Quantifying patient care intensity: an evidence-based approach to determining staffing requirements

Over the course of the past decade, the intensity of patient care requirements has increased because of an aging patient population with increasingly complex care requirements and declining length of stay. At the same time, the reimbursement pressure in hospitals continues. The nursing organization of St. Marys Hospital Medical Center in Madison, Wis, recognized that increasing the hours of nursing care in some areas would be essential to maintaining an environment in which the nurses could deliver on the promise of the organization's mission: exceptional healthcare. The nursing organization undertook the challenge of quantifying the increasing intensity to enable a rigorous, evidence-based approach to the 2006 staffing budget. The compelling results enabled the nurses to successfully negotiate the necessary increases in staffing, despite the financial pressures prevalent throughout acute care today.