Exam 13: Staffing and Scheduling

A small rural hospital has been designated as a critical access hospital.It has 40 beds and an average occupancy of 34 beds.To prepare the staffing, the chief nursing officer computes the occupancy as being:

In reviewing the job description of a nurse manager, the staff becomes aware that a nurse manager's role is complex.Which of the following duties are required of a nurse manager? (Select all that apply.)

To prepare staffing schedules, a nurse manager needs to calculate paid non-productive time.When calculating paid non-productive time, the nurse manager considers:

A nurse manager uses many sources of data when planning the unit's workload for the year.Which of the following data must be considered in the planning?

A busy neurologic ICU and step-down unit most likely would use which patient-classification system?

The difference between staffing and scheduling is that staffing:

To project staffing needs and to avoid understaffing, it is important that nurse managers consider which of the following?

To maintain patient safety, studies suggest that scheduling should avoid:

Staff members on your unit raise concern that there is rising acuity on the unit and lack of responsiveness in addressing these needs through appropriate staffing.They point to increased incidences of adverse and sentinel events on the unit.To address this concern, your hospital organization would do best to:

A nurse manager must also consider a number of internal variables that will affect staffing patterns.An internal variable to be considered is:

An important aspect of managing the costs on a unit is to plan accurately for staffing needs.Nurse managers use staffing plans to:

In the past year, you have noticed an increase in patient falls on your unit.In reading studies related to staffing and patient outcomes, you realize that you will need to plan for:

The number of adverse events such as falls and pressure ulcers on the unit is increasing.An ideal staffing plan to address this issue would include which of the following? Increasing the:

Your healthcare organization has a decentralized system for scheduling.As part of this process, after you have developed a draft schedule, you may need to:

Scheduling is a function of implementing the staffing plan by assigning unit personnel to work specific hours and specific days of the week.To retain nursing staff, the nurse manager must incorporate into the schedule plan:

As the unit manager, you post the staffing plan and compliance reports.This initiative is aimed at:

To reduce reliance on overtime hours, an organization develops a strategy for floating nurses during staff shortages.To maximize patient safety and reduce costs, the healthcare organization:

A nurse staffing plan takes into account:

In evaluating weekend mortality rates, the head nurse on the cardiac unit is surprised to find that they are higher than on weekdays.In exploring the reasons for this apparent anomaly, the head nurse focuses on:

A strategy to increase RN staff retention at Valley Hospital includes: