VA Health Care: Improved Staffing Methods and Greater Availability of Alternate and Flexible Work Schedules Could Enhance the Recruitment and Retention of Inpatient Nurses

Registered nurses (RNs) are the largest group of health care providers employed by VA's health care system. RNs are relied on to deliver inpatient care, but VA medical centers (VAMC) face RN recruitment and retention challenges. VAMCs use a patient classification system (PCS) to determine RN staffing on inpatient units by classifying inpatients according to severity of illness to determine the amount of RN care needed. GAO reviewed VAMC inpatient units for (1) the usefulness of information generated by VA's PCS; (2) key factors that affect RN retention; and (3) factors that contribute to delays in hiring RNs. GAO performed a Web-based survey of all VAMC nurse executives; interviewed VA headquarters officials and VAMC nursing officials, and conducted RN focus groups at eight VAMCs visited by GAO. The findings of GAO's survey are generalizable to all nurse executives; however, findings from the focus groups at the eight VAMCs are not generalizable.

VAMC nursing officials--nurse executives who are responsible for all nursing care at VAMCs and nurse managers who are responsible for supervising RNs on VAMC inpatient units--GAO interviewed reported that although VA inpatient RNs are required to input patient data into VA's PCS, they do not rely on the information generated by PCS because it is outdated and inaccurate. These nursing officials noted that VA's PCS does not accurately capture the severity of patients' illnesses or account for all the nursing tasks currently performed on inpatient units. Because of the shortcomings of VA's PCS, nurse managers use data from a variety of sources to help set RN staffing levels for their inpatient units. At four of the eight VAMCs GAO visited, nurse managers told GAO that they set RN staffing levels for their inpatient units by adhering to the historical staffing levels that had been established for the units. Three VAMCs GAO visited set their RN staffing levels using data on the RN staffing levels found in inpatient units in other hospitals with similar characteristics. VA reported it is proposing to develop a new RN staffing system. However, VA has not developed a detailed action plan that includes a timetable for building, testing, and implementing the new nurse staffing system. VA nursing officials reported that VA's ability to retain its RNs is adversely affected by two main factors. First, inpatient RNs reported that they spend too much time performing non-nursing duties such as housekeeping and clerical tasks. Second, even though VAMCs were authorized in 2004 to offer RNs two alternate work schedules that are generally desired by nurses--such as working three12-hour shifts within a week that would be considered full-time for pay and benefits purposes--few nurse executives reported offering these schedules; therefore, few RNs work these schedules. Specifically, according to nurse executives GAO surveyed only about 1 percent of many inpatient units offered alternate schedules and less than 1 percent of RNs actually worked these schedules. The availability of flexible work schedules, for example, working eight 10-hour shifts over a 2-week period, are more widely available among VAMCs but are still limited, according to GAO's survey of nurse executives. Nursing officials and RNs noted other factors affecting retention such as reliance on supplemental staffing strategies--for example, RN overtime--and insufficient professional development opportunities. Both VA nurse executives and nursing officials identified limitations in VA's process for hiring RNs and VA-imposed hiring freezes and lags as major contributing factors causing delays in hiring RNs to fill inpatient vacancies at VAMCs. VA nursing officials reported that hiring freezes and lags at VAMCs and delays resulting from limitations in VA's hiring process can discourage prospective candidates from seeking or following through on applications for employment at these facilities. Although VA has recently taken steps to address some of the factors that are reported to contribute to RN hiring delays, it is too early to determine the extent to which these steps have been effective in reducing hiring delays