Delineating the Ambulatory Care Nursing Activities in the Navy Medical Department. Phase 1. Workload Management System for Nursing Ambulatory Care Project

摘要

The Workload Management System for Nursing (WMSN) is the patient classification and staffing methodology system currently used in the inpatient services of 36 Navy and 50 Army hospitals. The ultimate goal of the current research is to create an ambulatory patient classification and staffing methodology that translates varying patient workload into professional and paraprofessional nursing staff requirements. The report includes an overview of the three phases of the Ambulatory Care Project and results of Phase I: Delineating the Ambulatory Care Nursing Activities in the Navy Medical Department. In Phase I a questionnaire was developed after a literature review and interviews with a representative group of ambulatory care nursing experts. The survey was completed by 591 (67% of total) military and civilian registered nurses working in Navy outpatient and emergency departments. A majority of the study respondents perceived the need to increase the number of staff Hospital Corps personnel (59%) and clerical support personnel (65%) in their work group. Perceptions of the levels of care required by the patient populations in various clinical areas revealed significant differences in the percentages of patients in the five defined levels of care in the emergency room compared to the outpatient clinics. The survey indicated that professional nursing practice of nursing and Hospital Corps staff in Navy medical treatment facilities include all the responsibility areas defined in current literature in civilian nursing practice.