Scenario 1 A staff member has come to you requesting the next Saturday off. You have just enough staff that day and can’t really afford to let her go. You are afraid that if you say no, she will call in sick.

Scenario 2 You have been asked to change the hours of your day service to 12 hours instead of the current 7 hours for the winter months to catch up on demand. Normally, you staff three nurses each day.

Scenario 3 You are having trouble recruiting nurses to your service. You have 3 posts vacant out of 18 posts available. The suggestion has been made that nursing assistants (5) are added to the staff instead of nurses.

Scenario 4 You have a staff member on permanent night shift who has worked that shift for many years. You are growing concerned because reports of patient care issues are coming back to you from people who work with her, and who come on shift after her. Closer supervision is needed, but there is no appropriate staff member on nights to do the supervision.