CNOs must have a strike contingency plan, according to this CNE.
On this week’s episode of HL Shorts, we hear from Chaudron Carter, Executive Vice President and Chief Nurse Executive at Temple Health, about how CNOs can develop a plan for continuing operations in the event of a nursing strike. Tune in to hear her insights.
Would you recommend having a plan in place for dealing with potential strike activity?
Any organization that's embarking on a contract negotiation should have a contingency operations plan.
Most organizations that are unionized know what it is, and it is based on, “If there is a strike, how can you continue operations?” That [includes] dietary, housekeeping, radiology, and how we continue to operate as normal, or [with] some resemblance as normal, when the nurses go out on strike. [That could involve] hiring an agency to bring in a contingency workforce.
The plan is huge because nursing touches all aspects of an organization, and so you have to think of the most minute things to the larger scale items. Instead of having five Med Surg units, how can you collate them into two or three, and what areas can you downsize in to continue to still provide the same quality of care to the patients that are coming in your doors.
So that contingency plan is an operations plan that mitigates any issues around continuing operations as it relates to a strike.
G Hatfield is the nursing editor for HealthLeaders.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
CNOs should plan how to continue operations if their nurses go on strike.
The plan must encompass all aspects of an organization, from the smallest details to the largest processes.
Leaders should know where and how to downsize so that the same quality of care can continue to be provided.