Pulling of staff

[Jules2]

I am interested in ways that pulling of staff may be managed. Has anyone found a way to make pulling less of a torture? Anyone use differentials for pulling, on call or closed units? How does it work and are staff happy with it?

[oramar]

I am surprised that no one has responded to this topic. I would think there would be a lot of people out there who have had experience with this subject. My personal experience is that the most important thing about pulling is to have rules about who get pulled and when and then to abide by them. When there are no rules, the easy going people who do not protest tend to be pulled over and over again and again until resentment builds, while the people who refuse to go will not be asked due the fact that supervisors do not want to listen to the fuss they make. Unfair pulling practices can contruibute to high turnover rates. The last unit I worked had a pull list, a large calender with a lenght wise list of all the staff, on it everyone wrote the day and unit to which ther were pulled. When the supervisor had to pull she/he refered to the list before the edict was issued. Another thing there is a tendency to do is to pull people with more experience to cover telementry and ICU openings thinking they will be better capable of handling the acuity of the patients on these units. This is another way to get rid of your staff quickly. Stick to the list, then everyone will feel they are being treated fairly.

[zimmermears]

The hospital I just left had a great pull/float policy! The hospital I am working for now has an UNSAFE policy. The way it worked at my old facility was: You had 2-3 "sister units" that you were required to float if it was your turn. All registry and PRN were pulled first. After your turn was over it might be a month or more before you were pulled again. THis helped with moral and kept the staff pretty happy. Let me know what you come up with.

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Shawn Zimmer RN

Staff Educator

[hollykate]

At my facility we have a pretty good float/pull policy . I'm in critical care and I am only pulled to critical care areas. In addition, I fill out a float eval each time I go: That way if I got a really horrible assignment because I was a float the manager will see it. Generally, I like to be pulled, I get a decent assignment, or an assignment like the pt that was supposed to be in my ICU but the beds were all ful type. It works out well.

[LRB]

this is for hollykate.

could you please enlighten me on the float eval that you fill out??? I am also in critical care and only get pulled to the sister ICUs; however, there are days when we get totally dumped on Thanks.

[hollykate]

LRB,

The eval is pretty basic. It asks how the day/night went. If pulled again, would you want to come back? Which pts did you have (the manager can check on the acuity of the pt pair) Was the staff helpful to you? Did you get a meal break. I highly recommend the float eval system. It is not really on our minds, but the eval does get read back to us in staff meetings by the mgr- so they are taken pretty seriously . I have never gotten a nightmarish assignment while floating- more often, I get one in my own unit! Even though it may seem like tattling, it has really helped us to see what we think as a light assignment was not considered light by the MICU RN... Let me know if you implement it: I can get you a full copy of the form if you like, just email me.