Absenteeism In Nursing Reading Answers: IELTS Reading Practice Test

This passage is a research report on nurse absenteeism at Prince William Hospital in Brisbane, Australia. It examines why nurses take unplanned leave, the attitudes nurses held toward sick leave entitlements, and three workplace strategies: non-financial incentives, flexible rostering, and individual counselling that management introduced to reduce absenteeism. The passage also references supporting studies by James (1989), Miller and Norton (1986), and Hackett, Bycio, and Guion (1989).

Cambridge source: Absenteeism In Nursing Reading Answers: IELTS Reading Practice Test
You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1–13, which are based on the passage below.

The passage contains two question types: Yes/No/Not Given (Questions 1–7) and Notes Completion (Questions 8–13).

Paragraph 1

Absence from work is a costly and disruptive problem for any organization. The cost of absenteeism in Australia has been put at 1.8 million hours per day, or $1400 million annually. The study reported here was conducted at Prince William Hospital in Brisbane, Australia, where, prior to this time, few active steps had been taken to measure, understand, or manage the occurrence of absenteeism.

Paragraph 2

A prevalent attitude amongst many nurses in the group selected for the study was that there was no reward or recognition for not utilizing the paid sick leave entitlement allowed them in their employment conditions. Therefore, they believed they might as well take the days off sick or otherwise. Similar attitudes have been noted by James (1989), who noted that sick leave is seen by many workers as a right, like annual holiday leave.

Paragraph 3

Miller and Norton (1986), in their survey of 865 nursing personnel, found that 73 percent felt they should be rewarded for not taking sick leave, because some employees always used their sick leave. Further, 67 percent of nurses felt that administration was not sympathetic to the problems shift work causes to employees' personal and social lives. Only 53 per cent of the respondents felt that every effort was made to schedule staff fairly.
 

Paragraph 4

In another longitudinal study of nurses working in two Canadian hospitals, Hackett, Bycio, and Guion (1989) examined the reasons why nurses took absences from work. The most frequent reason stated for absence was minor illness to oneself. Other causes, in decreasing order of frequency, were illness in the family, family social function, work to do at home, and bereavement.
 

Paragraph 5

In an attempt to reduce the level of absenteeism among the 250 registered and enrolled nurses in the present study, Prince William management introduced three different, yet potentially complementary, strategies over 18 months.

 

Paragraph 6

Within the established wage and salary system, it was not possible to use hospital funds to support this strategy. However, it was possible to secure incentives from local businesses, including free passes to entertainment parks, theatre, restaurants, etc. At the end of each roster period, the ward with the lowest absence rate would win the prize.

 

Paragraph 7

Where possible, staff were given the opportunity to determine their working schedule within the limits of clinical needs.

Paragraph 8

Each month, managers would analyze the pattern of absence of staff with excessive sick leave (greater than ten days per year for full-time employees). Characteristic patterns of potential 'voluntary absenteeism' such as absence before and after days off, excessive weekend and night duty absence, and multiple single days off were communicated to all ward nurses and then, as necessary, followed up by action.

Paragraph 9

Absence rates for the six months prior to the incentive scheme ranged from 3.69 percent to 4.32 percent. In the following six months, they ranged between 2.87 percent and 3.96 percent. This represents a 20 percent improvement. However, analyzing the absence rates on a year-to-year basis, the overall absence rate was 3.60 percent in the first year and 3.43 percent in the following year. This represents a 5 percent decrease from the first to the second year of the study. A significant decrease in absence over the two-year period could not be demonstrated.

Paragraph 10

The non-financial incentive scheme did appear to assist in controlling absenteeism in the short term. As the scheme progressed, it became harder to secure prizes, and this contributed to the program's losing momentum and finally ceasing. There were mixed results across wards as well. For example, in wards with staff members who had long-term genuine illness, there was little chance of winning, and to some extent the staff on those wards were disempowered. Our experience would suggest that the long-term effects of incentive awards on absenteeism are questionable.

Paragraph 11

Over the time of the study, staff were given a larger degree of control over their rosters. This led to significant improvements in communication between managers and staff. A similar effect was found in the implementation of the third strategy. Many of the nurses had not realized the impact their behavior was having on the organization and their colleagues, but there were also staff members who felt that talking to them about their absenteeism was 'picking' on them, and this usually had a negative effect on management-employee relationships.

Paragraph 12

Although there has been some decrease in absence rates, no single strategy or combination of strategies has had a significant impact on absenteeism per se. Notwithstanding the disappointing results, it is our contention that the strategies were not in vain. A shared ownership of absenteeism and a collaborative approach to problem-solving have facilitated improved cooperation and communication between management and staff. It is our belief that this improvement alone, while not tangibly measurable, has increased the ability of management to manage the effects of absenteeism more effectively since this study.

Questions 1–7: Yes/No/Not Given

Do the following statements agree with the information given in the Reading Passage?

In boxes 1–7 on your answer sheet, write:

• YES if the statement agrees with the information
• NO if the statement contradicts the information
• NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this in the passage

1. The Prince William Hospital has been trying to reduce absenteeism among nurses for many years.

2. Nurses in the Prince William Hospital study believed that there were benefits in taking as little sick leave as possible.

3. Just over half the nurses in the 1986 study believed that management understood the effects that shift work had on them.

4. The Canadian study found that 'illness in the family' was a greater cause of absenteeism than ‘work to do at home.’

5. In relation to management attitude to absenteeism, the study at the Prince William Hospital found similar results to the two 1989 studies.

6. The study at the Prince William Hospital aimed to find out the causes of absenteeism amongst 250 nurses.

7. The study at the Prince William Hospital involved changes in management practices.

Questions 8–13: Notes Completion

Complete the notes below. Choose ONE OR TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer. 

Write your answers in boxes 8–13 on your answer sheet.

8. In the first strategy, wards with the lowest absenteeism in different periods would win prizes donated by _______________.

9. In the second strategy, staff were given more control over their  __________.

10. In the third strategy, nurses who appeared to be taking  _______________ sick leave or 

11. ___________ were identified and counselled.

12. Initially, there was a _______ percent decrease in absenteeism. The first strategy was considered ineffective and stopped. 

13. The second and third strategies generally resulted in better ___________ among staff.