Following several weeks of nurse advocacy in negotiations, UPMC has taken some steps to address staffing challenges, including turning on ESBx1 in NICU and expanding on-call in several units.
However, they have expressed skepticism about the interest among nurses in picking up extra shifts for ESB, which is why we polled inpatient nurses a couple weeks ago to get your thoughts.
We wanted to show everyone what we shared with them:
How many Magee nurses would pick up additional hours….
With no incentive? 7%
With ESB x 1? 36%
With ESB x 2? 69%
With ESB x 3? 90%
That means up to 540 inpatient nurses are willing to pick up shifts to support their units.
In a two week period, if UPMC turned on ESB x 3: we could cover 12,870 additional hours of nursing care. Even with ESB x 1, we could cover 2,480 hours across the hospital. That’s over two hundred 12-hour shifts in two weeks.
We now know through bargaining that our current vacancy rate is at a level where short-term use of incentive could clearly fill these critical holes. For example, in the NICU, the data shows that staffing holes that exist due to the unit's 16 vacancies would be quickly filled if ESB x 3 were offered.
These survey responses from nurses in 17 inpatient departments show that increasing incentive works to fill holes and maintain appropriate staffing levels across the hospital.
The cost of hospitalwide ESB x 2 for 12 weeks of Summer would be less than 0.18% of the profit that Magee earns for UPMC.
We appreciate everyone weighing in, and we will continue to advocate for immediate and long-term solutions to our staffing challenges.