Using innovation to assess nursing workforce in Arizona: a collaborative approach

Area of Science:

• Health Services Research
• Nursing Workforce Studies
• Healthcare Administration

Background:

• Accurate projection of the nursing workforce is crucial for healthcare system planning.
• Traditional methods like point-in-time surveys are costly and may not capture the full workforce dynamics.
• Existing nurse licensing data offers a potential, underutilized resource.

Purpose of the Study:

• To describe a method for utilizing nurse license renewal data to measure and project the supply of various nursing cadres (RNs, LPNs, APNs).
• To highlight the cost-effectiveness and continuous data generation capabilities of this approach.
• To advocate for collaborative efforts to implement this methodology.

Main Methods:

• Leveraging state nurse licensing applications as a data foundation.
• Integrating time-varying survey questions into the licensing renewal process.
• Analyzing the collected data to track nursing workforce behavior and supply.

Main Results:

• Nurse license renewal data provides a continuous record of the nursing workforce at a fraction of the cost of traditional surveys.
• The method allows for the measurement and projection of RN, LPN, and APN supply within a state.
• Demonstrates a feasible and economical approach to workforce data collection.

Conclusions:

• Collaborative partnerships between healthcare systems, boards of nursing, and academia can enhance workforce planning.
• This data-driven approach facilitates accurate prediction of nursing workforce needs.
• Enables improved operational decision-making and strategic planning for healthcare organizations and educational institutions.