-shore eighth graders
interested in a health care career in Job Shadowing days in April and May of
this year.
"Many nurses have had several different roles within the
career of nursing; nurses can always find a job," says Councell.
Contact:
Sherry Councell
Nurse Support
Program Specialist
Shore Health System
Phone: (410) 822-100 ext. 5457
E-mail: scouncell@shorehealth.org (Back to the top)
 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)
 Retired RNs at Sinai
Nursing leaders at Sinai Hospital in Baltimore are
addressing the nursing shortage by respecting the needs of nurses in an aging
workforce. Through their Retired Nurse Initiative, Sinai Hospital offers older
nurses creative job options, allowing them to remain in the workforce while
enjoying their retirement years.
Diane Johnson, RN, MBA, vice president of Patient Care
Services and chief nursing officer, explains that about a year and a half ago,
the hospital's nurses started brainstorming about ways to tackle the nursing
shortage. Data from the state of Maryland indicated there was a large pool of
nurses with active licenses who were no longer practicing nursing. Realizing
that many of these nurses were retired, Johnson says, "We had to look for ways
to entice nurses back into the field. Asking retired nurses to come back and
work as direct caregivers, working eight-hour shifts, five days a week, wasn't
realistic."
As a result of their brainstorming, Johnson and other
committee members developed alternative job options for nurses wishing to
return to the workplace. She says their program not only benefits the hospital
but retired nurses as well. "An RN must work a minimum of one thousand hours in
a five-year period to maintain an active license. By working four hours a week
through this new program, nurses are able to meet that requirement."
Judith Dorsey, RN, manager, employment and nurse recruiter,
says the new program serves as an effective recruiting tool, adding that she
has a larger pool of nurses from which to recruit if other positions open up
within the hospital.
Eudice Lowenthal, RN, BA, a hospital operations coordinator
at Sinai and the president of Sinai Hospital Nurses Alumni, worked to inform
retired alumni members about the new program. Lowenthal, who graduated from
nursing school in 1949, says that alumni members have strong ties and loyalty
to their hospital and are participating in the new program.
Valerie Allen, RN, MSN, the director of cardiac patient care
services, says that the hospital hired seven RNs to serve as the program's
first discharge service coordinators. The discharge transition coordinators
serve as patient advocates. They phone patients and review their discharge
instructions with them, asking if they have questions or issues that require
their professional help. Allen said, "If the patient has a question they can't
answer, the coordinator will make a conference call and directly transfer the
patient to the doctor's office." In addition, Allen says the hospital is
presently working on developing a health care associate role for nurses with
inactive licenses.
Source:
Nursing Spectrum
By Terri
Polick, RN
March 08, 2004
Copyright 2004.
Nursing Spectrum Nurse
Wire (www.nursingspectrum.com).
All rights reserved. Used with
permission. (Back to
the top)
 GBMC Post Partum Unit: Every Nurse a
Charge Nurse
When the permanent night charge nurse on Greater Baltimore
Medical Center's (GBMC) busy Post Partum unit took an extended personal leave,
clinical manager Etna Weinhold was faced with an opportunity for staff
development. She wanted to keep the position open for her colleague, but still
needed to have a nurse in charge of the unit at all times. Weinhold discussed
the situation with her staff and found they all were willing to take a turn at
being in charge to cover the need.
The nurse did not return to work. Today, almost two years
later, the staff continues to cover the charge role. The practice also has been
extended to the day and evening shifts. All 38 RNs on the staff participate.
Until recently, the only permanent administrative role in
addition to Weinhold's position as clinical manager has been a two-day a week
position of clinical partner on the day shift. The clinical partner position is
filled by a full-time nurse who devotes approximately 16 hours to
administrative duties, spending the remaining time in direct patient care and
charge responsibilities.
Weinhold's longtime clinical partner recently left to take a
part-time staff position. When the position was posted, she was delighted to
find that two of her own staff nurses applied. And, because of the charge nurse
experience, both were highly qualified and felt confident they could fill the
position. On the recommendation of her staff, who participated in the
interviews, Weinhold hired one nurse for the clinical partner slot and promoted
the other to permanent charge nurse on the night shift. (Other nurses who work
on the unit still cover their time off.)
Weinhold describes herself as an advocate for the
professional development of nurses. Sharing the charge nurse position is "a
leadership opportunity for every RN who's in post partum," Weinhold says. The
opportunity enhances the nurse "in terms of professional development and in
terms of thinking globally."
Having two qualified internal applicants for the clinical
partner "is the ultimate success," according to Weinhold.
Another benefit Weinhold says is that the strategy has led
to development of a team that works closely together in a variety of other
ways. First and foremost, she says that the nurses respect the role of charge
nurse and are very willing to collaborate and support decisions because they
know the responsibility of the role firsthand. There's "no grumbling," Weinhold
says. Because of the way everyone works together, the unit is able to manage
its budget more closely and minimize call in of extra staff for peak periods.
They also are able to "wow" the patients with family-centered care.
Staff turnover is low, too — nurse departures are
limited mostly to relocation or retirement.
The hospital's record of implementing innovative ideas that
improve workplace efficiency and employee satisfaction are also factors. In
fact, the Post Partum unit was the first unit at GBMC to do
self-scheduling—beginning in 1988, rotating a three-person committee each
month. The Post Partum staff then introduced the concept to nursing units
throughout the hospital.
Clearly stated staffing guidelines and other staffing and
scheduling policies—including self-scheduling—further contribute to
the unit's success with staff and patients. All nurses are aware of the
policies and of GBMC's "core values" and how to apply them to daily practice.
These principles form the basis for orientation to the charge role. Peer
mentoring and Weinhold's coaching provide opportunities for observing,
demonstrating, and reviewing each nurse's performance as a charge nurse.
"Each nurse learns in his/her own way," Weinhold says. Her
method is to help them determine what they need to know and access the
appropriate resources, many of which are available right on the unit. Weinhold
calls this approach, "Partners in Practice"—the model is based on
developing from novice to expert nurse with the aid of continuous constructive
feedback from peers and supervisors.
The postpartum staff is focused on creating an atmosphere
that is best for the patient.
"The patient is the pulse center of everything," Weinhold
says. She's convinced the professional development of nurses is key to
addressing the nursing shortage. "Nurses need to feel valued in the workplace
and hospitals need to have systems in place that support patient care." At
GBMC's Post Partum unit it's been a formula for success! (Back to the top)
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