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Nursing Staffing Patterns Explained

This document discusses staffing patterns in nursing. It defines staffing as the number and mixture of personnel assigned to work in nursing units at a given time. The goal of staffing is to provide adequate personnel to care for patients. There are different methods to determine staffing needs, including traditional systems based on bed or patient counts, and more advanced systems involving patient classification by acuity level and task quantification. Factors like patient needs, staff capabilities, and organizational resources influence how staffing patterns and plans are established.
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100% found this document useful (4 votes)
6K views19 pages

Nursing Staffing Patterns Explained

This document discusses staffing patterns in nursing. It defines staffing as the number and mixture of personnel assigned to work in nursing units at a given time. The goal of staffing is to provide adequate personnel to care for patients. There are different methods to determine staffing needs, including traditional systems based on bed or patient counts, and more advanced systems involving patient classification by acuity level and task quantification. Factors like patient needs, staff capabilities, and organizational resources influence how staffing patterns and plans are established.
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
  • Staffing Pattern Overview: Introduces the general theme of staffing patterns in nursing practice courses.
  • Definition and Goal of Staffing: Provides a definition of staffing and outlines its primary objectives within nursing units.
  • Staff Classification: Categorizes different types of nursing staff based on educational background and job roles.
  • Components of Staffing: Discusses the elements that contribute to establishing staffing patterns and plans.
  • Methods of Determining the Staffing Pattern: Explores the traditional and advanced systems for determining staffing patterns based on various metrics.
  • Advanced System: Highlights the use of patient classification and task quantification in modern staffing systems.
  • Supplementary Staff Methods: Examines methods for supplementing staffing shortfalls, such as borrowing and on-call staff.
  • Factors Affecting Staffing Pattern Determination: Lists various organizational and patient factors that influence staffing patterns.
  • The Staffing Plan: Details methods for calculating staffing requirements based on different criteria such as calendar days and shift differentials.

Staffing

Pattern
course title: FIELD
EXPERIENCE IN NURSING
PRACTICE
Presented by: Jenny-Ann R. Baliday

Definition of staffing
Staffing refers to the number and mixture of
personnel assigned to work in nursing units at a
given time.
Goal of staffing
The goal of staffing is to provide an adequate
number and mixture of personnel to give proper
care to the patients in the nursing units at a
particular time.

Staff classification
1-Professional nurse: Baccalaureate degree.
2-Technical nurse: Secondary Technical Nursing
School . ( Diploma degree).

3-Auxiliary: messenger and transport personnel.

Components of Staffing
1- Staffing pattern:
it is the number and mix of personnel that should
be on duty per each unit per shift, per day.

2- Staffing plan:
It determines the number of nursing personnel that
must be hired to deliver nursing care on the
nursing units.

Methods of determining the staffing


pattern
1- The traditional system
1 - The number of beds per unit ( one
nurse per 4-6 beds), or
2 - The average census of patients per
unit ( one nurse per 4 patients).

The distribution of nurses is based on the nurse


manager' opinion of the proportion of care that is needed
on each shift and the adequate staff number to provide
that care.
Example:
Days:
45% of the staff
Evenings 35% of the staff
Nights
20% of the staff

The traditional system ignored that the group of


patients might need more care than another
group of the same number.

2- The advanced system


A- PATIENT CLASSIFICATION.
B- TASK QUANTIFICATION.

Focuses on patient needs. Patients are


grouped according to the acuity of their
needs and the degree of their dependency
on nurses. The patients grouped according
to their nursing needs into 3 or more groups:
Group 1: Self care
Group 2: Partial or intermediate care
Group 3: Intensive or total care

For example:-Determining nursing care hour by patient


classification system in Station II- General Ward by
No of pts Acuity level of care
needed
I
2

Associated hours of care Total No of hr


6

II

60

10

III

77

11

IV

18

161

36

Task quantification system


Focuses on nursing tasks. To be performed. Common
nursing tasks are either direct nursing care ( in the
presence of the patient as in giving medication,
measuring vital signs..) or indirect nursing care ( away
from the patients as in preparing medication ,
documentation in patients'
files, giving instructions or educative sessions)

