Sarah Musallam

Director of Clinical Operations
Manhattan Reproductive Surgery Center

New York, New York

Do you offer incentives to RNs who work longer days, more than 9-10 hours?

RNs in our ASC are guaranteed pay for their full 10-hour scheduled shift, even on days when cases conclude earlier than expected. This expectation has been clearly communicated to staff.

When cases are completed and all required responsibilities have been addressed, including room restocking, charting review and completion, specimen handling, and other end-of-day tasks, RNs may notify their manager and leave for the day while still receiving pay for their entire scheduled shift.

As a result, our ASC does not offer additional incentives specifically for working longer days, as nurses are already compensated for their full scheduled shift regardless of occasional early case completion.

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With summer around the corner, how do you handle overlapping time-off requests?

We ask all full-time RNs to submit vacation requests as far in advance as possible. Staff are also encouraged to communicate with one another regarding planned time off before bringing requests to their manager for approval.

To ensure appropriate staffing levels and maintain patient care standards, approval of overlapping vacation requests is rare unless additional coverage has been secured through our per diem nursing staff. For the peak summer months of July and August, all staff are expected to submit their vacation requests by April, allowing management adequate time to review schedules and coordinate coverage.

This proactive process helps us balance employee time-off requests while ensuring consistent operational and patient care needs are met.