The Night-Shift Memo
A hospital's facilities director sends this memo to the overnight cleaning crew: "Beginning Monday, all third-floor corridor cleaning moves to 2:00 a.m. instead of 11:00 p.m. The change follows a six-week trial in which patient complaints about noise dropped from 41 to 9. Night nurses initially objected, noting that the 11:00 p.m. slot let them restock supply carts while corridors were clear. To address this, carts will now be restocked by the day team before 4:00 p.m. The trial also showed a 12-minute increase in average cleaning time per corridor, which we accept as the cost of quieter wards."
1. State the memo's main idea in one sentence and explain which details are supporting rather than central.
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Main idea: corridor cleaning is moving to 2:00 a.m. because the trial showed much quieter wards. Supporting details include the complaint drop (41 to 9), the restocking reassignment, and the 12-minute time increase. These support the decision but are not the decision itself. A trap answer would seize on the nurses' objection as the main point; it is a concern that the memo resolves, not the gist.
2. The memo says the extra 12 minutes is "the cost of quieter wards." What does this phrasing imply about the director's priorities?
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The phrase frames slower cleaning as an acceptable trade-off for reduced noise. The director treats patient quiet as worth more than staff time, and presents the trade-off openly rather than hiding it. This signals a purpose of justifying the change to a skeptical crew, not merely announcing a schedule.