Minimum Staffing Levels

Page 1 of 3

WV Veterans Nursing Facility

MANDATION
FOR
MINIMUM STAFFING LEVELS
Page 1 of 3 / FUNCTION
Nursing Services
NUMBER
I.B.1.1
ISSUED
March 19, 2009
REVISED
4/26/2012

PURPOSE

Due to the very nature of the Mission of the West Virginia Veterans Nursing Facility, it follows that maintaining adequate staffing levels to ensure resident care and safety is absolutely essential. Therefore, it is the responsibility of the Director of Nursing/designee to establish minimum levels of staffing for each resident care and living area (unit). These staffing levels must not be allowed to drop below the levels required by State nursing home regulations.

POLICY:

Maintaining Minimum Staffing Levels on Nursing Units

APPLICABILITY:

This applies to all nursing employees (which includes RN’s, LPN’s and HSW’s) of the West Virginia Veterans Nursing Facility.

RESPONSIBILITY:

The Nursing Department of the West Virginia Veterans Nursing Facility shall establish and implement a policy and procedure, which may be utilized in any situation where the level of staffing of any element of the Nursing Department falls below minimum levels.

Additionally, it is the responsibility of the human resources staff to ensure that each employee of the facility is provided with a copy of this policy, and that the employee’s Acknowledgement is maintained in the employee’s official personnel file. This policy and Acknowledgement will be included in all new employee orientation packets.

PROCEDURES:

It shall be the responsibility of the Nursing Department/House Supervisor/designee to determine if replacement staff is necessary when staffing falls below the minimal staffing levels. The minimum levels of staff for each unit will be posted in the Report Room.

The Director of Nursing/designee shall instruct specific individuals on duty to remain on duty as deemed necessary. If a determination is made that replacement staffing is needed the following procedural steps apply:

  1. Reassignment: Reassignment from another unit. This may be for a.) to provide for minimum staffing levels, b.) or to provide staffing levels assessed necessary by the Director of Nursing/designee to accommodate resident situations or workload requirements per unit.
  2. Volunteers: Ask for volunteer(s) from the shift still on duty.
  3. Mandation: Floor specific to cover minimum staffing levels.

Staff is required to call in when they are unable to work at least two (2) hours in advance of the start of their shift. This is required so that the supervisor/designee can begin to try to cover the slot.

  1. After all reasonable effort to recruit volunteers and/or reassignments has been nonproductive then mandated overtime must be directed. Mandatory overtime is to be directed in the following manner to provide the required nursing service coverage for our residents.

a.) The Mandatory Rotational List (MRL) will be initially set up by seniority; however, the determination of who will be mandated will be rotated based on the last date mandatedper facility wide excluding the alzheimer’s unit. This mandated overtime would be for the time period required to provide minimal staffing levels, but not to exceed eight (8) hours of overtime per shift.

b.)The mandated employee is to get his/her choice of assigned residents if he/she chooses to go to another unit.

c.)In cases where there have been multiple call-ins on the same shift, the process will be the same.

d.)Any time an employee has been mandated and worked the shift, his/her name will drop to the bottom of the list. His/Her name will move up the list as others are mandated

e.)If an employee is mandated to stay and, in the judgment of the supervisor, may be allowed to leave after part of the shift, the supervisor should document it and the employee allowed to sign out early. Unless approved by the Director of Nursing, a mandate is to be a minimum of four (4) hours.

The following are guidelines on how an employee will achieve getting his/her name to the bottom of the Mandatory Rotational List (MRL). It will be the responsibility of the employee to ensure his/her

overtime hours are entered on the time sheet. It is the RN shift supervisor/designee’s responsibility to record and track this time. A minimum of four (4) hours overtime is required by an employee to achieve having his/her name placed at the bottom of the MRL.

  1. An employee may volunteer to work four (4) hours or more to make minimum coverage for the next shift, or another shift within the scheduled workweek. An employee can be mandated for up to and including sixteen (16) hours per work week. An employee can volunteer for 20 hours OT per week; the 20 hours must be approved by the DON or his/her designee.
  2. An employee maybe mandated to stay over to make minimum coverage for the next shift.
  3. If an employee volunteers stay over for at least four hours OT on a scheduled day and they complete the four hours of work, this is considered a mandate.

An employee who refuses to comply with a “mandate” instruction by the supervisor will be considered to have failed to follow a direct instruction (insubordination). Disciplinary action for refusal of mandated overtime is as follows. Mandate refusals are effective for one (1) year:

  1. First Offense: a verbal warning
  2. Second Offense: a written warning
  3. Third Offense: a three-day unpaid suspension
  4. Fourth Offense: a seven-day unpaid suspension
  5. Fifth Offense: up to and including dismissal from employment.

References:

WV Veterans Nursing Facility Employee Handbook