VA 72/80 schedule

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I work for the VA ER in Las Vegas, and our unit is considering the 72/80 schedule. Does anyone have any experience with this? If so, do you like it? What are some of the pros and cons?

Also, how does the AL and SL work when you take leave?

Do you still accumulate leave and retirement at the same rate?

Thanks. Any information will be helpful.

Specializes in A little bit of this and that.
9 minutes ago, Candyela22 said:

Hello,

Nurses in the VA in Georgia are interested in implementing 72/80 as well. For those who have accomplished this, would you please provide any updates on how the process is going? Are you experiencing any pay Issues with HR? How were you able to convince management? I appreciate any assistance that you can provide. We are losing a lot of ot of nurses and I am hoping that the AWS can help with retention. Thank you. 

Well last year our ADPCS sent out an email asking for ideas to reduce burnout and improve retention. I told them about vha handbook 5011 and the 72/80 AWS. They trialed it, and now it's being rolled out in all 24/7 units. We have 20%+ vacancy rate and are located in an area saturated with well funded private hospitals, some with magnet designation. So we are closing beds, going on diversion, people are calling out and resigning because it's nuts. I think management realized they gotta do something, and although we've been asking for this for over 5 years, I guess it's better late than never. But if they implemented this a while ago, maybe we wouldn't be in the situation we're in. 

So far no issues with HR. Just some things to understand for the employees. Like previously mentioned, you work 208 fewer hours in a year, so divide your salary by 1872 hours instead of 2080, technically your hourly rate goes up. Any work beyond 72 hours in a PP is OT. All leave is charged at 1.111 hours.(so if you use 40 hours of leave you are charged 44.4 hours) You still acrue 8 AL and 4 SL. You do not get holiday pay unless you work the holiday. Your insurance premiums remain the same as if you were full time. (part-time employees premiums go up depending on how many hours are cut, but 72/80 is considered full-time) 

Specializes in Med surg.

Thank you. I'm glad to hear that there weren't any problems with HR. The possibility of experiencing some pay issues is a significant concern among the nurses and some of the union reps. 

Specializes in Medical Surgical.

Pay rates actually went up because you are being paid for 80 and are working 72. The union is also included in the implementation. We had no problems with HR. Individuals that work float and want to do this would probably have to be under the floor manager instead of the pool manager. We first went through the NPC and then the NPC arranged the presentation/meeting to be done with QUAD which is the clinical leadership board. Depending on how many beds the floor has, the staffing methodology would need to be adjusted. For example, we have 2 sides to our med surg unit, and we currently only have 24 nurses and there is a need for 36 for the unit to be adequately staff. That is next to impossible because what management doesn't realize is nurses get hurt, go out on fmla, etc. I am planning to do my 6-month evaluation to see if doing the 72 has improved or made things worse. Since it is considered a pilot, it can be pulled if it hasn't improved the functioning of the unit. The med-surg unit, which me and my coworker/partner were a part of, did the pilot first and this will be followed by ICU & ED. In my opinion, it has improved because alot of nurses never even looked at the WVAMC b/c it was 80 hours but now the WVAMC can say they are competitive with the 72. I can go over more with you. You can send me your email and I can provide you with our presentation and the step-by-step process more thoroughly to get the buy-in from mgmt

Specializes in Med surg.

Hello,

Yes. Thank you very much! That will help a lot. I'm in the preparation stage with the union. I'm trying to obtain as much information as I can to show our manager how it has  been effective at other VA's.

 

Thank you.

What form is used for 72/80 and where do I find the form

20 hours ago, Timmyg said:

What form is used for 72/80 and where do I find the form

Hey there little Timmy, you can find the form under the HR area on the intranet.  

 

https://vaww.VA.gov/vaforms/VA/pdf/VA0870a.pdf

0870a.pdf

Specializes in VA RN.
On 7/6/2022 at 11:14 PM, NeNe said:

 

@NeNe  I would love more information! I am new to AllNurses and unable to send you a message. Thankyou!

Specializes in Emergency.
On 7/6/2022 at 10:14 PM, NeNe said:

I was just looking up information to help implementation of policy for the 72/80 here at the VA in Wilmington, DE. I and another coworker collaborated and researched to have the 72/80 implemented. I am proud to state that it was approved and the medical-surgical unit began it 6/5/2022 to eventually be implemented hospital-wide. If anyone would like more information on how to get buy-in from their nursing leadership team, please feel free to comment and I will send you my personal information to help this implementation be done at your VA. Thanks and trust me with support from your units, it can happen. Basically, we still get paid (we actually got an increase) the same as if we were 80. In order to trade off, we had to state that we all agreed that unless we work the holiday, we will not get paid for it. This was fine with most of us as we came from the private sector and that is what is done with them. I noted that one of the hospitals within VISN 4 (Lebanon) had implemented the 72, and reached out to their HR and eventually got in touch with the nurse managers. They assisted me through the process and myself and my coworker first presented it to the Nurse Practice Council who then supported to be presented to our Clinical Leadership. Again, I am willing to assist and help anyone who wants to get together to present the idea to get everyone onboard. There is no way that we all should not be doing 3 12-hour shifts a week, especially nurses that work on inpatient nursing units. The VA has to make themselves competitive with the private sector because it is a great place to work!!

NeNe, My name is Sarah, I work at the Prescott, Az VA and we also would like to implement the 72/80 AWS. Would you please send me information to we can get this started. [email protected] or [email protected]

Specializes in ER.

I am interested in more information on the 72/80. I'm in Michigan, and there has been talk of implementing this in the ICU because it was trialed there first. I am not in the ICU, however, would like more information for leadership.  Can anyone send me the presentation to [email protected]?  Or send me any information that you have? Thank you 

Specializes in ER.

I too would love more information on the 72/80 as we are presenting next week to leadership. Curious about the Holiday set-up with no pay and management telling us they would need to hire more employees. So they already not wanting to buy in. My email [email protected]. Thank you!

Specializes in Mental Health, Hospice-CHPN, Home Care.

Nene, 

Id really like to connect about how you got the 72/80 approved at your VA. How do I get you my contact info. 

Thanks so much!

@NeNe 

Facility I work in has it on nights but not days which is baffling. Furthermore, our day shift NPs in our MSICU have 72/80. Great for everyone getting it - terrible practice and business model to pit us vs them by doing a day vs night shift thing. Feel free to message me with any info or suggestions you have. Straight resistance is being felt as we push to bring it to day shift. 

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