Absenteeism in Nursing: A Longitudinal Study

Abstract

Absenteeism has been noted by nursing administrators to be a costly and disruptive problem to the running of clinical units within a major tertiary referral hospital in Queensland. Prior to 1992, few active steps were taken to measure, understand, control or manage its occurrence. A comprehensive review of the literature suggested that a variety of strategies to control absenteeism in nursing had been tried elsewhere with varying results. Strategies were selected and applied to our study group.The study group for this paper was a nursing division containing seven rostered speciality nursing units and approximately 250 effective full-time Registered and Enrolled Nurses. Two nurse managers were responsible for the compilation of rosters and the management of staff to the division. During the study period, April 1992 to April 1994, student nurses were slowly being phased out of the establishment, each student nurse being replaced by 0.8 Registered Nurses. This process was completed by July 1993. The number of rostered Registered Nurse and Enrolled Nurse shifts per roster (28 days) went from 3699 in April 1992 to 4270 in April 1994, a rise of 15 percent. ' Within the Nurses (Queensland Public Hospital) Award 1991, at this time, fulltime nurses worked a 40-hour week (5 eight-hour shifts), and were entitled to ten paid sick days per year, with a medical certificate only being required after the second consecutive sick day. Part-time nurses received a pro rata entitlement.A prevalent attitude among many nurses in the group was that no reward or recognition existed for not utilizing the sick leave entitlement; therefore, they may as well use it-sick or otherwise. Similar attitudes have been documented by James (1989) who noted that sick leave is taken as a right, like annual leave. Intent on better understanding and controlling absenteeism within the division, the managers began tabulating data and trying to ascertain how to reduce the voluntary component of absenteeism. This paper is divided into five sections. The first is a literature review examining relevant definitions, causes and management options of absenteeism. Next we describe the methods adopted, and results achieved within our division. A detailed discussion and recommendations for further studies are suggested in light of our findings. * We would like to acknowledge the contributions made by our colleagues Charlie Grugan (Chair of Nursing) and Ava Reid (Nurse Manager) during this study.

Absenteeism and the impact of a 38-hour week, rostered day off option

“…Absenteeism for the total group showed significant variability between the two years (Tables 1 and 2). There were seasonal trends for sick leave and total absenteeism with peaks occurring in winter months (rosters 6-8) and troughs in summer months (rosters 13, 1 and 2) which we have previously described (Williams & Slater, 1996). Unexplained peaks occurred in October and November of 1994 ( Figure 1 -roster 12) and December-January 1995 (Figure 2 -roster 13).…”