Nurse Staffing

Reports

There are many variables to consider in terms of what constitutes safe and efficient staffing for a particular hospital unit. Every patient care unit is different based upon the types of patients cared for on that unit and the way in which care is organized and delivered. Staffing for individual units can vary based on the education and experience level of the staff and support from nurse educators and nurse managers on a given unit, as well as on the unique characteristics and mission of the hospital.

Planned vs. actual

When you open a hospital unit’s report, you will see two columns of data: one labeled “planned” and one labeled “actual.” The “planned” column represents the budgeted worked hours and patient days that the hospital projected it would need for that unit. The “actual” column shows the worked hours and patient days that actually occurred during the time period. The actual data can be much different from the plan due to a number of factors. For example, the unit may have had higher or lower number of patients than expected. The patients may also have been more or less severely ill than expected. These factors directly impact the number of necessary worked hours for that unit.