NUR 621 Benchmark – Staffing Matrix 

Grand Canyon University NUR 621 Benchmark – Staffing Matrix  – Step-By-Step Guide

This guide will demonstrate how to complete the Grand Canyon University NUR 621 Benchmark – Staffing Matrix assignment based on general principles of academic writing. Here, we will show you the A, B, Cs of completing an academic paper, irrespective of the instructions. After guiding you through what to do, the guide will leave one or two sample essays at the end to highlight the various sections discussed below.

How to Research and Prepare for NUR 621 Benchmark – Staffing Matrix                 

Whether one passes or fails an academic assignment such as the Grand Canyon University NUR 621 Benchmark – Staffing Matrix depends on the preparation done beforehand. The first thing to do once you receive an assignment is to quickly skim through the requirements. Once that is done, start going through the instructions one by one to clearly understand what the instructor wants. The most important thing here is to understand the required format—whether it is APA, MLA, Chicago, etc.

After understanding the requirements of the paper, the next phase is to gather relevant materials. The first place to start the research process is the weekly resources. Go through the resources provided in the instructions to determine which ones fit the assignment. After reviewing the provided resources, use the university library to search for additional resources. After gathering sufficient and necessary resources, you are now ready to start drafting your paper.

How to Write the Introduction for NUR 621 Benchmark – Staffing Matrix                 

The introduction for the Grand Canyon University NUR 621 Benchmark – Staffing Matrix is where you tell the instructor what your paper will encompass. In three to four statements, highlight the important points that will form the basis of your paper. Here, you can include statistics to show the importance of the topic you will be discussing. At the end of the introduction, write a clear purpose statement outlining what exactly will be contained in the paper. This statement will start with “The purpose of this paper…” and then proceed to outline the various sections of the instructions.

How to Write the Body for NUR 621 Benchmark – Staffing Matrix                 

After the introduction, move into the main part of the NUR 621 Benchmark – Staffing Matrix    assignment, which is the body. Given that the paper you will be writing is not experimental, the way you organize the headings and subheadings of your paper is critically important. In some cases, you might have to use more subheadings to properly organize the assignment. The organization will depend on the rubric provided. Carefully examine the rubric, as it will contain all the detailed requirements of the assignment. Sometimes, the rubric will have information that the normal instructions lack.

Another important factor to consider at this point is how to do citations. In-text citations are fundamental as they support the arguments and points you make in the paper. At this point, the resources gathered at the beginning will come in handy. Integrating the ideas of the authors with your own will ensure that you produce a comprehensive paper. Also, follow the given citation format. In most cases, APA 7 is the preferred format for nursing assignments.

How to Write the Conclusion for NUR 621 Benchmark – Staffing Matrix                 

After completing the main sections, write the conclusion of your paper. The conclusion is a summary of the main points you made in your paper. However, you need to rewrite the points and not simply copy and paste them. By restating the points from each subheading, you will provide a nuanced overview of the assignment to the reader.

How to Format the References List for NUR 621 Benchmark – Staffing Matrix                 

The very last part of your paper involves listing the sources used in your paper. These sources should be listed in alphabetical order and double-spaced. Additionally, use a hanging indent for each source that appears in this list. Lastly, only the sources cited within the body of the paper should appear here.

Stuck? Let Us Help You

Completing assignments can sometimes be overwhelming, especially with the multitude of academic and personal responsibilities you may have. If you find yourself stuck or unsure at any point in the process, don’t hesitate to reach out for professional assistance. Our assignment writing services are designed to help you achieve your academic goals with ease. 

Our team of experienced writers is well-versed in academic writing and familiar with the specific requirements of the NUR 621 Benchmark – Staffing Matrix  assignment. We can provide you with personalized support, ensuring your assignment is well-researched, properly formatted, and thoroughly edited. Get a feel of the quality we guarantee – ORDER NOW. 

Sample Answer for NUR 621 Benchmark – Staffing Matrix 

An effective provision of efficient and safe care to patients in the clinical environment largely depends on the number of nursing staff available. The implication is that an appropriate number of nursing staff should be available to help in the care provision. Using a staffing matrix can greatly help nurse leaders understand the levels of every staff group needed in the hospital to offer appropriate care (Riley et al.,2021). In addition, the nurse leaders can use the staffing matrix to make necessary adjustments as guided by the patient’s needs and acuity and use the same tool to help make decisions regarding resource allocation. Therefore, the purpose of this assignment is to use financial management principles to formulate a staffing matrix that includes labor hours. In addition, this assignment seeks to explore various aspects of the staffing matrix and staffing model.

The Difference Between A Staffing Model and A Staffing Matrix And the Chosen Staffing Model

As earlier indicated, a staffing matrix is key to helping the nurse leaders plan for staffing. Therefore, it is important to have an adequate understanding of the difference between a staffing model and a staffing matrix. The staffing model entails guidelines or rules for determining the number of nurses required to staff and schedule to offer patient care (Butler et al.,2019). In most cases, the healthcare settings and patient needs vary; hence nursing staffing models are applied in various situations. On the other hand, a staffing matrix is a tool used by nurse leaders to evaluate the positions of every staff set needed based on the patient census and acuity. There are three major staffing models, including the budget-based model, nurse-patient ratio, and patient acuity models (Riley et al.,2021). The model to be used is the nurse-patient ratio.

