Arrange weekends, holidays in advance
Give staff flexibility and ample notice
During the interview process, patient access applicants at St. Anthony Hospital in Lakewood, CO, are informed they are required to work three holidays a year.
"Once they're hired, they are given a three-year schedule of holidays to work," says Tammy Casados, CHAM, patient access manager. (See the schedule used by the department in the online issue.)
Staff members are free to trade holidays or find another staff member to work for them. "This includes all patient access registration staff at emergency department [ED], outpatient and inpatient locations," says Casados. Here are other ways she offers staff flexibility:
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Casados agreed to change the schedule of night-shift ED registration staff.
"They wanted to move to 10-hour shifts, and we've accommodated their needs," she says. "They now have three days off in a row."
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Rotating weekends are offered to the second shift in the ED.
"I have a few staff that like working every other weekend," says Casados.
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Casados offers associates the option of having certain days off.
Some staff members want Sunday/Monday or Friday/Saturday off each week. Another associate prefers to work weekends with two weekdays off instead.
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A pay differential is offered for difficult-to-fill shifts.
A pay differential of $2.75 an hour is offered for the evening shift, $5.75 for the night shift, and $2.00 for the weekend shift. "The registrar needs to work four hours into the shift to receive the shift differentials," says Casados.
