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Nurses at Louisiana hospital make bids for shifts

Staff Development Weekly: Insight on Evidence-Based Practice in Education, June 30, 2006

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Trying to schedule nurses is a difficult task for a hospital like Lafayette (LA) General Medical Center (LGMC) that requires 400 to 450 nurses on any given day. But, a new online auction system called i bid is making the process a little more convenient by allowing nurses to bid-from the comfort of their homes-on shifts they want to work.

The idea for i bid came after at least 3,000 registered nurses left the state following hurricanes Katrina and Rita, diminishing an already small nursing pool, according to a hospital source. Although the hospital has managed to keep a good nurse-to-patient ratio, the hospital says the shortage creates a smaller pool of nurses to pull from when patient numbers suddenly increase or when a nurse calls in sick.

The current pool of nurses at LGMC gets first dibs on open shifts. The auction shows the user the low bid, what shifts are available, and when the auction closes. Then, an e-mail is sent to alert the nurses who win the open shifts.

Source: The Daily (LA) Advertiser

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