Descriptive look at staffing and patient loads at Stillwater Medical Center

Abstract

Scope and Method of Study: One of the more difficult jobs confronting the hospital administrator is estimating the level of nurse staffing needed to meet patient requirements. The further in advance these estimates can be made, the easier it is to plan levels of staffing, vacation time, and training programs. These factors are vital inputs into the control of nursing salary costs, which usually represent about 50% of the operating costs incurred by the hospital. The purpose of this study is to provide a descriptive profile of the staffing and patient loads experienced by the Stillwater Medical Center during the years of 1982 and 1983. It is also the hope that this study will serve as a benchmark for further study. Means were determined for patient loads, forecast staffing needs, actual staffing, RN's on duty, and LPN's on duty by years, months, days of the week, units and shifts. Also the same means for each unit were calculated for more in depth analysis. Trends and differences were then noted from these means.

Findings and Conclusions: When the data for 1983 was compared to 1982 a decline in the average patient load was seen, while the average nursing staff level remained unchanged. In general, a low in the average patient load and staffing activity occurred on Sundays for both years while the high was on Wednesdays. Also the forecast of nursing needs was considerably different than the actual staffing.