Rostering

Chapter 16: Rostering

Description:

The roster is one of the most important tools used by nurse managers to plan and manage human resources. The process of rostering is a complex and demanding function that is often not given the attention and respect itrequires. Skills for developing rosters have generally been learned on the job with few nurse managers having been exposed to education on how to develop effective rosters (Bonner, Beaumont and Smith 1995). Effective rosters achieve three main objectives: (i) high-quality patientoutcomes, (ii) staff satisfaction and (iii) financial outcomes within budgetparameters.

This chapter outlines how changing health-care environments impact on roster design, defines rostering objectives and outlines the key elements required to achieve these objectives. It also introduces a range of methodologies and outlines their relative advantagesand disadvantages gives a practical example of how to measure the number of labour hoursper patient day a roster pattern will absorbs, estimates associated costs and describes the purpose and process of roster re-engineering.

• Introduction
• The health-care environment
• Objectives of roster development
• High-quality patient outcomes
• Staff satisfaction
• Cost effectiveness
• Roster re-engineering
• Conclusion
• References

Speaker/ Author:

Cherrie Lowe
Cherrie is a registered general nurse and midwife with qualifications in education (nursing) and hospital administration and has been a director of nursing at several hospitals. She is a senior surveyor for the Australian Council on HealthCare Standards, an honorary lecturer and associate at Monash University for the Faculty of Nursing and regularly presents at national and international health-care conferences. In 1999 she was awarded the Royal College of Nursing, Australia’s (Queensland chapter) Nursing Excellence Award for her contribution to nursing.

Cherrie is a founding director of Trend Care Systems Pty Ltd, a successful clinical information system that currently operates in excess of 100 hospitals across Australia, New Zealand and Asia; and is a director of Lowe’s Health Trend Consulting, a health-care consultancy service that operates both nationally and internationally. In 2007 Cherrie and her company Trend Care Systems were awarded the ‘Freehills Breakthrough Award’ by the Australian Chamber of Commerce—Austrade Business Awards for business success in Singapore.

Professional Reviews: