Question

Metropolis Health System (MHS) uses a basic work week of 40 hours throughout the system. Thus one full-time employee works 40 hours per week. MHS also uses a standard 24-hour scheduling system of three 8-hour shifts. The Director of Nursing needs to compute the staffing requirements to fill the Operating Room positions. Since MHS is a trauma center the OR is staffed 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. At present, staffing is identical for all seven days of the week, although the Director of Nursing is questioning the efficiency of this method. The Operating Room Department is staffed with 2 nursing supervisors on the day shift and 1 nursing supervisor apiece on the evening and night shifts. There are 2 technicians on the day shift, 2 technicians on the evening shift, and 1 technician on the night shift. There are 3 RNs on the day shift, 2 RNs on the evening shift, and 1 RN plus 1 LPN on the night shift. In addition there is one aide plus one clerical on the day shift only.

1. Set up a staffing requirements worksheet, using the format in Exhibit 10–4.

2. Compute the number of FTEs required to fill the Operating Room staffing positions.

Use the following table

	Shift 1 Day	Shift 2 evening	Shift 3 Night	24-Hour Scheduling total	FTE'S REQUIRED
Position: Nursing Supervisor
7 days/week equals
Position: Technician
7 days/week equals
Position: Licensed Nurses
7 days/week equals
Position: Clerical
7 days/week equals
Position: Aides
FTE REQUIRED

Answer 1

POSSITION	SHIFT 1DAY	SHIFT 2 EVENING	SHIFT 3 NIGHT	24 HR SCHEDULING TOTAL	FTES REQUIRED
NURSING SUPERVISOR	1	1	1	3
TECHNICIAN	2	2	2	6	1.4
REGISTRED NURSE /LICENSED NURSES	3	3	3	9	2.8
CLERICAL STAFF	1
AIDES	1
FTE	1.4	1.4	1.4

TOTAL FTE=

7 days per week * 8 hours per shift = 7*8 = 56 hours productive time.
56 hours on duty/40 hours for a full-time employee = 1.4 FTE's.
To cover 7 days/week, 1.4 times a 40-hour employee.