English Technical

Seattle Children's Hospital

TO: The Director, Seattle Children's Hospital

From: Concerned Citizen

Date: August 13, 2020

Subject: Course of Action Recommendation for Nurse's Improved Pay

INTRODUCTION

This report aims to recommend a course of action recommendation for nurses to improve pay at Seattle Children's Hospital. The nurses at the hospital are poorly compensated. As a result, the Washington State Nurses Association (WSNA) began picketing on August 9, 2020, outside the Seattle Children's Hospital to attempt and convinces the organization to compensation negotiations for the nurses. The union claims that in the previous nine compensation consultations over four months, they have bargained with the hospital and still have not been capable of reaching a settlement (Gilbert, 2022). The Union members have been bargaining for a novel contract to address compensation, turnover, and staffing. The union contends that improved remunerations are needed to lessen staffing shortages and keep nurses who live within the society. Moreover, it has pressured the hospital to compensate its staff nurses more rather than compensating travel nurse salaries and hiring bonuses. The union details that the nurse vacancy percentage at the facility was 19% after January, a 14% surge since 2020. There is a need to solve the issue urgently, and the only means to address it is by ensuring the staff nurses are properly remunerated.

Criteria

To help understand why Nurses improved remuneration is necessary, I developed the following criteria:

1. Benefits to the hospital

2. Reduced expenses

Recommendation

I recommended the implementation of better compensation for nurse staff at Seattle Children's Hospital. As a hospital that deeply values and supports its team members, Seattle Children's Hospital should be dedicated to being a frontrunner in payment in the Seattle community. The organization should serve as a role model for the leading hospitals that value nurses' profession by offering the best compensation for their service and dedication. Seattle Children's nurses are crucial members of their team and fundamental to offering the utmost magnitude of care to the patients and kinfolks they serve. As a result, they deserve the best compensation. Moreover, offering them proper remuneration will benefit Seattle Children's Hospital considerably.

DISCUSSION

Benefits of Improved Nurse's Remuneration to the Hospital

Nurses' performance in offering services and care yields a level of patient contentment. Numerous studies have pointed out that nurses' performance is deemed as one of the crucial aspects in defining the health service quality (Muthmainnah et al., 2018). Remarkable nursing compensation will benefit Seattle Children's Hospital by adding to the utmost nursing care quality and enhancing patient outcomes. A well-managed and clear remuneration system will substantially advance the nurses' performance, consequently improving the level of healthcare quality in the facility. Moreover, satisfactory remuneration will boost the nurses' inspiration. In numerous backgrounds, a study indicated that the inspiration of nurses functioning within the ICU grew considerably following the enhancement of the compensation system (Muthmainnah et al., 2018). Seattle Children's Hospital will experience the same fate upon implementing an improved remuneration system. Correspondingly, bonuses in the compensation system of nurses will increase the contentment of nurses functioning in the facility.

Furthermore, improved compensation will lead to improved staff retention. Compensation greatly affects employee retention within an entity since with acceptable compensation the personnel will feel that the facility cares about their needs. The principal purpose of a good compensation approach is retention and staffing. Paying well means that the Seattle Children's Hospital will be able to attract superior talent and retain them for longer. In actual fact, 66 percent of establishments surveyed recognize retention as the primary reason to possess a sound compensation approach, followed by enhanced contracting and paying for in-demand abilities (Muthmainnah et al., 2018). Fair compensation and welfare will bring about superior job satisfaction, meaning the nurses will be happy in their career position and are less likely to need to change employers' jobs. Depending on this proof, remuneration is one of the indispensable contributing aspects to improving nurses' performance. Additionally, remuneration is a fundamental demand with the possibility to improve healthcare provision within the facility to realize its goals and vision.

Reduced Expenses

Seattle Children's Hospital spends many funds compensating travel nurses' salaries and giving them bonuses, which is costly. Therefore, compensating their staff nurses satisfactorily will enable them to save the funds they spend to hire travelling nurses. Moreover, greater compensation will result in improved productivity, translating into greater proceeds for the facility.

CONCLUSION

Implementing better compensation for nurse staff at Seattle Children's Hospital will greatly benefit it. Remuneration is an urgent matter in the hospital and prominently influences its quality. Accordingly, it is essential to identify strategies aimed at enhancing the existing remuneration systems. The principal purpose of a good compensation approach is retention and staffing. Paying well means that the Seattle Children's Hospital will be able to attract superior talent and retain them for longer. As negotiations continue, the facility should all agree to put the nurses first as their utmost priority. Compensation should be a primary element in the Seattle Children's Hospital nurse's attraction, retention, and turnover.

References

Gilbert, L. (2022). Seattle Children's Hospital nurses picket for better working conditions as negotiations stall. https://mynorthwest.com/3590616/seattle-childrens-hospital-nurses-picket-better-working-conditions-negotiations-stall/

Muthmainnah, Syuhaimie Hamid, A. Y., & Hariyati, Rr. T. S. (2018). Improving nurses' performance through remuneration: a literature review. Enfermería Clínica, 28, 130–133. https://doi.org/10.1016/s1130-8621(18)30052-4