Addressing Nurse Absenteeism and Staff Scheduling

NewYork-Presbyterian Queens (NYP/Q) is a Level One Trauma Center serving Queens and the New York metropolitan community. The mission of NYP/Q is to be the premier healthcare institution serving the greater community by providing excellence in clinical care and patient safety, education, clinical research, and service. The hospital has been facing high levels of nurse call-outs and no-shows detrimental to its budget, and due to the lack of standardized tracking and scheduling, it has been difficult for hospital leadership to hold staff accountable. The Capstone team conducted a comprehensive literature review on existing evidence-based best practices for improving nurse absenteeism, staffing, and scheduling; developed a current-state process map by interviewing key stakeholders; verified effective practices in other NewYork-Presbyterian facilities and out-of-network hospitals; and conducted a staff nursing survey to explore the key drivers of absenteeism. Based on its research and analysis, the team presented a comprehensive report with recommendations for an efficient, centralized nursing staffing model to address nurse absenteeism and scheduling issues.