IELTS Academic Reading Sample 10 - Absenteeism In Nursing

IELTS Academic Reading Passage - Absenteeism In Nursing.

You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1-13 which are based on the Reading Passage below.

ABSENTEEISM IN NURSING:
A LONGITUDINAL STUDY

Absence from work is a costly and disruptive problem for any organisation. 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 in the 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.

Nursing Absenteeism
A prevalent attitude amongst many nurses in the group selected for study was that there was no reward or recognition for not utilising the paid sick leave entitlement allowed them in their employment conditions. Therefore, they believed they may 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.

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 per cent of nurses felt that administration was not sympathetic to the problems shift work causes to employees' personal and social lives. Only 53 percent of the respondents felt that every effort was made to schedule staff fairly.

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

Method
In an attempt to reduce the level of absenteeism amongst the 250 Registered an Enrolled Nurses in the present study, the Prince William management introduced three different, yet potentially complementary, strategies over 18 months.

Strategy 1: Non-financial (material) incentives: 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, theatres, restaurants, etc. At the end of each roster period, the ward with the lowest absence rate would win the prize.

Strategy 2: Flexible fair rostering: Where possible, staff were given the opportunity to determine their working schedule within the limits of clinical needs.

Strategy 3: Individual absenteeism and counselling: Each month, managers would analyse 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.

Results
Absence rates for the six months prior to the Incentive scheme ranged from 3.69 per cent to 4.32 per cent. In the following six months, they ranged between 2.87 percent and 3.96 percent. This represents a 20 percent improvement. However, analysing 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.

Discussion
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 a long-term genuine illness, there was little chance of winning, and to some extent, the staffs on those wards were disempowered. Our experience would suggest that the long-term effects of incentive awards on absenteeism are questionable.

Over the time of the study, staff were given a larger degree of control in their rosters. This led to significant improvements in communication between managers and staff. A similar effect was found from the implementation of the third strategy. Many of the nurses had not realised the impact their behaviour was having on the organisation 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.

Conclusion
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 has 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.

["This article has been adapted and condensed from the article by G. William and K. Slater (1996), 'Absenteeism in nursing: A longitudinal study', Asia Pacific Journal of Human Resources, 34(1): 111-21. Names and other details have been changed and report findings may have been given a different emphasis from the original. We are grateful to the authors and Asia Pacific Journal of Human Resources for allowing us to use the material in this way."]


Questions 1-7
Do the following statements agree with the information given in 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 amongst 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
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.

In the first strategy, wards with the lowest absenteeism in different periods would win prizes donated by ....... (8) .......
In the second strategy, staff were given more control over their ......(9 )........
In the third strategy, nurses who appeared to be taking ...... (10)...... sick leave or ...... (11) ...... were identified and counselled.
Initially, there was a ...... (12)...... per cent decrease in absenteeism.
The first strategy was considered ineffective and stopped.
The second and third strategies generally resulted in better ...... (13) ...... among staff.

Answer: Click the button to Show/ Hide Answers

1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 Rating 3.40 (71 Votes)

