Productivity and acuity tool for wound care and hyperbaric medicine centers

The unique workload and patient acuity in wound care and hyperbaric centers leaves staffing to subjective interpretation; lack of objective data makes it difficult to determine department budgets and appropriate staffing patterns. To address these problems, an objective tool was developed to assess acuity and productivity in hyperbaric and wound care departments. Patient classifications were created to define acuity based on disease and associated procedures. A total of 38 distinct indicators were identified for wound care and 22 for hyperbaric oxygen therapy. Time studies were performed on identified tasks. All patients were scored and placed in acuity classes. The number of hours per patient day was calculated and multiplied by direct care hours to find number of full-time-equivalents (FTEs). The tool was tested for content validity and clinical applicability. The tool was found to accurately reflect patient-care work and suitable as a benchmarking tool for use in monoplace hyperbaric and wound care centers.