Determining Nurse Staffing By Classifying Patients Based on their Nursing Care Needs / 간호행정학회지

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: To determine nurse staffing by classifying patients based on their nursing care needs and to benchmark current staffing against the Safer Nursing Care Tool (SNCT) staffing requirements.METHODS: Cross-sectional data were collected from four general wards at a tertiary hospital. Nursing activities conducted by 86 registered nurses were observed at 10-minute intervals. The nursing care needs of 780 inpatients were measured with two dimensions acuity (10 nursing activities) and dependency (four activities of daily living).RESULTS: Nurses worked for 9.3 hours per shift on average, reflecting overtime work of 1.3 hours per nurse. Nurses spent 37% of their time on direct care, 54% on indirect care, and 9% on associated work. Nursing hours per patient day increased as nursing care needs became higher. Patients were classified into four groups based on their level of nursing care needs. The staffing ratio of groups 1-4 was 19.8, 18.0, 17.0, and 14.6, respectively. The current staffing (i.e., nursing hours) was as low as 53% of the SNCT benchmark, resulting in informal caregiving by patients' family or their privately hired attendants.CONCLUSION: Appropriate and safe staffing is required to meet patients' nursing care needs and to improve the quality of nursing care.