The process of how to best determine nurse staffing has challenged nurse leaders for decade. Research has demonstrated that appropriate allocation of staff favorably impacts patient outcomes, patient safety, financial outcomes, and staff satisfaction (Myner et al., 2012; Shekelle, 2013). Nurse leaders are faced with higher patient acuities and unanticipated events that are not accounted for in traditional staffing models. Dynamic patient events (DPEs) have been defined in this study as rapid, unanticipated clinical situations that result in sudden shifts in nursing workload and the need to carry out rapid staffing adjustments. DPEs require vigilant attention to nurse staffing, and currently are not incorporated into staffing models at most hospitals. Increasingly, hospitals are leveraging new technologies to efficiently and effectively evaluate workload and determine staffing solutions. These new technological advances offer opportunities to measure nursing workload and determine optimal staffing. This study aims seeks to: 1). describe nurses’ perception of DPEs and their impact on workflow and patient care; and 2). examine how DPEs such as code blues, emergency response needs, bedside procedures, monitored patient travel time and requirements for patient safety attendants can be incorporated into staffing plans.
Access the paper by clicking here Using Workforce Management Technology to Explore Dynamic Patient Events, Nurse Staffing and Missed Care.