Published
July marked the beginning of the new fiscal year at the hospital I work & as always they are trying even harder to cut costs. For over a year now a "SHARE" program has been in effect where employees find ways to cut cost & are rewarded monitarily (i.e. standardizing after-hours snacks, using cheaper contrast media, eliminating sign-on bonuses, blah blah, blah). They have also changed the staffing grid AGAIN. We were using a 4:1 ratio on our unit & our customer service scores were improved, but now they want budget cuts (even if that mean sacfrificing customer service???) & they have made us go 6:1. The hospital I work at is in a poor community mostly populated by senior citizens or people receiving government aid. We see very few private insurance, but we see a ton of self-pay. This has to effect the bottom line & don't they know that? Anyone out there going through similar situations at their hospital & what steps are being taking to improve the budget?