Nurses

Re: Nurses

Neal Palk — Sun, 21 Apr 2013 20:04:56 GMT

You need to describe the headcount in FTE terms, not just 'bodies' otherwise the wrong conclusions and advice could be forthcoming!!??

10 people working 40 hrs a week each is a whole lot different than 10 people working (say) 20 hrs..........

Re: Nurses

Rob Loxley — Sat, 20 Apr 2013 14:00:32 GMT

[quote user="sharminda"]2 of our vns also run a dog grooming service and actually one of the 4 is part time[/quote]]

Ok, unless we know how many staff, what hours, what tasks, it's hard to comment beyond suggestions on how you might see if another nurse could pay, rather than is needed

Re: Nurses

Braden Collins — Sat, 20 Apr 2013 09:38:35 GMT

It sounds to me also that admin/reception is a bit overstaffed compared to nurses. It's hard to say if more nurses are needed or not without knowing how the practice runs. Things to consider would be if vets are doing wor nurses could do (and if the vets could be doing higher paid work if they were freed up), if the lack of nurses is costing the vets time by waiting to need for nurses, and if a new nurse could generat new income streams for the clinic.

I'd want to know all that before i took on another nurse.

Re: Nurses

sharminda — Sat, 20 Apr 2013 08:44:18 GMT

Am working on some justifying another nurse finiacially. It is the general feeling of our nursing and small animal team that we need at least another vn. 2 of our vns also run a dog grooming service and actually one of the 4 is part time. I suppose I was more interested in the vn to vet ratio similar practices find most efficient.

Re: Nurses

Rob Loxley — Sat, 20 Apr 2013 00:37:11 GMT

4 VNs and 11 support staff for 3.5 FTE SA vets and 2 LA vets sounds pretty reasonable? My only real comment is that 11 support staff seems rather large, but maybe they're part-time?

I'd be interested to see how another VN is going to generate the extra income to cover the cost of employing them

Re: Nurses

Niall Taylor — Fri, 19 Apr 2013 22:42:53 GMT

[quote user="sharminda"]Anyone got any ideas on how to persuade them? [/quote]

You could either a/ do a realistic costing of how exactly this "improvement in efficiency" would pay for itself or b/ offer to take a pay cut (the same way that the partners would have to) in order to fund the new recruitment.

Cheers,

Niall

Re: Nurses

Michael Woodhouse — Fri, 19 Apr 2013 20:08:34 GMT

What do you see as the limiting factors?

How many vets operate at once? The nurses who help the vets operate in the morning are usually free in the afternoons.