Team,
I’m so happy to celebrate “ArkanThaw” with you this week after a very long, trying and seemingly endless 10 or so days of freezing temperatures, ice, snow and sleet. Through it all, our UAMS Nurses never missed a beat. You showed up ready and willing to care for our patients, and I am very grateful for your commitment.
Unfortunately, bedside nursing doesn’t have a work-from-home option, and we can’t just close because of bad roads like state offices and schools. Our recent inclement weather illustrates how important a dependable clinical workforce truly is.
In a blog post in this week’s Emerging RN Leader newsletter, Rose O. Sherman, EdD, RN, NEA-BC, FAAN, wrote, “Nursing is a work of heart, but also a contract with our teammates. When the weather gets tough, our professional commitment should not melt.” Click here to read the entire post.
Being there for your team is vital, no matter what the weather is like. Here in Arkansas, it might be even more tempting to call in for a day outside on a beautiful spring day than an icy one. Throughout my time at UAMS – and my entire nursing career – one of the biggest struggles for nursing management has been developing an attendance policy that allows for “life happens” events when employees can’t make it to work, equitable treatment of all employees, and ensuring that patients are properly cared for.
With those goals in mind, we are in the process of clarifying our UAMS Health attendance policy to help address several common issues. One example is an expanded list of communicable conditions that are excusable for employees with appropriate documentation that now includes flu, COVID, strep, RSV, shingles, conjunctivitis and chicken pox.
In the coming weeks we will be reviewing additional discussion points to ensure we have fair and consistent processes for managing and adhering to our attendance policy, such as setting attendance expectations that provide for reasonable absences along with an opportunity to reverse patterns of absenteeism that are outside the allowable amount. The most important take away about the proposed policy update is that you should expect equal accountability across the board and consistent adherence to policy.
Like many other healthcare institutions, enforcement of this policy was inconsistent during COVID and the following years when we had so many open nursing positions.
Hospitals across the state and around the country are taking similar actions and moving toward stricter adherence to existing policies – often without a reset or grace period. As a result, some long-time employees are facing termination. Our goal is to avoid that.
We have an extraordinary team of nurses, and together we do amazing things, but we must be present to do so. I hope you will find the new policy easier to comply with. My hope is that both you and our nursing managers will be able to spend less time worrying about attendance and focus more on nursing excellence. More to come on this topic soon.
I want to remind everyone of a big event coming up one week from today. Please join me in the Lobby Gallery from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 13, as we bid farewell to our Nurse Recruiter Susan Erickson and thank her for nearly 42 years of service to UAMS.
Thank you again for all your support in the icy weather! Your efforts and commitment did not go unnoticed. I am so proud to lead such an amazing team!
Tammy Jones, PHD, RN, NE-BC
Chief Nursing Officer
Associate Vice Chancellor for Patient Care Services & Clinical Operations
Perioperative, Interventional & Imaging Services Division