Increasing health care costs affect everyone. Finding ways to cut costs is a great way for health care providers to help remedy some of the problems the health care system is facing. Registered nurses or RNs can help reduce the costs of medical care by carefully managing resources, such as medical supplies and equipment, managing support staff like licensed practical nurses (LPNs) and certified nursing assistants (CNAs), and decreasing overtime wages. Reducing health care costs is a good way to ensure future care will be available to those in need.
Manage medical supplies. An RN can help reduce health care costs by managing supplies used to treat and care for patients. When treating a patient, only take and use the amount of supplies needed to perform each treatment. For example, when changing a patient's dressing, take only the amount of bandages needed to change the dressing into the patient’s room. Only open the amount of gauze and bandages needed to change the dressing and save unnecessary packages of gauze for the next dressing change rather than throwing the extra away.
Manage equipment. Using non-disposable equipment, when appropriate, instead of pricey disposable items can help cut costs. Use equipment that can be sanitized and reused such as thermometers, pulse oximeter leads and cloth linen rather than more expensive disposable versions. Disposable items, although convenient, often increase costs because each item can only be used once. Only order equipment from central supply, or the equipment/supply storage area, that will be needed for patient care. Ordering extra items or items that will rarely be used can increase costs if the equipment sits on a shelf because it is not needed.
Manage support staff. RNs can help reduce costs by properly utilizing and managing support staff. Rather than hiring additional RN staff to care for patients (which increases costs) use LPNs and CNAs to support the RN presently on duty. LPN and CNA wages are less than RN wages, which helps to save money. LPNs and CNAs, working under one RN, can provide the same quality of care as a group of RNs. Health care costs can be reduced by using lesser-paid staff members to perform duties which do not require an RN to perform.
Divide and delegate duties. An RN can help save money by assigning duties which do not require an RN to other support staff members. Delegating duties to others allows fewer RNs to be on duty, which will reduce the amount of wages paid. LPNs can perform many of the same basic functions as an RN, such as administering most types of medications and performing simple treatments, allowing LPNs to fill the gaps in RN coverage. CNAs can provide direct patient care, handling all functions of daily living (such as bathing, dressing, feeding, etc.) which can free up the RN, allowing them to perform other duties.
Reducing overtime. Using support staff to fill gaps in coverage is one way to cut back on overtime. Overtime caps can be used to prevent excess overtime costs by forming an agreement with RNs and management that will determine how much overtime will be allowed during each pay period. RNs may agree to take incentives such as an additional personal day, vacation day, requested days off or gift cards instead of overtime pay to help reduce health care costs, allowing management to stabilize the budget without compromising patient care.
