Give Your Staff a Summer Break
Everybody gets a holiday when you close your facility for a week.
Summer vacations are meant to be enjoyable, but for a nurse manager trying to coordinate schedules, they're anything but a day at the beach. Surgeons vacation frequently throughout the summer, and for some reason their plans never seem to coordinate with when the nursing staff want their time off. To combat this, three years ago we started closing down our facility for the entire Fourth of July week. Not only does it lower our overhead (since that's typically a light volume week anyway), but it also lets surgeons and staff plan their vacations in advance, during a week when they know the facility will be closed. Our staff love the convenience and peace of mind of knowing their vacations will be approved and won't disrupt the facility's operations.

For an added bonus, pay your full-time staff for some (or all) of these vacation days — it's like a summer bonus, and it goes a long way toward boosting staff morale.

Greg DeConciliis, PA-C, CASC
Physician Assistant and Administrator
Boston Out-Patient Surgical Suites
Waltham, Mass.
regd@bostonoutpatient.com