NursesforTomorrow: a proactive approach to nursing resource analysis

Area of Science:

• Healthcare Management
• Nursing Workforce Analysis
• Human Resources in Healthcare

Background:

• Healthcare systems face challenges in predicting and managing nursing staff levels.
• Accurate nurse staffing is crucial for patient care quality and operational efficiency.
• Existing methods may lack the granularity to address regional and unit-specific needs.

Purpose of the Study:

• To describe the NursesforTomorrow (N4T) method for nursing human resources analysis.
• To detail the development, implementation, and utilization of the N4T method.
• To demonstrate how N4T data supports proactive workforce planning and decision-making.

Main Methods:

• Development of a comprehensive nursing human resources analysis method (N4T).
• Capturing regional, institutional, and unit-specific nurse vacancy and staffing data.
• Generating reports on nurse forecasts, staff characteristics, and staffing changes.

Main Results:

• N4T provides data on forecasted nurse shortfalls/surpluses, novice nurse percentages, occupancy, sick time, overtime, and agency use.
• The method captures actual and predicted nurse vacancies and staffing dynamics.
• Reports offer metrics for various levels of healthcare management.

Conclusions:

• The N4T method enables data-driven decisions for hiring and resource allocation.
• N4T supports the prediction of unit-specific recruitment and retention patterns.
• This analysis method is applicable across multiple healthcare organizations and regions.