Once nurses absorbed its tasks, what did a night technician cut actually save? A medicine unit's nurse manager answers that for NU513 Unit 1, then asks what care changed. Searches like "nu 513 unit 1 assignment example", "nu513 unit 1 sample" and "nu513 unit 1 example" land here.
The $120,914 Saving That Was Really $67,237: Repricing a Cut Night Technician Shift
NU513 · Unit 1 Discussion
Posted by [Student Name]
The unit, wage rates and counts are composite and bracketed; the method follows standard nursing financial management.
Initial Post
Last year our budget removed one twelve-hour patient care technician shift from nights. Finance recorded the saving correctly on its own terms: 4,380 hours a year at a bracketed $21.40 an hour, plus a 29 percent benefit load, is $120,914. Those positions were paid, and those dollars left the budget.
What the night shift did instead is the rest of the story. Registered nurses took over the missing technician's vital signs, toileting rounds and linen changes. From two weeks of self-reported logs, that work took about two and a half hours a night across the shift. At a bracketed $45.60 an hour with the same 29 percent load, 912.5 hours a year costs $53,677. The net saving is $67,237, a little over half of what the budget worksheet shows, because the tasks did not disappear; they moved to a more expensive role.
That is the substitution effect: when a cheaper role is removed, its work shifts to a dearer one unless the work itself stops (Finkler et al., 2013). It also has an opportunity cost that does not appear in either figure. Those two and a half hours were once spent on reassessment, pain follow-up and discharge preparation for early-morning discharges. If the extra load pushes even one experienced night nurse to leave, turnover costs, which include vacancy, orientation and lost productivity (Jones, 2005), would erase much of what is left.
Night falls rose from [three] in the two quarters before the change to [five] in the two quarters after. I would not claim the cut caused them: five events in six months could easily be chance, and census and acuity changed over the same period. But it is a signal worth tracking before anyone calls the saving final.
My question for the section: when your unit reports a staffing saving, does anyone count what the remaining staff absorbed?
Reply to Andre
Andre, your unit removed a unit secretary on evenings. I would ask the same substitution question: who answers the phones and handles admissions paperwork now? If it is the charge nurse, the saving should be repriced at her rate, and the time she no longer spends supporting new nurses is the opportunity cost.
References
Finkler, S. A., Jones, C. B., & Kovner, C. T. (2013). Financial management for nurse managers and executives (4th ed.). Elsevier.
Jones, C. B. (2005). The costs of nurse turnover, part 2: Application of the Nursing Turnover Cost Calculation Methodology. The Journal of Nursing Administration, 35(1), 41-49. https://doi.org/10.1097/00005110-200501000-00014
How this NU513 Unit 1 example is structured
The post runs as a recalculation, and its order lets readers check each step. Finance's figure comes first and is accepted as correct on its own terms: the positions were paid, and the dollars left the budget. Substitution follows, the course's first economic idea put to work: when a cheaper role disappears, its tasks move to a dearer one unless they stop altogether. The opportunity cost of the absorbed hours is named in plain terms, time registered nurses no longer spent on reassessment and discharge teaching. The falls paragraph is deliberately cautious, since two quarters of small numbers cannot establish cause, and the post says so. Finkler and colleagues' nurse manager finance text is cited once, for the definition of opportunity cost. Classmates get a closing question: whether their own units ever repriced a cut after it took effect.
Get an NU513 Unit 1 example written to your instructions
A budget decision that changed care on your unit is the raw material; two or three sentences describing it will do, sent with the Unit 1 discussion prompt and rubric. Within 24-48h the desk returns a model initial post plus one reply, and a first request carries no fee. Which decision you write about, and its numbers, stay your call. The paper above is an original model document written by our desk, not a submitted student paper and not an official Purdue University Global document.
NU513 Unit 1 questions, answered
Do I need real figures from my unit?
Not usually. Many students do not have access to budget detail, and approximate or bracketed figures are generally accepted if the basis is stated. The sample brackets its hourly rates and fall counts on that basis. The test is whether a reader can follow the reasoning: what was saved, what replaced it, and what the replacement cost.
How much economics should a first post contain?
One or two concepts, used precisely. The sample applies substitution and opportunity cost because they explain what happened to the saving. Defining several terms without applying them reads as padding. Later units in NU513 bring in reimbursement and economic evaluation, so the first discussion can stay focused on one decision and what it cost.
Can I criticize my organization's budget decision?
Yes, if the criticism is analytical and fair. The sample accepts that finance's figure was correct on its own terms and argues only that it was incomplete. Avoid naming people or implying bad faith. A post that recognizes why the decision was reasonable when made, then shows what it missed, persuades far better than one treating the decision as obviously wrong.