NR 533 Week 4: Staffing Budgets/FTEs/Variance Analysis | 2025 Update with complete solutions.
Staffing Budgets/FTEs/Variance Analysis
Alishia Grabowski
February 8th, 2025
NR533 Financial Management in Healthcare Organizations
Dr. Teresa Hayden
, Section One—Staffing Budget and FTEs
Personnel Budget Case Study
1. Potter Regional Medical Center recently assigned Sandra Chambers as their
assistant administrator of nursing overseeing five medical units. Once in her role,
she quickly became aware of budgets being used at near or almost full capacity
within all five units. As the assistant administrator she is responsible for
managing and monitoring these budgets. Budgeting is the process of allocating
resources to generate the most cost-effective outcomes based on
revenue(Homauni et al, 2023). Having full capacity budgets poses many
questions as to why there is little to no wiggle room. To understand this, its like
being paycheck to paycheck, and typically its not if but when something major
happens that cause financial detriment posing significant risk to the individual, or
in Sandra’s case, to the organization.
In order for Sandra to grasp a full picture of the maxed-out budget, information
needs to be collected. Operational budgeting will need to be investigated. This
makes up the funding for staffing, training, as well as overtime. Knowing how
much needs to be set aside for this specific budget will allow Sandra to
determine if staffing needs to be re-evaluated, how patient outcomes are
affecting totals, as well as the acuity of the patients- which may lead to overtime
or other operational funds (Zhang et al, 2023).
Another side of the budget Sandra will need to dig into, is the capital budget.
Capitol budgeting includes things like medical equipment, improvement needs to
facility, and supplies. This budget is significant as it consists of items that are
necessary to run a healthcare facility, like Potter. Lack of these items, or a
decrease to the capital budget can cause direct impact to patients, limiting the
facilities ability to provide safe, efficient care (Zhang et al, 2023). patients.
Being that the fifth unit is busting at the seams, and projecting to continue to
exponentially increase, staff to patient ratios need to be re-evaluated. To do so,
current FTE’s need to be determined as well as projected needs, while taking
into account the average daily census (ADC), average length of stay (ALOS),
average nursing hours per patient day (HPPD),overtime, training, education time
and necessary roles to fill (McHugh et al, 2022).
2. Based on the census data Sandra has collected in the chart below, calculations
can be made based on the ADC and the Occupancy Rate for each unit. The
occupancy percentage is the total number of inpatient days for a period x
100/available beds x the number of days in that period.
Staffing Budgets/FTEs/Variance Analysis
Alishia Grabowski
February 8th, 2025
NR533 Financial Management in Healthcare Organizations
Dr. Teresa Hayden
, Section One—Staffing Budget and FTEs
Personnel Budget Case Study
1. Potter Regional Medical Center recently assigned Sandra Chambers as their
assistant administrator of nursing overseeing five medical units. Once in her role,
she quickly became aware of budgets being used at near or almost full capacity
within all five units. As the assistant administrator she is responsible for
managing and monitoring these budgets. Budgeting is the process of allocating
resources to generate the most cost-effective outcomes based on
revenue(Homauni et al, 2023). Having full capacity budgets poses many
questions as to why there is little to no wiggle room. To understand this, its like
being paycheck to paycheck, and typically its not if but when something major
happens that cause financial detriment posing significant risk to the individual, or
in Sandra’s case, to the organization.
In order for Sandra to grasp a full picture of the maxed-out budget, information
needs to be collected. Operational budgeting will need to be investigated. This
makes up the funding for staffing, training, as well as overtime. Knowing how
much needs to be set aside for this specific budget will allow Sandra to
determine if staffing needs to be re-evaluated, how patient outcomes are
affecting totals, as well as the acuity of the patients- which may lead to overtime
or other operational funds (Zhang et al, 2023).
Another side of the budget Sandra will need to dig into, is the capital budget.
Capitol budgeting includes things like medical equipment, improvement needs to
facility, and supplies. This budget is significant as it consists of items that are
necessary to run a healthcare facility, like Potter. Lack of these items, or a
decrease to the capital budget can cause direct impact to patients, limiting the
facilities ability to provide safe, efficient care (Zhang et al, 2023). patients.
Being that the fifth unit is busting at the seams, and projecting to continue to
exponentially increase, staff to patient ratios need to be re-evaluated. To do so,
current FTE’s need to be determined as well as projected needs, while taking
into account the average daily census (ADC), average length of stay (ALOS),
average nursing hours per patient day (HPPD),overtime, training, education time
and necessary roles to fill (McHugh et al, 2022).
2. Based on the census data Sandra has collected in the chart below, calculations
can be made based on the ADC and the Occupancy Rate for each unit. The
occupancy percentage is the total number of inpatient days for a period x
100/available beds x the number of days in that period.
