The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is doing little to improve recruitment and retention of nurses during a critical period of nurse shortage, according to an October report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO).
Nurses are the largest group of health care providers employed by the VA and maintaining the nursing workforce is critical to the care of veterans, GAO said. Hospitals with fewer nurses have been shown to have higher rates of problems like urinary tract infections and pneumonia, and an increase in nurse numbers is associated with better outcomes for such ailments.
To avoid a nursing shortage, the report recommends that the department explore ways to overcome the
barriers to alternative and flexible work schedules for nurses - the lack have which were identified as a cause of the nursing shortage. The
VA’s medical centers were authorized in 2004 to offer RNs alternative
work schedules, such as three 12-hour shifts within a week to be
considered full-time for pay and benefits purposes, but few nurse
executives reported offering such schedules. The VA also relied on
supplemental staffing strategies, such as overtime, which significantly
affects retention by burning out the workers.
The GAO also recommends that VA implement a new staffing system that accurately accounts for the severity of patients’ illnesses, the current nursing tasks performed in patient units, and the level of nursing support available. Currently, the staffing plan at VA hospitals uses a patient classification system that includes outdated and inaccurate data so nurse managers are forced to look at historical data or workforce data from other hospitals to determine staffing levels. This leads not only to some units being underserved by nursing staff, but at other times units are overstaffed and nurses spend too much time performing non-nursing duties such as housekeeping and clerical tasks.
Additionally, nurse executives complained about the limitations on the department’s ability to hire new nurses. Hiring freezes and other delays discourage potential candidates from applying or following through on applications at its medical centers, they said.
The VA agreed with the report's findings. In response to what they already knew about their problems and to the report, the department plans to develop a new nurse staffing system and to create a special task force to identify options for expanding alternatives and flexible work schedules.
We think plans are nice, but will be looking for action soon. The nation’s veterans deserve it.
Also Interesting: