[Empirical Concept Overview: Analysis of Optimal Nursing Staff Allocation in Hospital Acute Care Wards and Related...

Research on nursing workforce policy has increasingly shifted from the examining relationship between nurse staffing levels and care quality toward considering a more comprehensive framework that simultaneously considers nurse staffing levels, care quality, and care costs in analyses of optimal nursing staff allocation. In line with this trend, an extended version of Park's Sweet Spot Theory adapted as a multiple inputs and outputs model is proposed in this study. This adapted model may be used to estimate the optimal level of inpatient care quality based on actual inpatient quality indicators and, in concert with a hospital's cost-minimization production model, identify the optimal allocation of nursing staff across three shifts in acute care hospital wards. Beyond providing an empirical framework for analyzing and making decisions regarding optimal nursing staff allocation in hospital acute care wards, the extended theory proposed in this study may be used as an evidence-based tool by the Taiwan Ministry of Health and Welfare for future policymaking related to three-shift staffing standards and nursing salary adjustments.