Benson
Why the answer to question 3 is false? There is no contradiction with it!
Rishad
One of the best websites for IELTS Preparation.
Bonaparte
Why the answer to the first question is "NO", you ask, it has to do with the present perfect tense in the question in contrast to the past perfect tense in the passage. The passage suggests, the steps had been conducted in the past but certainly not continuing until now, as said in the question.
Filsina Ginyatullina
YES/NO/NOT GIVEN are really weird in here. There are actually mistakes. I am not sure whether all these texts fit IELTS requirements for Y/N/NG!
Anuj Antony
Very helpful.
Taran
Can't find answers.
Taran
:cry: I can't find answers.
Maya
Why the answer to the 4th question is "no" ???
Asma Sultana
Please clear my doubt on question 5. Kindly give me an explanation as well.
Manh Doan
Initially (the following six months) = 20%,5% decrease from the first to second year.
Tom
Please guide me on Q. 12. I think it is 5, on the other hand, the answer says 20.
Tom
Why is the answer 20 for question 12? It's definitely 5.
Amrinder Singh Grewal
I think you wrote this from the last paragraph. However, the exact location is just above in 2nd last paragraph. Read carefully the very first five lines.
Jaspal Kaur
In Q. 13, I wrote just the word "cooperation" as there is a one-word limit. Upon cross checking my answers, it was mentioned communication. So is just mentioning the word cooperation would be wrong?
Jethro
"67 per cent of nurses felt that administration was not sympathetic to the problems shift work causes to employees' personal and social lives." This is the location. The location you found was about every effort was made to schedule staff fairly. The correct location is " 67%...... not sympathetic to the problems shift work causes.... Your location states nothing about shift works but fairness. You should learn how to locate the information first, otherwise, your answers can go wrong.
Navreet Kaur Rai
Excellent service. I really love it.
Weng
Yes exactly, my dilemma? And why on number 12 the answer is 20 percent where in fact, it says that at first there was a decrease of 5 percent? So where did they get the 20%?
Gpanda
It's wrong because there are 3 words in your answer. Please read the instructions carefully - "Choose ONE OR TWO WORDS from the passage, for each answer."
Arantxa
It is referring to this "Further, 67 per cent of nurses felt that administration was not sympathetic to the problems shift work causes to employees' personal and social lives." To schedule staff fairly is not the same as to understand the effects that the shift had on them :)
Rosano
3) Just over half the nurses in the 1986 study believed that management understood the effects that shift work had on them. - "YES", because:"53 percent of the respondents felt that every effort was made to schedule staff fairly." So why the answer is "NO"?
Robin
Yohana said :
Hello, I am quite confused about this question. In fact, I consider that the answer is 'NG' because the text doesn’t state that the hospital has been trying to reduce absence FOR MANY YEARS.. (even though we can infer that the hospital is trying to reduce absenteeism, we do not know if the hospital has been doing it for many years) Could you explain it to me, please?
In the Method passage it states that 'the Prince William management introduced three different yet potentially complementary, strategies over 18 months'. Since its 18 months, it's actually not more than a year so it's not many years since many years mean two or three or 4 years etc. not just a year.

Shiva
I wrote 'cooperation and communication' for Q13. Is this wrong?
Shiva
Hello, why can't we take it as few active steps had been taken for many years, so either Yes or No is possible. With due to lack of information can we take it as NG?
AA
Isn't 'Relationship' is another possible answer to question 13? See:8 A similar effect was found from the implementation of the third strategy. Many ........... 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.
Jagdev Singh
Very Good... Thanks for the awesome sample. It's really helpful to practice.
Adarsh
As I have observed, we would find much more harder than it in the real IELTS test.
Yohana
Hello, I am quite confused about this question. In fact, I consider that the answer is 'NG' because the text doesn’t state that the hospital has been trying to reduce absence FOR MANY YEARS... (even though we can infer that the hospital is trying to reduce absenteeism, we do not know if the hospital has been doing it for many years) Could you explain it to me, please?
Fabian
Greater causes were paraphrased to 'the most frequent reason'.
Mike
The clue lies in this statement "...in decreasing order of frequency..."
Maila
For question no. 4, it says decreasing order. Meaning illness in a family is the least among causes. So why 'yes'?
Bella
In decreasing order means from high to low, big to small. We know that illness in a family came first before work to do at home. Therefore illness in a family has a higher rate than work to do at home. Hence, Yes.
Moh
The paragraph says "few active steps had been taken" but the question says "has been trying to reduce absenteeism amongst nurses for MANY YEARS"
Amir
Agreed. Should be "Yes" based on the last statement in paragraph 1.
Motaz
Why do you choose the answer to the question 1 as 'NO' instead of 'YES'? Can you please explain the answer?
Motaz
Dear IELTS Mentor; Could you take a look at the Question number 4 and tell us why it is 'YES' instead of 'NO'.
Salim
I think the answer to the fourth question is not 'yes' because it is stated that 'illness to self' was the most frequent reason, not 'illness in the family'.
Dr. Archana
Too good... Thanks for the awesome sample answers. It's really helpful to practise.