Christmas is an enjoyable time with our families. Behind the scenes lots of planning and preparation goes on to make the day enjoyable.
Through good planning and preparation, the Christmas period in a hospital can be enjoyable too. That is, we know how many patients to treat matched with the correct number of staffing resources. Conversely, we can allow as much vacation leave as possible without impacting on safe patient care, that’s a real hidden benefit that a lot of healthcare organisations miss because they’re not using a demand driven approach to planning resourcing.
I know hospitals that have saved significant amounts of money over the “festive” season by getting their forward plans right. They’ve also maximised vacation leave opportunities too, so management is happy along with the staff. And most importantly patients have come first and foremost. I also know hospitals that have let things happen over this period, whom end up failing to feel festive due to the work overloads.
So, you choose which way you’d like to work?