Two positions while working?

!up we go

!up we go =[

hmm - interesting question.

I have worked with small (~ 20 bed) rural facilities in the past that had many types of staffers doing 'double duty'. They simply did not have the volumes (or $) to have 24X7 ancillary staff. Basically, it came down to a choice of not providing service or having nurses cross-train. Nurses are always there and our education prepares us as generalists, so it's usually just a matter of additional technical crosstraining since we already have the underlying knowledge.

It was not uncommon for nurses to cross-train for basic lab, resp tx and radiology functions as well as handle pharmacy dispensing under the "supervision" of the town pharmacist who made rounds once a day. In some instances, I know that the facilities obtained waivers from regulatory agencies - but I don't exactly know how it was handled by the various professional licensing boards.

Since professional licensure is a state-regulated function, I would imagine that there is a lot of variation in how this could be addressed.

OH - and before the question is asked..... no, these rural nurses did not get any extra money for the additional duties.

Thanks for posting your insight into this. It does make sense to have a nurse who is crosstrained to do other duties like you mentioned and still make a nurse's salary. If they were paid for two positions...what would be the point in that? Better off hiring another person to do the crosstraining duties alone (minimize errors,etc. but more $$$ to dish out[salary,benefits,etc.]).