UW Health program addresses nurse staffing shortage, provides extra pay to workers

MADISON, Wis. (WMTV) – A method applied by UW Well being has not only assisted retain nurses amid a staffing scarcity, but also supplied frontline personnel with more fork out in their pockets.

Rudy Jackson, chief nurse government at UW Wellness, stated that the omicron wave of the COVID-19 pandemic produced staffing shortages a crisis at overall health systems nationwide. Plus, dozens of nurses have been leaving wellness techniques just about every thirty day period to turn into vacation nurses to get the job done section-time across the country.

UW Health came up with an inside nurse traveler system, which will allow nurses inclined to pick up 6 more 12-hour shifts to be compensated $100 for each hour higher than foundation fork out. Jackson claimed that it helped fill a lot more than 90% of open up nursing shifts. The system, which began in mid-January, also has served hold the nurses UW Well being previously employs and steer away from employing travel agencies to fill shifts.

“Using an external company is not ideal,” Jackson said. “It is pricey to deliver in travelers and it suggests bringing in nurses who could possibly not be acquainted with our techniques, our groups and our patients’ exceptional requires.”

Jonathan Milton, a nurse and treatment crew chief that is effective in the cardiac ICU at University Hospital, said he felt listened to by leadership and was able to see how other departments do the job through the method.

“Being an internal traveler lets us wander a mile in other nurses’ footwear,” Milton explained.

UW Well being additional that the program is mostly meant for individuals who function in inpatient configurations, but nurses who operate in other regions and have other regions of know-how also qualify.

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