Issue #3: How Effective Are Your Staffing Grids?

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How effective are your staffing grids? A Newsletter by Cara Cook Consulting Our team of Healthcare Industrial Engineers created this newsletter to share the industry’s best practices with leaders who can apply operational efficiencies in their daily work.  Staffing grids are planning tools that assign the appropriate amount of staff to care for the number of patients on the unit. Effective staffing grids support care guidelines and productivity by integrating with budget, hiring plans, and scheduling systems. Annual approval by the CFO and CNO is important, as the types of patients cared for on the unit can vary over time.  In Healthcare IT News, Cara discusses strategies to engage nursing leaders to make data-driven decisions.  TOP TIP Using census values for the prior year supports a weighted average calculation, ensuring compliance with the labor budget. Using historical census data to estimate staffing grid FTE performance increases the likelihood of success. Psst... some census points are unfavorable, but that's okay!  Using historical census points means that the unit will perform to target in the long run.  Remember this when managing daily productivity by ensuring units can demonstrate that they staffed to the grid.  STAFFING IN THE NEWS Are Your Clinical Leaders Empowered to Make Data-Driven Changes that Impact Labor Spend? Collecting, validating, and sharing actionable information is critical in supporting healthcare executives and department managers to make data-driven decisions that maximize labor savings opportunities without negatively impacting care at the bedside.  read more >> Optimizing Healthcare Workforce Management for High-Value Care Dashboards through analytics models or the human resources system can help those responsible for scheduling to create and modify schedules quickly and efficiently. read more >> 5-Minute Summary: Everything Nurse Managers Need to Know About Staffing Plans A nurse’s schedule is one of the most personal parts of their job. For a scheduler, getting the schedule right is the difference between a very angry or very satisfied staff. read more >> BEST PRACTICE GUIDE 1) Meet with nursing leadership to understand ideal nurse:patient ratios for the unit Understand the department's skill mix, or staffing complement. Learn about the department's current staffing model and pain points.  2) Meet with finance leadership to understand labor budget guidelines Review historical performance to target and budget. Also consider benchmark information to compare peer performance. Identify census probabilities and targets for the upcoming budget year.  3) Create draft staffing grid Addressing the the department's pain points, budgeted target, and staff to patient ratios, begin building the staffing grid. Input fixed staff and sitter and orientation hours if included in the department's budget. Identify census levels that are favorable (sweet spots) and unfavorable (sour spots). 4) After ensuring grid meets financial guidelines, review with nursing leadership Review all changes made to the staffing grid, including identified sweet and sour spots with the nursing leader. Work with the nursing leader to make updates to the grid as needed.  5) Reach consensus between finance and nursing As seen below, if the staffing grid does not meet the needs of nursing and/or finance, facilitate the conversation to reach consensus between both groups.

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