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Angeles University FoundationAngeles City

“Determining Staffing Needs: The

Workload Intensity MeasurementSystem”

Submitted By:

Carl Elexer C. AnoBSN IV – 11

Submitted To:

Mary Angelica P. Bagaoisan R.N., M.A.N.

February 19, 2010

REACTION:

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Staffing as a task of a nurse manager plays a vital role in rendering effective,efficient and quality nursing care among their patient through proper allotment of nursing and non – nursing staff to their patients. Throughout time Patient Classificationsystem is used to make effective staffing, but then again, the needs of the people arevery dynamic that throughout time, they’re nursing needs are also changing andbecoming more demanding, therefore the traditional Patient Classification Systemneeds innovations too.

As a response to this Hoi, Ismail, Ong and Kang made a research study on howthey are going to improve staffing through the workload intensity or simple words, it isdepending on the patients need. Comparing the method and system used by theresearchers and with the traditional Patient Classification System, the two systems havesimilarities in term of the process on determining the nursing care hours needed. The

major difference of the two systems is that the latter consider the type of hospital whilein the Workload Intensity Measurement System they use a more specific determinantthrough individualized need of the patient and the problems identified.

From the study’s finding it shows that the existing measurement systems haspotential validity problems as activity times derived from the early 1990s would notprobably be applicable in today’s clinical setting. In today’s clinical setting, evidence –based nursing is indeed one of the best ways to improve the quality of health care.

Scholarly analyzing the current health care situation, there is a marked change in thenursing activities thus reflecting a change in the roles of the nurses from the pastdecade. Nurses nowadays are also involve in various communication with other professionals wherein a significant proportion of their time is being spent thus inclusionof this activities or function of the nurse must be taken into consideration in computingfor the nursing care hours needed of the patient.

Collectively, as a future nurse I would suggest that patient classification systemmust be reviewed periodically in a rapidly changing and complex work environment, andas much as possible the use of fixed nurse patient ratio must be limited and use a moreindividualized staffing measurement. Based from the results of the study it shows thatan observation study must be conducted in an institution to reflect the actual staffingneeds of that specific institution, in which this would help minimize the lawsuits beingfiled due to negligence as a result of understaffing.