Nurses attest that ease-of-use and advanced functionality offered by Kronos enable delivery of quality care

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (October 01, 2009) – Healthcare facilities across the world are turning to Kronos® Incorporated to centralize and completely automate the employee scheduling process. Kronos helps organizations attain Magnet® recognition or adopt characteristics of Magnet facilities to create and sustain a superior work environment that attracts and retains a workforce that delivers high-quality care.
News Facts

* Kronos helps more than 600 healthcare facilities completely automate the staffing and scheduling process; accurately create schedules that align labor with anticipated demand; while adhering to all facility and regulatory policies; all of which create an environment that attracts and retains nurses.
* The latest version of the Kronos solution released earlier this year offers enhanced self-service features, which enable employees to better set their schedule preferences, view open shifts, and request to fill open shifts as they become available.
* By actively engaging employees in the scheduling process, the Kronos solution increases manager productivity, improves employee satisfaction, and produces more cost-effective schedules that meet the needs of the organization. These outcomes help reduce supplemental labor costs and decrease overtime, while improving patient care and employee satisfaction.
* The Kronos scheduling solution integrates with other complementary workforce management solutions available within the Kronos suite including time and attendance and labor analytics.
* Several Kronos customers in the U.S. are among the elite group of Magnet-designated facilities including Abington Memorial Hospital, Banner Good Samaritan Medical Center, Poudre Valley Health System, University Health Care System (Georgia), and Virginia Commonwealth University Medical Center.

Supporting Quotes

* Barbara Wadsworth, senior vice president and chief nursing officer, Abington Memorial Hospital
“As a Magnet-designated hospital, AMH embraces the philosophy of collaborative, inclusive decisions that involve nurses in almost every aspect. Although the evaluation team had largely settled on a vendor, we knew it was important to let the nurses weigh in on this matter. We asked them to also score vendors and share their opinions. We’re happy that their judgments aligned well with the opinions of the evaluation team, which was in favor of selecting Kronos.”
* Kathy Baker, director, resource management, Virginia Commonwealth University Medical Center
“At VCU Medical Center, departments can now create a balanced and fair schedule in just a few minutes, instead of the many hours that our previous paper-bound process required. Perceived staffing equity is a major criterion for achieving Magnet status because staffing and clinical outcomes are intricately linked. When it’s time for us to re-apply for Magnet designation, we believe the Kronos scheduling solution will play a key role in our re-designation.”
* Karen Ripper, senior vice president and administrator, chief nursing officer, Martin Memorial Health
“We selected Kronos to have a centralized solution with complete automation and real-time capabilities. Controlling labor costs and boosting staff morale through a fair and consistent system ensures the highest level of productivity, which is essential for quality-care delivery. We also achieved swift ROI with Kronos in just one year and we’re looking forward to more results.”
(Martin Memorial saved $600,000 in overtime costs within one year of the Kronos implementation.)
* Mary Lou Kurilla, nurse manager, Abington Memorial Hospital
“The integration between the Kronos time and attendance and scheduling systems shows on-premises, late in, early out and absences, to allow managers to react to staff status in real time to ensure that the right person is in the right place at the right time for quality patient care.”
* Shirleen Gamonal, nurse manager, Huntsman Cancer Hospital, University of Utah
“The use of the scheduling function in Kronos has been a huge nurse satisfier. It gives staff nurses a chance to make decisions related to their work schedule, which affects their work-life balance. We have been using Kronos scheduling for more than a year for our RNs and they report that they typically get 90 percent of their ideal schedule requests. It has been such a great success that we have recently made the system available to our aides and clerks. The benefits to myself, as a nurse manager, include having more time and being able to make simple adjustments to a schedule to the staff’s liking, rather than starting out with a blank sheet.”
* Sue Marino, director of nursing informatics, Hartford Hospital
“The Kronos upgrade to the new version went smoothly and the transition was very easy for our end users. Our staff members are very pleased with the latest self-service features including the in-house and remote access to their timecards, schedules, and accruals.”
* Angel Schrunk, patient care services staffing specialist, Bay Area Hospital
“The easy access to high-quality information offered by the Kronos scheduling solution allows nurses to quickly and properly fill an open position and use its internal staff more efficiently.”
* Brian Graves, global practice leader of healthcare, Kronos
“An advanced, automated scheduling tool creates optimal staffing levels, enables a greater work/life balance, and fosters fair personnel policies that attract and retain quality staff. These lead nurses to experience lowered stress levels, improved work-life balance, and heightened job satisfaction. We’re extremely pleased with our customers’ continued enthusiasm for our scheduling solution and fast adoption of the new enhancements.”

Source: Kronos