A representative from the Michigan Medicine Nursing Recruitment and Retention team joined the negotiation teams on Thursday to share information on staffing levels.
Below is some of the key data presented:
- In FY22 thus far (July 1, 2021 to March 31, 2022) we have hired 974 regular and temporary nurses (RN, APRN, LPN, Leadership)
- Total hired in FY21 was 817
- Total RN (regular and temp) workforce as of March 31, 2022 is 6,515 nurses
- At the end of FY21 (June 30, 2021) we had 6,429 nurses
- As of April 4, 2022, we have 407 open nursing positions and our vacancy rate is 6%
- The vacancy rate nationwide in 2021 was 9.9% and in the March 2022 Survey was up to 11.7% (Advisory Board)
- Michigan Medicine averages 54 days to fill a nursing position
- The national average is 89 days to fill
Health care organizations across the country are facing increasing challenges to hiring and retaining staff, including nurses, and Michigan Medicine has not been immune these challenges. Despite a higher-than-normal separation rate, likely caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, Michigan Medicine has experienced a lower separation rate among our nurses than the national average. Our overall vacancy rate is also lower than the national average.
Although our staffing levels are better than many other health care organizations, we are still facing a shortage and the Nursing Recruitment and Retention team has been working diligently to fill our open positions. Traditional career fairs have been on hold throughout the pandemic, so the team has had to implement new digital recruitment campaigns in order to reach new graduates and experienced nurses. The team expects that the total number of open positions will decrease with the onset of the upcoming recruiting period that coincides with new nursing graduates.
On Tuesday, the teams continued negotiations related to multi-unit positions, and also about mandatory overtime. These led to a discussion about how Michigan Medicine budgets for and allocates staff on units. MNA/UMPNC believes that Michigan Medicine utilizes a lean staffing model, but compared to national benchmark data our staffing levels are higher than most similar organizations.
When budgeting for staff on inpatient units, we utilize a measurement called “hours per patient day” or HPPD for short. HPPD is a measurement of the average number of hours needed to care for each patient on a given unit. When budgeting for staff and building the schedule, we staff for the number of hours needed, not the number of individual nurses. Other areas (Ambulatory, ED, OR/PACU) do not utilize HPPD but apply similar principles when budgeting and scheduling staff.
We budget not only for staff to cover direct patient care needs, but also to ensure we have enough staff to account for time when nurses are away from the bedside. For example, nursing directors make sure they budget and schedule enough nurses to account for other staff members who are taking paid time off, away for professional development, or to account for any planned long-term leaves.