by ChrysMarie Suby, RN, MS
It is critically important for nursing and finance to benchmark hours of care and caregiver ratios using comparative data.
Comparing direct, indirect, and total worked hours of care—and watching for changing trends—will allow you to confidently budget and defend the necessary labor hours to keep nurses at the bedside and preserve budgeted nurse-patient ratios. It will also help you allocate adequate dollars to cover staff development and unit expenses for permanent positions (for example, preceptors, unit-based educators).
In the following exhibits you will find critical care intensive care unit (ICU) benchmarks from the 2009 PSS™ Annual Survey of Hours©. These data demonstrate the value of comparing your ICU’s hours per patient day (HPPD) and caregiver-to-patient ratios against national benchmarks.
The ICU data presented is specific to units classified as general ICUs and exclude burn, bone marrow transplant, coronary care, cardiovascular, neuro, transplant, and trauma ICUs. Comparative data is available for these units individually in the 2009 PSS™ Annual Survey of Hours©, which includes data from 3,054 units at 360 U.S. hospitals.
ChrysMarie Suby, RN, MS, is an international healthcare consultant, editor of the newsletter Perspectives of Staffing and Scheduling©, and president/CEO of the Labor Management Institute, which publishes the PSS™ Annual Survey of Hours© (c.suby@lminstitute.com).