Case Study: Lee Memorial Health System Increases Open-Shift Fill Rate By 60%

Challenges
Lee Memorial's staffing resource center, or float pool, used paper calendars to schedule 350 employees. Only 20% of shifts were being filled. The acquisition of two new hospitals, Southwest Florida Regional and Gulf Coast, compounded the issue. Both new facilities carried staffing ratios in patient nursing units that were lower than Lee Memorial's patient care standards.

According to Kristie Huff, RN, MSN, system director of resources and staffing for patient care services at Lee Memorial Health System, reaching productivity goals also depended on having the right tools to ensure balanced schedules. And south Florida's seasonal patient fluctuations made determining demand and staffing needs challenging.