Abstract
Nursing workload data has not been used consistently for its original purpose: predicting staffing requirements and making staffing decisions. Too often, little time was paid to monitoring a workload measurement system to ensure that it accurately reflected the practice environment. Several studies have shown that workload measurement systems may not indicate true workload. In 2006, the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long Term Care (MOHLTC) completed a study on the collection of nursing workload data. The study evaluated the quality and value of the data, and the cost-benefit of collecting the data. Results of the study led to the MOHLTC's recommending that the collection of nursing workload data be mandatory only for case-costing hospitals. The reason was that, at the time, there was no alternative in place to predict the cost of nursing. The present nursing demonstration study, commissioned by the Nursing Secretariat of Ontario, Ministry of Health and Long Term Care, will explore the factors that affect nursing resources. It will also investigate the feasibility of a model to predict the use of nursing resources.
Highlights
Nursing workload data has not been used consistently for its original purpose: predicting staffing requirements and making staffing decisions
The average amount of time spent on nursing activities varied by day of stay and by unit. 78.9% of the observed variance in direct nursing costs was explained by total nursing time spent (p < 0.0001), as recorded in the time-and-motion study
Using direct nursing cost data for medical, surgical and combined inpatient units for 2006/07, in the two hospitals, the costs of other services explained over 70% of the nursing cost variation
Summary
Nursing workload data has not been used consistently for its original purpose: predicting staffing requirements and making staffing decisions. Little time was paid to monitoring a workload measurement system to ensure that it accurately reflected the practice environment. Several studies have shown that workload measurement systems may not indicate true workload. In 2006, the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long Term Care (MOHLTC) completed a study on the collection of nursing workload data. The study evaluated the quality and value of the data, and the cost-benefit of collecting the data. Results of the study led to the MOHLTC's recommending that the collection of nursing workload data be mandatory only for case-costing hospitals. The reason was that, at the time, there was no alternative in place to predict the cost of nursing
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