Low Census Procedure. When patient census and acuity create a need to 30 reduce nurse staffing after the schedule has been posted, individual nurses will be 31 subject to call off pursuant to the following procedures. In the application of the factors 32 described below relating to call off decisions, the primary considerations shall be the 33 maintenance, at all times, of safe patient care, continuity of care by the nurse currently 34 assigned to such activities, and the maintenance of adequate nursing staff to serve 1 Hospital patients. The appropriate mix of skill sets, certifications required to care for the 2 immediate patient census and continuity of nursing care will be evaluated and 3 determined by Hospital supervisors/managerNursing Leadership.
4 a. Low census call offs may occur for a portion of a scheduled shift (including 5 a decision to delay the start time of a previously scheduled nurse) or for the entire 6 scheduled shift. Nurses who are designated to be called off by Hospital 7 managementNursing Leadership will be provided notice of such call off no less than one
(1) hour in advance of the nurse’s scheduled shift by way of a documented telephone 9 call or acknowledged text to the telephone number provided by the nurse to Hospital 10 managementNursing Leadership. Employees may utilize Paid Time Off (PTO) at the 11 employee’s discretion for all low census hours.
13 b. After evaluation of the factors described above, nurse call offs shall occur 14 in the following manner:
15 1. The nurse to be called off shall be any nurse scheduled to work or
20 2. If permitted by the terms of the Agreement between the Hospital 21 and the agency or traveler nurse, agency, traveler or locum tenens shall be the first 22 nurses called off under this procedure. If the Hospital is required to continue to pay 23 agency traveler or locum tenens nurses even if such individuals are called off, such 24 nurses will not be called off pursuant to these procedures but neither shall they displace
25 a nurse working their regularly scheduled and positioned hours;
27 3. The Hospital shall continue to maintain a Hospital wide list of
32 4. Xxxx matter nurses shall be next called off;
34 5. Next in order priority shall be per diem nurses;
2 6. Next in the order of call off priority shall be regular part time and/or 3 regular full time nurses based on the following criteria:.
Low Census Procedure. When patient census and acuity create a need to 26 reduce nurse staffing after the schedule has been posted, individual nurses will be 27 subject to call off pursuant to the following procedures. In the application of the factors 28 described below relating to call off decisions, the primary considerations shall be the 29 maintenance, at all times, of safe patient care, continuity of care by the nurse currently 30 assigned to such activities, and the maintenance of adequate nursing staff to serve 31 Hospital patients. The appropriate mix of skill sets, certifications required to care for the 32 immediate patient census and continuity of nursing care will be evaluated and 33 determined by Nursing Leadership.
1 17.6.1. Low census call offs may occur for a portion of a scheduled shift 2 (including a decision to delay the start time of a previously scheduled nurse) or for the 3 entire scheduled shift. Nurses who are designated to be called off by Nursing 4 Leadership will be provided notice of such call off no less than one (1) hour in advance 5 of the nurse’s scheduled shift by way of a documented telephone call or acknowledged 6 text to the telephone number provided by the nurse to Nursing Leadership. Employees 7 may utilized Paid Time Off (PTO) at the employee’s discretion for all low census hours.
9 17.6.2. After evaluation of the factors described above, nurse call offs shall 10 occur in the following manner:
12 17.6.2.1. The nurse to be called off shall be any nurse scheduled to work or 13 actually working overtime or premium shifts;
15 17.6.2.2. If permitted by the terms of the Agreement between the Hospital 16 and the agency or traveler nurse, agency, traveler or locum tenens shall be the first 17 nurses called off under this procedure. If the Hospital is required to continue to pay 18 agency traveler or locum tenens nurses even if such individuals are called off, such 19 nurses will not be called off pursuant to these procedures but neither shall they displace 20 a nurse working their regularly scheduled and positioned hours;
22 17.6.2.3. The Hospital shall continue to maintain a Hospital wide list of 23 volunteers which will be updated no less than once per quarter. Nurses who have 24 signed the volunteer call off list will be called off next.
26 17.6.2.4. Gray matter nurses shall be next called off;
Low Census Procedure. When low census reductions are needed, nurses will be given the opportunity to float to available assignments for which they are qualified.
Low Census Procedure. The Charge nurse determines how many nursing staff members are needed to work on the next shift in the unit based on the unit-level staffing plan.
