NR 532 Week 7 Discussion: Quality of Healthcare and Staffing

Defining patient acuity has been a challenge related to staffing. As the Chief Nursing Officer (CNO), would you measure patient acuity? Explain your rationale. Please share how would you measure it? Be specific. Additionally, how would patient acuity affect staffing ratios? Please share your rationale. As the Chief Nursing Officer (CNO), calculating patient acuity involves multiple factors. When working for a vast organization, departments are divided into specialties with different patient acuity tools and guidelines for the patient/nurse ratio. Knowing that information is imperative in ensuring the correct patient/nurse matching is defined, protecting both the nurses' license and patient safety. The CNO must partner with each department leader and leadership team to determine the unit's needs. There are huddles in vast organizations that occur twice a day to assess nursing needs, bed needs, and patient safety concerns. Marquis & Houston 2017 write that most patient classification tools (PCS) calculate nursing-care hours (NCH). These tools assist specific tasks a patient may need based on the diagnosis per patient-day (PPD) calculated to the nursing hours in a twenty-four-hour day divided by the total number of patients on the unit. In reality, with experience as a nurse who has worked on multiple specialty units, patients cannot be generalized by their diagnosis. Massarweh, Tidyman, & Luu, 2017 write that matching nurses and patients with specific care needs occur in every organization multiple times a day. It is vital in the decision-making process investing in technology that pairs the right nurse right patient, ensuring quality outcomes for patient safety. There are high acuity patients who do not complain or request a thing or have an acute patient demanding and requires you to be in the room your whole shift. As the CNO, it is crucial to make sure you find the proper electronic