Local 5131 Update on Reporting Staffing Issues

Hello everyone. We wanted to give you a little guidance on filling out short staffing forms, since they can be hard to find, and people are not always sure when to use them. To find the form, go to the Inspira intranet and click on the box labeled “Clinical and Quality”. Next click on “Nursing”, and at the top left of that next page you will click a blue link titled “Staffing Form.”

We know there is limited space, but please try to be thorough in your reporting. We often get staffing forms that are incomplete and thus hard to follow-up with. Please fill out your department, and your whole name, in case we have questions or would like to follow up on some details with you. If there is a staffing issue on a unit, one form for that shift is enough to report it. We address each and every staffing form we get, so if several nurses are concerned/affected, you can add their names to your form with their permission instead of them filling out separate forms of their own for that shift.

You can fill out a short staffing form any time you feel you don’t have adequate staffing to be able to safely do your job. It can be the lack of support staff, like a secretary or CNA(s) that tip the scale into unsafe care because you are answering phones or running for call lights and are unable to give your patients the time they need. The hospital has trained newly hired transporters to do one-to-one supervision for patients, to help ease the burden on the floors having CNA’s pulled for this duty. Lack of CNA’s continues to be a problem, though, so we would encourage you to fill out the staffing forms when appropriate, so management can continue to be reminded they need to find ways to help, including hiring more staff. We know it is hard to have one more thing to do at the end of a busy shift, but we have been able to make some positive changes in the past when we have shown a pattern of problematic staffing in an area. Help us have the info to fight for you and make your work life easier.

In solidarity,

Local 5131 Executive Board