Low Census Procedure. During times of low patient census in which less staff is required, AHS shall apply the following procedure:
Low Census Procedure. When the Medical Center experiences a decline in patient care requirements that necessitates a temporary decrease in staff, the Employer shall exercise its best efforts to rotate mandatory low census hours equitably on a shift by shift basis within a department/unit, except that it will be by department for MHCs and Respiratory Therapists, subject to employee qualifications and patient care considerations as determined by the Employer. The Employer may make exceptions to granting voluntary or assigning mandatory low census based on the number, classification, special expertise/skill of staff required to provide adequate coverage to meet the overall patient care requirements/acuity of the Medical Center and overall cost effectiveness. The low census procedure will be implemented in the following order:
1. The Employer will make a good faith effort to determine if a need/float opportunity exists in another department in the same job classification.
2. Staff scheduled for overtime/premium pay on their non-regularly scheduled shift may be cancelled.
3. On a shift-to-shift basis, voluntary low census days will be granted by the Employer on a designated volunteer list on a first-requested basis for the unit and job classification experiencing the low census. If the employee is not contacted by the Medical Center, the employee is expected to report to work.
4. When low census requires further staffing reductions, the Employer will cancel agency staff, then non-overtime supplemental employees, and finally employees working extra shifts as described in Article 7.
Low Census Procedure. Nurses scheduled to work in a unit and shift 9 experiencing Low Census will have their shift or portion of their shift 10 cancelled in the following sequence:
11 1. Agency, Traveler, or ShareCare nurses.
13 2. Nurses whose work would be payable at overtime or incentive shift 14 premium.
16 3. Nurses who volunteer, with the earliest request for time off given 17 preference.
19 4. Per diem nurses.
21 5. Remaining nurses in accordance with the unit’s Low Census rotation 22 system. The system of Low Census rotation shall be written and 23 communicated by the manager, in consultation with the nurses on the 24 unit. Nurses on a unit may change the system of rotation by majority 25 vote, provided that the system is approved by the unit manager and is 26 in writing. 28 **Nurses who volunteer may be considered prior to the low census of
29 a Traveler who has already been low censused once per pay period.
Low Census Procedure. The Hospital may temporarily decrease the normal work day/work week of RNs due to low patient census. In that event, the Hospital will apply the following procedure, in order, to the extent necessary to deal with the low patient census:
(a) Cancel any RN who is working an extra time opportunity from outside the work group on the affected shift;
(b) Cancel premium pay/overtime within the affected job classification and work group on the affected shift;
(c) Check to see if there are volunteers by:
(i) seeing if any RN has, in advance, indicated an interest in being canceled at that time on the assignment sheet, the schedule, or on a specific Cancellation Request Book that a Nurse Manager may keep. This advance request option will be on a first come, first served basis;
(ii) if there are no advance requests for cancellation, the Hospital will solicit volunteers from RNs in the Work Group who are already present at work and, if time permits those scheduled to arrive for the upcoming shift. Hospital seniority will prevail if there is more than one such volunteer;
(iii) where a work group has staggered starting times, it is understood that it may not be appropriate for the RNs who start at the latest time to be offered a cancellation option because it could lead to overtime. It is understood that the purpose of the Hospital’s seeking volunteer cancellations is to accommodate the RNs, and not to create “rights” by any RN to be canceled. An occasional deviation of this subsection (c) will not constitute a violation of this Agreement. If there is more than an occasional deviation, the Association may file a grievance.
(d) Cancel contract/agency RNs within the affected job classification and work group on the affected shift
(e) Cancel per diems within the affected job classification and work group on the affected shift
(f) Cancel part-time RNs working more than their regular scheduled hours within the affected job classification and work group on the affected shift
Low Census Procedure. Nurses scheduled to work in a unit and shift experiencing Low Census will have their shift or portion of their shift cancelled in the following sequence:
1. Agency, Traveler, or ShareCare nurses.
2. Nurses whose work would be payable at overtime or incentive shift premium.
3. Volunteers, with the earliest request for time off given preference.
4. Per diem nurses.
5. Remaining nurses in accordance with the unit’s Low Census rotation system. The system of Low Census rotation shall be written and communicated by the manager, in consultation with the nurses on the unit. Nurses on a unit may change the system of rotation by majority vote, provided that the system is approved by the unit manager and is in writing.
Low Census Procedure. If employees need to be sent home due to low census, they shall be sent home in the following order:
1. Agency employees;
2. Solicit volunteers in seniority order;
3. Casual employees;
4. Part-time and full-time employees in reverse seniority order.
