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Carondelet earned national recognition for its innovative program to
alleviate a shortage of nurses and reduce the growing expense of hiring
contract workers to fill the void.
The Society of Human Resource Management recognized Carondelet Health
Network as a finalist in the Competitive Workforce category in the Society’s
2008 Human Capital Leadership Awards on Sept. 25.
A multi-disciplinary Carondelet team of human resources, patient care, and
staffing directors worked together to design the program and implement it in
January 2007.
The program, Across Carondelet Travel Corps (ACTC), provides an attractive
alternative for nurses who previously had been working for Carondelet
strictly on a contract basis.
Nurses agree to work three, six-month rotations in a 24-month period at
three of Carondelet’s four hospitals—St. Joseph ’s, St. Mary’s, Tucson Heart
and Holy Cross. This leaves the nurses six months to work another rotation,
or take time off between rotations or all at once.
ACTC nurses are full-time Carondelet Health Network employees with a
modified benefits package.
At the start of 2008, the ACTC program had 107 participants and an
incredibly low turnover rate of just 2.8 percent.
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