Decreased Overtime Works Double-Time for Patients
- Standardizing end-of-shift communication between nurses
- Assigning outgoing nurse assignments to incoming nurses
- Creating new workflows for hospital aides
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Inpatient nurses at Moanalua Medical Center found that standardizing change-of-shift communications enabled them to reduce annual overtime costs by $80,000. Unit-based team members created a report called “Say It In Five” to help nurses communicate key details about patient care, including diagnosis, lab results and pain management. The UBT also made changes to end-of-shift nursing assignments and adjusted workflows for hospital aides. As a result, the team was able to reduce overtime hours from 103 hours to 88 hours in a single pay period.
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Live, non-archived content
TTP Blurb
This inpatient nursing team decreased overtime costs by improving change-of-shift communication.
Why This Matters
Reducing overtime costs keeps Kaiser Permanente affordable for our members and leads to workflow efficiencies that enhance patient care.
Test of Change
Standardizing change-of-shift communication
Nav Section
Preview Image
Landing Page Title
UBT Solves Overtime Dilemma
Topics
Affordability
Communication
Region
Hawaii
Communicator
Jennifer Gladwell
Editor (if known)
Sherry Crosby
Role
Frontline Workers
Keywords
reduces overtime
shift change
nurse communication
Date of publication
This has been edited
0
Team Level
Level 4
Department
Inpatient
Content Type
Team-Tested Practice
High Res Photo Set
Standarizing communication between nurses helped one UBT decrease its overtime costs.
Big Number
$80,000
Explanation
Projected annual cost savings by reducing end-of-shift overtime