Decreased Overtime Works Double-Time for Patients

Inpatient nurses at Moanalua Medical Center found that standardizing change-of-shift communications enabled them to reduce annual overtime costs by $80,000. Unit-based team members created a report called “Say It In Five” to help nurses communicate key details about patient care, including diagnosis, lab results and pain management. The UBT also made changes to end-of-shift nursing assignments and adjusted workflows for hospital aides. As a result, the team was able to reduce overtime hours from 103 hours to 88 hours in a single pay period.

Here's What Worked

• Standardizing end-of-shift communication between nurses
• Assigning outgoing nurse assignments to incoming nurses
• Creating new workflows for hospital aides

What can your team do to reduce unnecessary variation?