Ask any nurse or nurse manager about problems at work, and you'll probably hear the same stories: understaffed shifts, floating, unplanned overtime, last-minute schedule changes, imbalances between experienced and novice staff, rushed calls for contingent nurses, scheduling mistakes, gaps in staffing for specialties, and sudden changes in patient volume.
It's generally believed that this everyday turbulence is simply the way things are -- and nothing can be done about it. Fortunately, predictive analytics, driven by big data, informed algorithms, and advanced labor management techniques, can make nurse scheduling and staffing a much more effective and efficient process. That, in turn, usually improves staff morale, saves money and improves the quality of patient care.
A recent survey of nurse managers by AMN Healthcare and Avantas, Predictive Analytics in Healthcare 2016: Optimizing Nurse Staffing in an Era of Workforce Shortages, showed why it's so important to solve nurse scheduling and staffing problems. Among the survey's findings on the impact of these issues:
• 94% of nurse managers say that understaffing caused by scheduling and staffing problems hurts staff morale
• Nearly 70% say they are very concerned about the impact on patient satisfaction
• Approximately 55% say they are very concerned about the effect on quality of care
• Nearly half say they are very concerned about medical errors, staff turnover and budgetary issues
Antiquated Scheduling Tools Still in Use
These are serious problems for any hospital or other healthcare facility. Yet, while effective technological tools are available to clinical managers, they are not being utilized. Instead, survey questions to nurse managers revealed a lack of sophisticated scheduling tools in use:
• 24% use paper-based scheduling and staffing tools
• 19% use simple digital spreadsheets
• 23% don't use any scheduling tools at all
The survey also found that while nearly 90% of nurse managers said that technology that can accurately forecast patient demand and staffing needs would be helpful, 80% were unaware that such solutions existed.
Strategies that predict future patient demand and strategically plan clinician scheduling and staffing are cost effective and accurate. Predictive analytics have been used in other industries for years to predict demand for products and services, along with strategic management to effectively allot resources. In healthcare, the most valuable resources are the people who provide excellence in patient care. How does this process work? Historical trend data are collected on staffing and patient demand, then processed with algorithms, creating forecasting models. These models are then validated and refined using real-time data feeds of critical information like flu census, weather, events and other indicators that cause staffing levels to change, producing projections for scheduling and staffing needs months in advance. These forecasts are continually updated, becoming more and more accurate as the shift nears.
Predictive Analytics Offer Precision Scheduling and Staffing
The results of the transition from guesswork to precision methods in nurse scheduling and staffing can be dramatic. Clients of Avantas, the nation's leading provider of predictive analytics and advanced labor management for healthcare, have achieved very specific positive outcomes, such as:
• Initial forecasts of staffing need developed up to 120 days in advance of the shift, then updated weekly
• Forecasts that are 97% accurate 30 days before the shift
• Three quarters of open nursing shifts filled more than two weeks in advance
• Advanced knowledge and management of staffing need resulting in easier adjustment to last-minute patient census fluctuations
• RN satisfaction scoring quadrupled
• Millions of dollars saved due to reduced contract labor, centralized resource management, staff retention, and lower shift incentive pay
Everybody agrees on the need to be strategic in managing the healthcare workforce to deliver quality patient care. But healthcare leaders and managers may not realize that current nurse scheduling and staffing practices can undermine staff morale, patient experience and the bottom line. They also may not realize that significant changes can be made quickly and effectively. Progress begins with understanding that precision methods based on predictive analytics and advanced labor management can improve upon the current methods of guesswork still used in most clinical scheduling and staffing.
READ MORE:
Prevent Healthcare Staffing Problems Before They Start
What's the Cost of Not Utilizing Predictive Analytics in Healthcare?
Healthcare Predictive Analytics & Staffing Automation
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