Caregiver Roles and Care Hours in Patient Assign

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Caregiver Roles and Care Hours in Patient Assign

Patient Assign is a feature of the optional Assignment Manager application. Patient Assign uses caregiver roles to record and report the precise relationship between an assigned caregiver and a patient during a shift. Examples of these roles are Direct Care, Preceptor, and Orientee. Assignment Manager allows caregivers to assume one or more roles for each patient.

In addition, roles define the percent of skill-based care hours to be assigned to each caregiver. Assignment Manager generates care hours for global skills configured for Demand and for global skills associated with Other Patient events in Demand Manager. The unassigned hours (Unasgn Hrs) for each caregiver decrease based on which role you select for each assigned patient. You can configure what roles display while making patient assignments using the Role Menu Display Option on the Patient Assign Settings page.

Assignment Manager calculates the skill care hours assigned to the caregiver using the time associated with any duty assigned and the duration of each patient assignment and the percent demand (% demand) skill hours selected in the role for each patient. For each patient:

If the duration of the assignment is less than the shift duration, the hours assigned cannot exceed the assignment duration. For example, assume patient Frank Friendly requires 5.29 RN care hours on the 0700-1500 shift. Greg Miller RN is working from 0700-1100 and is assigned Frank in the role Direct 100% RN Hr. The maximum number of RN care hours that can be assigned to Greg for this patient is 4.0. Frank should be assigned to another RN to cover the remaining 1.29 RN care hours.
The care hours assigned to the caregiver for a patient cannot exceed the % demand skill hours selected in the role. For example, patient Frank Friendly requires 3.48 RN care hours on the 0700-1500 shift and is assigned to Ann Scott RN in the role of Direct 50% RN Hr from 0700-1500. Since Ann's role covers 50% of demand, she is assigned 1.74 RN care hours for this patient. Frank should be assigned to another RN to cover the remaining 1.74 RN care hours.
When two or more caregivers with the same role are assigned to the patient, Assignment Manager distributes the care hours proportionally based on the assignment duration.

Example 1: Caregiver assigned to more than one role for a patient

Charge Nurse Christy Chapel is making patient assignments. She assigns caregiver Rebecca Higgins, RN, to one patient during the 0700-1100 shift. The patient requires 3.20 hours of RN care and 0.75 hours of UAP care. Christy selects the role Direct 100% RN Hr, meaning Rebecca will provide all of the RN care hours for that patient (3.20 hours). In addition, there is no UAP available to be assigned to the patient, so Rebecca will also provide the UAP care. Christy selects a second role for this patient: Direct 100% UAP Hr. Rebecca is now assigned 3.95 hours of care and the patient has no care hours remaining to be assigned.

Example 2: Caregiver with a skill not defined for Demand assumes care hours based on role assignment

Patient Frank Friendly requires 3.74 hours of RN care and 0.94 hours of UAP care on the 1500-2300 shift. There is no UAP scheduled to work during the shift, but Ann Scott, LPN, has been floated to the unit for the entire shift to replace the UAP. The Charge Nurse assigns Jane Smith, RN, to Frank with the role Direct 100% RN Hr; Jane will provide 3.74 RN care hours. Ann is assigned to Frank in the role Direct 100% UAP Hr and provides the 0.94 hours of UAP care required.

Example 3: Care hours shared by two caregivers with the same role assignment

Patient Frank Friendly has a 2:1 RN Replace event in progress during the 0700-1100 shift. This replaces his normal demand RN care hours with a total required RN care hours of 8.00. The Charge Nurse assigns Frank to 2 RNs each with a role Direct 100% RN HR. The care hours are split evenly between the 2 RNs, so each is assigned 4.00 hours of care.