J Korean Acad Nurs Adm.  2017 Mar;23(2):211-222. 10.11111/jkana.2017.23.2.211.

Development of Staffing Levels for Nursing Personnel to Provide Inpatients with Integrated Nursing Care

• Cho SH
• Song KJ
• Park IS
• Kim YH
• Kim MS
• Gong DH
• You SJ
• Ju YS

• KMID: 2408107
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.11111/jkana.2017.23.2.211

Abstract

PURPOSE
To develop staffing levels for nursing personnel (registered nurses and nursing assistants) to provide inpatients with integrated nursing care that includes, in addition to professional nursing care, personal care previously provided by patients' families or private caregivers.
METHODS
A time & motion study was conducted to observe nursing care activities and the time spent by nursing personnel, families, and private caregivers in 10 medical-surgical units. The Korean Patient Classification System-1 (KPCS-1) was used for the nurse manager survey conducted to measure staffing levels and patient needs for nursing care.
RESULTS
Current nurse to patient ratios from the time-motion study and the survey study were 1:10 and 1:11, respectively. Time spent in direct patient care by nursing personnel and family/private caregivers was 51 and 130 minutes per day, respectively. Direct nursing care hours correlated with KPCS-1 scores. Nursing personnel to patient ratio required to provide integrated inpatient care ranged from 1:3.9 to 1:6.1 in tertiary hospitals and from 1:4.4 to 1:6.0 in general hospitals. The functional nursing care delivery system had been implemented in 38.5% of the nursing units.
CONCLUSION
Findings indicate that appropriate nurse staffing and efficient nursing care delivery systems are required to provide integrated inpatient nursing care.

Keyword

Integrated inpatient nursing care; Nurse; Staffing; Nursing care delivery system

MeSH Terms

Caregivers
Classification
Hospitals, General
Humans
Inpatients*
Nurse Administrators
Nursing Care*
Nursing*
Patient Care
Tertiary Care Centers

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