DRIVING OUTCOMES WITH
DYNAMIC STAFFING:
The data that executives know they need
M
any health systems currently count on imprecise means to create
staff schedules. Workforce decisions are made without objective
data about levels of patient acuity, the care team's experience
and skill, and patient flow. Instead, hospitals depend on a notion that
experienced nurses can sense the clinical environment. They also operate
on the assumption that patient needs are relatively consistent, and they
have no way to objectively account for intra-shift changes in patient needs
and staffing.
With a changing outcome-based healthcare payment model and EMRs
storing troves of information about patient needs, there is great reason to
move from subjective staffing to workforce decisions based on evidence. It
is time to leverage system data for better staffing decisions.
Hospital and health system executives in both financial and clinical depart-
ments know what data they need to support top organizational outcomes.
Executives ranked data about patient acuity and staff skill level, expertise
and credentials as nearly equal in terms of importance to quality of care.
Data regarding patient admissions, discharges and transfers was also iden-
tified as a top influencer of quality and cost containment efforts.
31%
42%
32% 15%
46%
