You are the nurse manager on a pediatric unit. For the next fiscal year you will be adding 4 intermediate care beds in addition to the 15 acute-care beds that you already have. Your occupancy level runs close to 90%.

You calculate that you will need to add TWO FTE RN positions per 8-hour shift to cover the additional beds.

1. Calculate the number of FTEs you will need to provide full time coverage for 2 FTEs per 8-hour shift. Be sure to take in to consideration that you are a 24/7 operation and that your staff will need to take vacation, sick and other time away from work.

Each FTE will get paid for the following :

1. Holidays 9
2. Sick days 7
3. Vacation days 7
4. Education days 2

You need to calculate the Net Paid Days for each new FTE to be able to determine the total number of FTEs needed to provide 24/7 coverage as you add the new beds.

Show your calculations.

2. Assume that the cost of a Registered nurse salary is $50,000 and benefits are $15,000. Compute the total annual cost of the additional staff.

Show your calculations.