WV Veterans Nursing Facility
FUNCTION
Nursing Services
MANDATION
FOR
MINIMUM STAFFING LEVELS
NUMBER
I.B.1.1
ISSUED
March 19, 2009
REVISED
4/26/2012
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PURPOSE
Due to the very nature of the Mission of the West Virginia Veterans Nursing Facility, it follows that
maintaining adequate staffing levels to ensure resident care and safety is absolutely essential.
Therefore, it is the responsibility of the Director of Nursing/designee to establish minimum levels of
staffing for each resident care and living area (unit). These staffing levels must not be allowed to
drop below the levels required by State nursing home regulations.
POLICY:
Maintaining Minimum Staffing Levels on Nursing Units
APPLICABILITY:
This applies to all nursing employees (which includes RN’s, LPN’s and HSW’s) of the West
Virginia Veterans Nursing Facility.
RESPONSIBILITY:
The Nursing Department of the West Virginia Veterans Nursing Facility shall establish and
implement a policy and procedure, which may be utilized in any situation where the level of staffing
of any element of the Nursing Department falls below minimum levels.
Additionally, it is the responsibility of the human resources staff to ensure that each employee of the
facility is provided with a copy of this policy, and that the employee’s Acknowledgement is
maintained in the employee’s official personnel file. This policy and Acknowledgement will be
included in all new employee orientation packets.
Minimum Staffing Levels
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PROCEDURES:
It shall be the responsibility of the Nursing Department/House Supervisor/designee to determine if
replacement staff is necessary when staffing falls below the minimal staffing levels. The minimum
levels of staff for each unit will be posted in the Report Room.
The Director of Nursing/designee shall instruct specific individuals on duty to remain on duty as
deemed necessary. If a determination is made that replacement staffing is needed the following
procedural steps apply:
1. Reassignment: Reassignment from another unit. This may be for a.) to provide for
minimum staffing levels, b.) or to provide staffing levels assessed necessary by the Director
of Nursing/designee to accommodate resident situations or workload requirements per unit.
2. Volunteers: Ask for volunteer(s) from the shift still on duty.
3. Mandation: Floor specific to cover minimum staffing levels.
Staff is required to call in when they are unable to work at least two (2) hours in advance of the start
of their shift. This is required so that the supervisor/designee can begin to try to cover the slot.
4. After all reasonable effort to recruit volunteers and/or reassignments has been nonproductive
then mandated overtime must be directed. Mandatory overtime is to be directed in the
following manner to provide the required nursing service coverage for our residents.
a.) The Mandatory Rotational List (MRL) will be initially set up by seniority;
however, the determination of who will be mandated will be rotated based on the
last date mandated per facility wide excluding the alzheimer’s unit. This
mandated overtime would be for the time period required to provide minimal
staffing levels, but not to exceed eight (8) hours of overtime per shift.
b.) The mandated employee is to get his/her choice of assigned residents if he/she
chooses to go to another unit.
c.) In cases where there have been multiple call-ins on the same shift, the process
will be the same.
d.) Any time an employee has been mandated and worked the shift, his/her name will
drop to the bottom of the list. His/Her name will move up the list as others are
mandated
e.) If an employee is mandated to stay and, in the judgment of the supervisor, may be
allowed to leave after part of the shift, the supervisor should document it and the
employee allowed to sign out early. Unless approved by the Director of Nursing,
a mandate is to be a minimum of four (4) hours.
The following are guidelines on how an employee will achieve getting his/her name to the bottom of
the Mandatory Rotational List (MRL). It will be the responsibility of the employee to ensure his/her
overtime hours are entered on the time sheet. It is the RN shift supervisor/designee’s responsibility
to record and track this time. A minimum of four (4) hours overtime is required by an employee to
achieve having his/her name placed at the bottom of the MRL.
Minimum Staffing Levels
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A. An employee may volunteer to work four (4) hours or more to make minimum coverage
for the next shift, or another shift within the scheduled workweek. An employee can be
mandated for up to and including sixteen (16) hours per work week. An employee can
volunteer for 20 hours OT per week; the 20 hours must be approved by the DON or
his/her designee.
B. An employee maybe mandated to stay over to make minimum coverage for the next shift.
C. If an employee volunteers stay over for at least four hours OT on a scheduled day and
they complete the four hours of work, this is considered a mandate.
An employee who refuses to comply with a “mandate” instruction by the supervisor will be
considered to have failed to follow a direct instruction (insubordination). Disciplinary action for
refusal of mandated overtime is as follows. Mandate refusals are effective for one (1) year:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
First Offense:
Second Offense:
Third Offense:
Fourth Offense:
Fifth Offense:
a verbal warning
a written warning
a three-day unpaid suspension
a seven-day unpaid suspension
up to and including dismissal from employment.
References:
WV Veterans Nursing Facility Employee Handbook