A new nursing Resource Pool model and pay structure was implemented June 27. For new nurse graduates, as well as experienced nurses and patient care technicians, joining the Resource Pool provides opportunities to work in a wide variety of hospital specialties and locations. The redesigned model includes both career path and compensation opportunities.
All Resource Pool nurses and patient care technicians will receive a 10% differential for all productive hours. These caregivers are asked to float anywhere within the geography, are willing to cross geographies when needed, and are usually unaware of where they’re floating to until the day they work.
The Resource Pool structure provides a clinical career path for nurses with options to develop new skills and add new specialty areas for additional competencies. These options will help us attract and retain nurses in our Resource Pool who are highly skilled and mobile. To ensure competencies within a specialty lane, Resource Pool nurses work a specific number of hours in their desired specialty lanes.
There are four job grades in the staffing structure for Resource Pool nurses. The higher the job grade, the greater number of specialty lane competencies are required. Each grade level has a specific number of specialty lanes where nurses demonstrate skills and competency. As Resource Pool nurses advance a job grade, they will take on an additional specialty lane where they may float. With this advancement, caregivers will also receive an appropriate pay increase for moving into a new grade level. Opportunities are available to work in Women’s Services, Labor and Delivery, Acute Care, and Intensive Care areas.
By creating a Resource Pool with expertise in multiple specialty lanes, we can better plan and safely staff during peak volumes in fluctuating units during different times of the year. Work is in progress to help standardize processes and procedures for both Resource Pools and staffing offices to gain better efficiencies and build a workforce that can care for patients when and where they need it. The centralized staffing process Intermountain introduced recently to provide a fair and equitable way to call off nursing caregivers will help support our new Resource Pool model.
Creating this new Resource Pool structure allows us to continue building a workforce that has expertise in multiple areas with caregivers who are willing to float to all areas, both within and across geographies. This model allows for:
- Staffing for peak volumes using Resource Pool nurses. By creating a Resource Pool with expertise in multiple specialty lanes, we can better plan and safely staff during peak volumes in fluctuating units during different times of the year.
- Staffing to a unit’s average instead of their peak volumes, which will help reduce the cancellation/called-off hours and floating hours for unit-based caregivers.
- Greater support for rural facilities.
- Greater nurse job satisfaction.
- The potential for better patient care and experience because of caregivers’ expertise.
At this time, the Resource Pool for Medical Group and Homecare hasn’t been aligned to the central Resource Pool due to their specific patient population. Nursing leaders are working closely with these areas to identify how we can support and identify opportunities for alignment with this new model.
If you’re interested in becoming a Resource Pool caregiver, or if you have any questions about the Resource Pool, please contact Luanna Schmelter.