A conceptual framework for nurse staffing management

Hospitals are under increasing pressure to contain cost and nurse staffing has been singled out as an area with high potential for efficiency improvement. Despite the multitude of nurse staffing studies conducted, many important aspects have been neglected and few innovations have been successfully implemented. This paper presents a framework that includes all management tasks that affect staff effectiveness including systems design, forecasting, planning, coordination, and performance monitoring. A consistent terminology is developed and several previously ignored dimensions of the nurse staffing process are discussed. Finally, an outline for a decision-oriented information system is presented.