Urgent

To:     Clinical Nurse Manager

           All Nursing Staff

From:     Administration/Groundskeeping

Re:     Cost Containment Strategies

Effective October 15, this hospital will no longer provide security.  Each charge nurse will be issued a .38 caliber revolver and 12 rounds of ammunition.  An additional 23 rounds will be stored in the pharmacy. In addition to routine nursing duties, charge nurses will rotate the patrolling of the hospital grounds.  A bicycle and helmet will be provided for patrolling the parking areas.  In light of the similarity of monitoring equipment, ICU will now take over the security surveillance duties.  The unit clerk will be responsible for watching cardiac and security monitors as well as continuing previous unit clerk duties.

Food service will be discontinued.   Patients wishing to be fed will need to let their family know to bring them something or may make arrangements with Subway, Pizza Hut, etc. before mealtime.  Coin operated telephones will be available in the patients' rooms for this purpose as well as for other calls the patients wish to make.

Housekeeping and physical therapy are being combined.  Mops will be issued to those patients who are ambulatory, thus providing range-of-motion exercise as well as a clean environment.  Families and ambulatory patients may also sign up to clean the rooms of non-ambulatory patients for special discounts from their final bill.  Time cards will be provided.

Administration is assuming all groundskeeping duties.  If the administration-on-call cannot be reached by calling his/her office, it is suggested that you walk outside and listen for the sound of a lawnmower, weed-whacker, etc., in order to locate your administrator.

Engineering is being eliminated.  The hospital has subscribed to the TIME LIFE "How To..." series of maintenance books. These books can be checked out from administration, and a toolbox will be standard equipment on all nursing units.  We will be receiving the series at a rate of one volume every month.  We already have the volume on basic wiring, but if a non-electrical problem occurs, please try to handle it as best you can until the appropriate volume arrives.

Cutbacks in the phlebotomy staff will be accommodated by only performing blood-related lab tests on patients already bleeding.

Physicians will be informed that they my order no more than 2 x-rays per patient per day.  This is due to the turn around time required by the osco photo lab.  Two prints will be provided for the price of one, and physicians are being advised to clip coupons from the sunday paper if they want extra sets. OSCO will still honor competitors coupons for one processing in emergency situations, so if you come across any extra coupons please clip them and send them to the ER.