Issue link: https://beckershealthcare.uberflip.com/i/694761
EVALUATING DATA-DRIVEN STAFFING SOLUTIONS W hen describing the ideal staffing solution, executives cited the importance of a platform that drives actionable data reliably and in a timely manner. "You need to be able to predict staffing, not just react to it," as one clinical executive said. "Predicting and executing a staffing plan depends on an analytic platform that can feed real-time data in advance of staffing needs." The good news is hospitals and health systems already possess this very data. Now they just need a solution to transform it to actionable information that is infused into staffing decisions. The most effective data-driven solutions for workforce management inform decisions about current and upcoming shifts by interfacing with the EMR to obtain information about patient acuity with information about staff skill level and ADT data and apply intelligence to enable decisions based on real-time patient needs. This empowers nurse managers to manage staffing with greater ease and accuracy and support care quality, cost containment efforts, nurse satisfaction and staff productivity. Ultimately, organizations that leverage data for staffing and scheduling decisions are better positioned to cost-effectively create excellence in outcomes. For example, one integrated health system in the Midwest relies on multiple data points to inform staffing decisions, including points on average patient acuity, ADT, staff composition and census. "We use data, data, data," said the CNO of the system. "Information from our EMR is fed into our acuity system every two hours and staffing is adjusted every four hours based upon this data. Managers monitor nurse-patient assignments routinely as well as staffing, multiple times a day, and make adjustments." Patient care delivery is a complex, dynamic process and requires the integration of multiple data points to inform optimal clinical and financial decisions that keep healthcare organizations moving forward. The future is data-driven staffing systems that integrate and match patient acuity, skill sets of the workforce and ADT information effectively to create the best outcomes.