Other Titles
Staffing strategies to improve outcomes
Abstract
The rising costs of health care are creating diminishing budgets for hospitals, impacting direct patient care hours. Previous versions of acuity systems were subjective and required additional effort by nurses. Innovative technological advances have led to acuity systems that retrieve data from the electronic medical record and generate an acuity score that is objective, valid and reliable. Acuity informed staffing is a benefit to patients, staff, and budgets. The strategy was to implement a process by which a valid acuity tool could aid in the decision making of staffing and patient assignment. The goal was to leverage the latest technology, increase objectivity, and decrease the need for additional effort from staff in determining an acuity and staffing program that electronicaly calculates a patient's acuity by pulling data from the electornic health record and mapping it to thousands of data points associated with identified nursing outcomes met that goal. The implementation process included key stakeholders from multiple levels of the organization including directors, finance, nursing, and information technology experts. There were several training sessions for the nursing staff that would be impacted directly by the implemenation of the system. A secondary process of implementation was the identification of super-users and acuity auditors whom meet on a quaterly basis. Data was collected from each inpatient unit before and after implementation of the electronic acuity and staffing program which demonstrated improvement with the utilization of the system. The data showed an improvement in productivity, improved staffing at the bedside, a decrease in sick time, double time and overtime. Productivity percentages improved from 65-85% to 95-105%, the ideal outcome and realized cost savings. Nationwide hospitals would like to achieve a goal of knowing the right number of nurses to have, how to efficiently manage their schedules, and optimize the resources available to meet the needs of the patient population. Technology allows for nursing and finance to collaborate to meet this goal. Learning Objectives: The learner will be able to understand the use of technology in nursing practice. The learner will be able to understand how to make equitable patient assignments using the solutions.
Sigma Membership
Tau Kappa at-Large
Lead Author Affiliation
Children's Hospital Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, USA
Type
Presentation
Format Type
Text-based Document
Study Design/Type
N/A
Research Approach
N/A
Keywords:
Technology, Staffing, Acuity
Recommended Citation
Luker, Gayle, "Nursing staffing and technology: A relationship formed in the electronic environment benefiting patients and nurses" (2017). Creating Healthy Work Environments Event Materials. 48.
https://www.sigmarepository.org/chwe/2017/presentations_2017/48
Conference Name
Creating Healthy Work Environments 2017
Conference Host
Sigma Theta Tau International
Conference Location
Indianapolis, Indiana, USA
Conference Year
2017
Rights Holder
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Review Type
Abstract Review Only: Reviewed by Event Host
Acquisition
Proxy-submission
Nursing staffing and technology: A relationship formed in the electronic environment benefiting patients and nurses
Indianapolis, Indiana, USA
The rising costs of health care are creating diminishing budgets for hospitals, impacting direct patient care hours. Previous versions of acuity systems were subjective and required additional effort by nurses. Innovative technological advances have led to acuity systems that retrieve data from the electronic medical record and generate an acuity score that is objective, valid and reliable. Acuity informed staffing is a benefit to patients, staff, and budgets. The strategy was to implement a process by which a valid acuity tool could aid in the decision making of staffing and patient assignment. The goal was to leverage the latest technology, increase objectivity, and decrease the need for additional effort from staff in determining an acuity and staffing program that electronicaly calculates a patient's acuity by pulling data from the electornic health record and mapping it to thousands of data points associated with identified nursing outcomes met that goal. The implementation process included key stakeholders from multiple levels of the organization including directors, finance, nursing, and information technology experts. There were several training sessions for the nursing staff that would be impacted directly by the implemenation of the system. A secondary process of implementation was the identification of super-users and acuity auditors whom meet on a quaterly basis. Data was collected from each inpatient unit before and after implementation of the electronic acuity and staffing program which demonstrated improvement with the utilization of the system. The data showed an improvement in productivity, improved staffing at the bedside, a decrease in sick time, double time and overtime. Productivity percentages improved from 65-85% to 95-105%, the ideal outcome and realized cost savings. Nationwide hospitals would like to achieve a goal of knowing the right number of nurses to have, how to efficiently manage their schedules, and optimize the resources available to meet the needs of the patient population. Technology allows for nursing and finance to collaborate to meet this goal. Learning Objectives: The learner will be able to understand the use of technology in nursing practice. The learner will be able to understand how to make equitable patient assignments using the solutions.