Double pay wasn't enough to keep COVID nurses staffed, so SC hospital upped the ante [View all]
COLUMBIA, S.C. -- During the summer months when COVID-19 cases started spiking around the state, the Tidelands Health System saw its nurse staffing needs increase by 50%.
So to meet that demand, Tidelands began offering double pay to encourage nurses to take extra shifts in addition to their three 12-hours shifts a week. When there wasn’t enough participation, the premium incentive increased to triple pay.
The pay hike sent a convincing message to the health care workers, one nurse said.
“It sweetens the deal and makes it easier to consider working extra shifts, and it increased the morale of a lot of the other staff members and made everyone feel better not only about working extra shifts, but also the hazard of caring for the COVID patients if you will,” said Nicole Kassen, a 47-year-old nurse who works at Tidelands Waccamaw Community Hospital, adding that the pay increase made her think she could work more, sacrificing her personal time.
Tidelands wasn’t alone.
Read more: https://www.thestate.com/news/coronavirus/article244462057.html
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