Weekend Coverage

We are a 250 bed hospital in a rural area. We had an assessment by a consulting group that recommended expansion of our schedule to cover some weekend hours. Is anyone willing to share their experience with weekends?
Thanks,
Vickie Smith RN, BSN, CCM, CCDS

Comments

  • Hi Vickie,

    Has your consulting group assessed the volume of cases on the weekends? The number of cases admitted on Friday/Saturday/Sunday and discharged by Monday, and as a percentage of total admissions? Done a retrospective review of said cases to see what opportunities are being missed, and the significance of those missed opportunities? Evaluated the cost/benefit of either moving staff from weekdays to weekends and leaving weekdays uncovered, or hiring additional staff to cover weekends? Measured admission and length of stay patterns to predict which weekend admissions are likely to be short-stay in order to assign weekend staff appropriately? Provided education to weekend covering physicians who may be less familiar with CDI and less likely to commit themselves to definitive diagnoses than regular attendings?

    When your consulting group has done that, then you may be ready. Weekend coverage can take some of the burden off staff, especially on Monday mornings. You could do a trial weekend program and collect data before committing to it permanently.

    Renee

    Linda Renee Brown, RN, MA, CCDS, CCS, CDIP
  • edited April 2016
    Very cogent points!! I would certainly hope the consultant provided some of the analysis to back up their suggestion.

    Don

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