Running head: NURSE STAFFING AND QUALITY OF CARE
2018
Nurse Staffing and Quality of Care: Case-mix for Emergency Care
Carole Bingley
Chamberlain College of Nursing
NR552: Economics of Healthcare Policy
Dr. Poirier
August 12, 2018
This study source was downloaded by 100000830772748 from CourseHero.com on 02-17-2022 06:18:04 GMT -06:00
https://www.coursehero.com/file/32854191/Week-6-DQ-Nurse-Staffing-and-Quality-of-Caredocx/
, NURSE STAFFING AND QUALITY OF CARE 2
The Emergency department normally experiences a surge in the number of patients. The
clinical stability of patients varies considerably. To provide optimal care for patients a more
flexible and responsive staffing pattern is required. In delivering high-quality and timely care in
the Emergency Department, correct staffing is essential. A combination of the increased number
of patients and shortage of nurses in the Emergency Department has resulted in the formulation
of a number of staffing models (Gedmintas et al., 2010). This paper will, however, address the
case-mix model which quantifies the type and number of patients or diseases that a nurse attend
to or treat (Harrington & Swan, 2003).
Case-mix uses diseases as the main criterion for measurement because it forms the
primary reason for consuming hospital services (Harrington & Swan, 2003). This system puts
patients into categories based on acuity, need or dependency. Then, the service provided to the
patients and the required time for each service by each nurse is computed. From here, average
nursing resources needed per-patient in each shift is established (Harrington & Swan, 2003). This
helps establish the required number of nursing resources. It can be used to establish whether
there is a shortage hence more recruitment (Harrington & Swan, 2003). This can produce
sufficient staffing to provide quality care. Direct measurement of output can produce positive
patient outcome as adjustments to increase efficiency can be made. (Harrington & Swan, 2003).
It can also be used to contain costs because it ensures out-put based reimbursement (Twigg et al.,
2015). Diseases based grouping ensures consistency in payment (Twigg et al., 2015).
To conclude, the case-mix model helps quantify diseases against the available nursing
resources hence it becomes easy to identify nursing shortage or surplus. This facilitates nursing
staffing. It is also based on the output which helps in containing costs and improving patient
This study source was downloaded by 100000830772748 from CourseHero.com on 02-17-2022 06:18:04 GMT -06:00
https://www.coursehero.com/file/32854191/Week-6-DQ-Nurse-Staffing-and-Quality-of-Caredocx/
2018
Nurse Staffing and Quality of Care: Case-mix for Emergency Care
Carole Bingley
Chamberlain College of Nursing
NR552: Economics of Healthcare Policy
Dr. Poirier
August 12, 2018
This study source was downloaded by 100000830772748 from CourseHero.com on 02-17-2022 06:18:04 GMT -06:00
https://www.coursehero.com/file/32854191/Week-6-DQ-Nurse-Staffing-and-Quality-of-Caredocx/
, NURSE STAFFING AND QUALITY OF CARE 2
The Emergency department normally experiences a surge in the number of patients. The
clinical stability of patients varies considerably. To provide optimal care for patients a more
flexible and responsive staffing pattern is required. In delivering high-quality and timely care in
the Emergency Department, correct staffing is essential. A combination of the increased number
of patients and shortage of nurses in the Emergency Department has resulted in the formulation
of a number of staffing models (Gedmintas et al., 2010). This paper will, however, address the
case-mix model which quantifies the type and number of patients or diseases that a nurse attend
to or treat (Harrington & Swan, 2003).
Case-mix uses diseases as the main criterion for measurement because it forms the
primary reason for consuming hospital services (Harrington & Swan, 2003). This system puts
patients into categories based on acuity, need or dependency. Then, the service provided to the
patients and the required time for each service by each nurse is computed. From here, average
nursing resources needed per-patient in each shift is established (Harrington & Swan, 2003). This
helps establish the required number of nursing resources. It can be used to establish whether
there is a shortage hence more recruitment (Harrington & Swan, 2003). This can produce
sufficient staffing to provide quality care. Direct measurement of output can produce positive
patient outcome as adjustments to increase efficiency can be made. (Harrington & Swan, 2003).
It can also be used to contain costs because it ensures out-put based reimbursement (Twigg et al.,
2015). Diseases based grouping ensures consistency in payment (Twigg et al., 2015).
To conclude, the case-mix model helps quantify diseases against the available nursing
resources hence it becomes easy to identify nursing shortage or surplus. This facilitates nursing
staffing. It is also based on the output which helps in containing costs and improving patient
This study source was downloaded by 100000830772748 from CourseHero.com on 02-17-2022 06:18:04 GMT -06:00
https://www.coursehero.com/file/32854191/Week-6-DQ-Nurse-Staffing-and-Quality-of-Caredocx/
