In today’s healthcare sector, current rostering methodologies often rely on historical practices rather than adapting and responding to the changing needs of today’s workforce. The work of nurses and midwives is demanding, and as a result they often experience high levels of occupational stress due to long work hours, heavy workloads, and irregular schedules.
Workforce availability is a key challenge to the delivery of safe efficient and effective care to the Victorian community. Rostering is a critical element of job satisfaction and workforce availability, and it requires dynamic evolution to meet the needs of the future.
The ‘Developing Employee-Centred Rostering Principles’ project has addressed this issue with a focus to improve workforce wellbeing and retention rates.
A collaborative effort
Safer Care Victoria worked in collaboration with the Department of Health, the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation (Vic Branch), The Royal Melbourne Hospital, Western Health, and Echuca Regional Health.
The collaborative approach brought together key stakeholders and service leads from the sector to co-design improvements to positively affect the working experience of nurses and midwives.
The project focussed on the experiences and perceptions of nurses and midwives across various units within the three services. Their insights informed the development of the employee-centred rostering principles and toolkit.
What we found
After surveying the participating organisations and wards, many nurses (62.3%) and midwives (48.1%) expressed satisfaction with their rosters however, some frustrations and difficulties remain from existing roster practices. These challenges impact their health, work, and personal lives. The adverse effects include roster-related fatigue, unmet roster needs, absenteeism, and reduced ability to deliver high-quality patient care.
Key principles for improved rostering
- Foundations: Building solid groundwork for effective rostering.
- Flexibility: Adapting to dynamic workforce needs.
- Fairness: Ensuring equitable distribution of shifts.
- Fatigue management: Prioritizing staff well-being.
The toolkit: empowering health services
The Victorian rostering toolkit is designed for utilisation across health services and empowers local teams to create effective rostering guidelines tailored to their individual contexts.
The toolkit offers:
- Consistency: A standardised approach to best practice rostering guidelines.
- Resources: Access to valuable rostering tools and materials.
- Education: Addressing key aspects of the Nurses and Midwives (Victorian Public Sector) (Single Interest Employers) Enterprise Agreement 2020–2024.