Scheduling Strategy Using Poisson Probability to Ensure 24/7 Scheduling Coverage for Emergency Nurses Caring for Patients that Have Been Sexually Assaulted

Abstract

BackgroundSexual assault patients disproportionately experience gaps in health care delivery including delays in referrals, delays in medication administration, and extended lengths of stay in emergency departments. Victims of sexual assault have unique health care needs that require nurses to have extensive knowledge and skills to adequately address them. Training nurses with simulation is one approach to enhancing knowledge and skills. However, with a large number of nurses a burden is created whereby nurses have difficulty maintaining clinical competencies due to the decreased opportunity to gain actual hands‐on experience.PurposeThe purpose is to determine a reliable method for calculating an accurate number of nurses to select for simulation training so that one of the specially trained nurses will most likely be working in the emergency department on any given shift.Research QuestionIs there a reliable method to calculate the number of nurses to train with simulation so that there will be one trained nurse working at all times in the emergency department.MethodsUsing Poisson probability distribution the number of nurses selected for simulation training was calculated by reviewing a 6‐month period of emergency room nurses schedules. A schedule pattern was selected that achieved 24/7 coverage in 8am to 8pm and 8pm to 8am shifts. Nurses working at least six 12‐hour shifts in a 4‐week period were selected for analysis.ResultsTraining 6 nurses working 8am to 8pm results in a 0.143 probability that a nurse would not be working, and training 15 nurses working a shift of 8am to 8pm resulted in a 0.006 probability that one of the nurses would not be working on a given day. Training 6 nurses working 8am to 8pm results in a 0.113 probability that a nurse would not be working, and training 15 nurses results in 0.002 probability that one of the nurses would not be working on a given day.Conclusions and ImplicationsPoisson probability distribution is a reliable method to determine a number of nurses to train for simulation in order to increase the likelihood that one trained nurse is working on any given shift. Additionally, using this scheduling method, Poisson can be applied specifically to other health care specialties where there are no fixed schedules, and the need to have a health care individual with specialized skills is essential.