Computer Simulation As A Method For Selecting Nurse Staffing Levels In Hospitals

摘要

Efficient utilization of staff resources is perhaps the most critical issue facing nursing department administrators today, and has been a matter of concern to nursing service administrators since at least the early 1940's. This study used computer simulation to examine the effect on wage costs and staffing adequacy of varying nurse staffing levels. Three Psychiatric care units in a large VA hospital served as models for the simulation study. The staffing patterns tested were 40%, 50%, 60%, and 80% of maximum workload. Due to a quirk in rounding, the 40% and 50% staffing levels were exactly the same for these nursing units. The 80% staffing level produced direct wage costs 8% higher than the 50% level and 6.7% higher than the 60% level. It also produced 11.6% overstaffing as compared with 1.7% for the 60% staffing level and .2% for the 50% level. The 50% staffing level produced .9% understaffing as compared with .4% for the 60% level and .3% for the 80% level. It was concluded that both the 50% and 60% staffing levels performance was acceptable. Graphical representation of the data demonstrated that the optimal staffing level fell at approximately the 55% staffing level.