Methods for use of supplementary staff


1- Borrowing method
2- Floating staff ( floating pool)
3- On-call staff

Factors affecting staffing pattern determination


* Nursing organization factors:
1-Patient care objectives.
2-Determined level of patient care.
3-Assignment system.
* Patient factors
1- Acuity and general health status
2-Length of stay
3-Patient number.
4-Age group (pediatrics or adult)
5-Care expectations of patients

Staff factors
1-Educational level of the nurses.
2-Experience level of the nurses.
3-Staff number.
4-Job description of each category of nurses.

* Health organization factors


1-Budget available.
2-Personnel policies regarding work time.
3-Support services with the organization.
4-Number of beds.
5-Architecture design of the units.

The staffing plan


Methods of determining the staffing plan
Using calendar days
Divide the number of days in a year by the number of days actually
worker per nurse per year. Nurses are not working the 364 days of
the year , but actually working 272 days only in a year, because the
rest 92 days are considered as follows:
- Number of days off (1 day off per week)
- Number of vacation days
- Number of ill days ( hosp.policy)
- Number of holidays

52 days.
20 days.
10 days.
10 days.

------------------------------------------------------------------------92 days

Total actual work days = 364-92=272 days


Number of nurses needed to fill one position of staff
nurse=
Number of days in year
-----------------------------------Number of actually worked days
364/ 272= 1.33 nurses that means you will need 1.33
nurse to fill one position. Then calculate the total
number needed for staffing pattern for all units.

A system of shift differential


established

to

compensate

is
for

hours worked in evening and night


(30% more salary). The same
compensation
during holidays.

applies

to

work

Using the care hours for developing staffing


pattern
Hospitals used the patient care hours for developing staffing pattern,
can calculate the staffing plan using the care hours methods.
For example:----------------------------------------------------------X
Estimating a core staff per shift
Bed number in Station II General Ward= 25 bed
The average daily census for 6 month = 19 patients
The average daily care hour to be provided= 5 hour per pt/24 hour.
Total hours of care will be needed= 19x5= 95 hours.
If the work day is 8 hours , then 95 divided on 8
= 11.9 or 12 FTE staff needed to station for 24 hour.

Total of 12 EFT x 7 days / week = 84 shift /


work--------------------------------x
If the employee work 5 hours shift / week, then 84
5 = 16.8 the number of EFT needed.
The needed on each shift and the adequate staff
number to provide that care.
Example: days: 45% of staff
45x16.8/100=7.56=8
Evenings 35% of the staff
35x16.8/100=5.88=6
Nights 20% of the staff
20x16.8/100=3.34=3

Total

Night

Evening Day

Category

RNs

LPN

Other

16

Total

course title: FIELD 
EXPERIENCE IN NURSING 
PRACTICE
Staffing 
Pattern
Presented by: Jenny-Ann R. Baliday
Definition of staffing
   Staffing refers to the number and mixture of 
personnel assigned to work in nursing units at a 
giv
Staff classification 
1-Professional nurse: Baccalaureate degree.
2-Technical  nurse: Secondary Technical Nursing 
School . (
Components of Staffing
1- Staffing pattern: 
it is the number and mix of personnel that should 
be on duty per each unit per
Methods of determining the staffing 
pattern
1- The traditional system
  1 - The number of beds per unit ( one
The distribution of nurses is based on the nurse 
manager' opinion of the proportion of care that is needed 
on each shift an
2- The advanced system
 A- PATIENT CLASSIFICATION.
 B- TASK QUANTIFICATION.
Focuses on patient needs. Patients are 
grouped according to the acuity of their 
needs and the degree of their dependency 
o
For example:-Determining nursing care hour by patient 
classification system in Station II- General Ward by
No of pts   Acui
Task quantification system
Focuses on nursing tasks.  To be performed. Common 
nursing tasks are either direct nursing care (

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