QUESTION: you are to come up the minimum number of nurses required for the telem
ID: 3306718 • Letter: Q
Question
QUESTION: you are to come up the minimum number of nurses required for the telemedicine unit. Here are your assumptions / constraints:
The Telemedicine Unit is open 7 days a week from 7am – 7pm. This is one 12-hour shift.
At 145 calls per day, that is 12 calls on average per hour. Since a single nurse can handle 4 calls an hour, we need 3 nurses minimum manning the telemedicine center for the 12 hour shift.
There will be 4 telemedicine nurses on a shift, and they work 4 days on and 3 off. Four nurses are required due to breaks and meals. This leaves 3 nurses to staff the telemedicine consoles at all times.
All nurses earn 4 weeks of vacation a year. A week is 7 days for planning purposes.
You can assume the nurses are unavailable 1 week of the year for professional development.
On average the nurses are only sick 3 days a year.
Explanation / Answer
There are 12 hour work shifts to be carried out 7 times a week = 12*7 = 84 hours
These 84 hours have to be carried out by 4 nurses in a week = 84*4 = 336 nurse hours
Now nurses works 4 days a week for 12 hours = 4*12 = 48 hours
Total number of nurses needed = 336/48 = 7 nurses
Now, nurses take 5 weeks + 3 days holiday = 5*7 + 3 = 38 days
Hours needed in those 38 day = 38*12 = 456 hours
therefore one more nurse
So 8 nurse in total are required atleast