SOPs for Managing Nurses’ Monthly Duty Roster Manually

Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for Managing Nurses’ Duty Roster

Version 3 (January 2019)

Developed By:

Khalil Ahmed

Head Nurse, CCU, IH, PIMS, Islamabad

Description:

The purpose of developing these SOPs was to create uniformity and clarity in the policies regarding nurses’ duty roster. This document has brought the already practised rule into written form. The first version of the SOPs was introduced in Emergency and Accident Center, PIMS in 2014.  Further improvements have been brought in the subsequent versions. Constructive feedback would be appreciated. A sample duty roster which incorporates some of these rules is attached.

SOPs	Rationales
1.       Days off available in a month:
1.1.    Weekly off: A nurse will be eligible to avail weekly days off equal to the number of Sundays in a month.	Because every Sunday is an official day off, therefore, all nurses are eligible to avail days off equal to the number of Sundays in a month. Nurses can not avail their day off on Sundays, because the hospital remains open 24 hours a day and 7 days a week, therefore, they will avail their days off according to the duty roster.
1.2.    Friday off: A nurse will be eligible to avail one more day off each month known as “Friday off” in addition to weekly days off.	To balance the 2 hours difference between routine office timings (8 am to 2 pm) and Friday office timings (8 am to 12 pm). Nurses perform two hours extra duty on each Friday, which becomes eight hours (equal to one duty shift) in a month.
1.3.    Sleeping off: A nurse will be eligible to avail one day off at the end of his/her night duty week.	a)  Night shift duty (8 pm to 8 am) is longer than the other shift duties. It would not be possible for a nurse to perform morning or evening shift duty after a night shift duty which ends at 8 am in the morning. b)  However, one day sleeping off can not be a compensation for performing 12 hours long night shift duties for 7 days in comparison to the routine morning duty (6 or 7 hours a day for 6 days in a week). Therefore, separate incentives should be considered for this compensation.
1.4.    Public Holidays: A nurse will be eligible to avail days off equal to the number of public holidays announced in any given month.	Announced by Government of Pakistan.
2.       Rules for marking leave / days off on the monthly duty roster:
2.1.    All weekly days off, public holidays and Friday off available in a month will be mentioned in a table on the monthly duty roster.	In order to simplify and standardize the days off record.  (See the table at the bottom of the sample duty roster.)
2.2.    If a nurse could not avail all of his/her days off in a month, the due days off can be called Pending days off. All pending days off from the previous month will be mentioned with the names of all nurses in a separate column on the duty roster.	In order to simplify and standardize the days off record. See sample roster.
2.3.    The pending days off will be calculated from the day first to the last day of the previous month.	For the sake of clarity in calculating the pending days off.
2.4.    Casual leave balance from the previous month will also be mentioned with the names of all nurses in a separate column on the duty roster.	It will be easy to update the casual leave balance on monthly basis. Keeping a separate register for C.L record is more complicated.
2.5.    All days off (including public holidays, weekly and Friday off) will be marked with the letter “O” on duty roster except Sleeping off.	In order to simplify and standardize the record and to avoid confusion.
2.6.    Sleeping off will be marked with letters “S/O” on the duty roster.	Sleeping off will not be counted with other days off because each nurse can have a different number of sleeping days off depending on the position of his/her night week in a month.
2.7.    Casual leave will be marked with the letters “C/L”; while, Earned Leave will be marked with the letters “E/L” on the duty roster.	In order to simplify and standardize the leave record and to avoid confusion. Twenty days casual leave is admissible in a year.
3.       Rules for availing days off:
3.1.    A nurse will request to the head nurse at least three days earlier to avail less than 3 days off.	Proper management of duty roster would not be possible in case of unplanned days off.
3.2.    A nurse will request to the head nurse at least one week earlier to avail more than 3 days off.	Proper management of duty roster would not be possible in case of unplanned days off.
3.3.    Approval to avail days off will depend upon the availability of staff at that particular time.	Ensuring the availability of an appropriate number of nurses in all duty shifts would be the top priority.
3.4.    In case of casual leave/annual leave/ medical rest/ absenteeism for one week in a month, one weekly day off will be deducted and so forth.	The nurse, in this case, has not performed his/her duty for one week, therefore, he/she will not be considered eligible to avail weekly off of that particular week and so forth.
3.5.    In case of casual leave/annual leave/ medical rest/ absenteeism for more than 3 days in a month, one weekly day off will be deducted.	The nurse, in this case, has not performed his/her duty for more than half days in a week, hence, it will be considered as one week of absence from duty, therefore, he/she will not be considered eligible for weekly off.
3.6.    A nurse will not be eligible to avail a public holiday in case of casual leave/annual leave/ medical rest/ absenteeism on that particular public holiday date.	Because the nurse has not performed duty on that public holiday date, therefore, she is not eligible to avail that day off.
3.7.    A nurse will be eligible to avail a public holiday off in case if he/she avails his /her day off on that particular public holiday date.	Because the nurse, in this case, is not on casual leave/annual leave/ medical rest/ absenteeism but he/she is availing his/her day off which was previously due.

Acknowledgement:

Following officials are acknowledged for being helpful in the development of these SOPs:

• Azmat Hussain Shah (Head Nurse, IH, PIMS, Islamabad)
• Ms Khalida K. Din (Nursing Supervisor, IH, PIMS, Islamabad)
• Mr Zafar Iqbal Channa (Deputy Chief Nursing Superintendent, IH, PIMS, Islamabad)
• Ms Humaira Khushnood (Chief Nursing Superintendent, PIMS, Islamabad)
• Ms Farzana Islam (Ex. Chief Nursing Superintendent, PIMS, Islamabad

Sample Duty Roster