The Importance of Using Staffing Matrix in Health Care Setting and Budgetary Implication

Adequate staffing levels are key to competent, secure, and safe care. In addition, it is important to have enough nursing staff to help improve patient satisfaction, reduce nurse burnout and fatigue, and improve care. Therefore, using a staffing matrix in the health care setting helps the nurse leaders in determining the levels of every nurse staffing group required depending on the census. In addition, the use of a staffing matrix also fosters a safe clinical staff placement-a key factor to the holistic healthcare structure and the clinical nursing field (Dagestad & Grassley, 2019). The nursing staff placement affects all the nurse capacity, such as influencing the standard and secure management in the clinical environments.

The use of a staffing matrix also helps in eliminating unsafe policies and staffing practices. Therefore, it assists in offering better patient care and patient satisfaction. The nursing staff also has more possibility of higher performance since the responsibilities can be assigned depending on their capabilities. Therefore, the use of the staffing matrix has budgetary implications since it assists the staff in financial allocation and management. The staff develops a clear picture of how to manage human resources, cut costs, and develop the unit (Riley et al.,2021). The leaders also do away with resource duplication, hence appropriate human and financial resource allocation.

Description of The Staffing Matrix and FTEs

This is a staffing matrix for a 30-bed capacity inpatient unit with the assumption that the beds are full. It covers a seven-day shift. The total number of nurse assistants is seven, the number of registered nurses is twenty, and the unit coordinators are four. There are two shifts, night shift and day shift which have sixteen and four nurses, respectively. In addition, while four nurse assistants serve during the day, three attend to the patient’s needs during the night shift, while two unit coordinators are required to serve in the night and day shifts. The table below shows staffing matrix as extracted from Excel

One of the assumptions made in formulating this matrix is that no sick day-off exists, and if there is any, then a compensation plan is put in place, and there is a time-out adjustment used to cover every kind of leave. It is important to calculate the FTE needed to cover the needs. From the matrix

The total number of hours worked by employees = 7.5 h per day as day shift. In one week, the total hours will be 7×7.5, which is 52. 5 hours. However, there are a total of 20 full-time registered nurses; hence the FTE will be 20x 52.5x 52 weeks annually. Thus the value comes to 54,600. In the case of the nurse assistants, the value will be obtained by 7 x 52.5 x 52, which gives a total of 19,110. In addition, the FTE for the unit coordinators is obtained by 4 x 52.5 x 52, which is 19,110. As such, the total sum of FTE is 84630.                                                                                                                                                   

The Sound Financial Management Principles Used in Determining the Matrix

The care hours per patient day was applied in determining the FTE. The reason for using this approach emanates from its consistency and also supports the process of deployment and nurse reporting. Midnight census as a measurement was shunned as it is less reliable and fails to account for the variations in the care of every patient. The financial management principle applied in the development of the matrix is justification, timelines as well as consistency (Henson, 2023).

Staffing Adjustments Based On the Patient Census Changes

Patient census change means that appropriate strategies should be used to adjust staffing. The case in the matrix shows a constant census of 30 for the seven days. As such, in case of fluctuations, appropriate staffing adjustments are needed. The nurses offering care can be reduced in the night shift since the activities at night are fewer than during the day. In addition, based on the changes, such as increased patient numbers during the day, then more nurses will have to be assigned to work the day shift (Griffiths et al.,2020)

Staffing Adjustments Based on the Patient Acuity Changes

Change in patient acuity also requires staffing adjustments. High patient acuity requires an increased number of nursing staff since a high acuity means that the patient’s conditions are severe and may easily turn dangerous. On the other hand, a reduction in acuity may mean that less nursing staff is needed (Johnson et al.,2023). Therefore, in such a case, the number of nurses assigned to work in either shift has to reduce.

Conclusion

The use of the staffing matrix enables nurse leaders to determine the stages of every nurse staff is needed to help carry out the care activities. Appropriate adjustments can be carried out based on the patient acuity as well as census. Therefore, a staffing matrix has been formulated for a 30-bed inpatient facility with the assumption that all the beds are full.

References

Butler, M., Schultz, T. J., Halligan, P., Sheridan, A., Kinsman, L., Rotter, T., … & Drennan, J. (2019). Hospital nurse‐staffing models and patient‐and staff‐related outcomes. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, (4). https://doi.org/10.1002/14651858.CD007019.pub3

Dagestad, A. J., & Grassley, S. (2019). Embracing Change by Moving Forward With an Activity-Based Staffing Matrix. Journal of Obstetric, Gynecologic & Neonatal Nursing, 48(3), S73. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jogn.2019.04.126

Griffiths, P., Saville, C., Ball, J., Jones, J., Pattison, N., Monks, T., & Safer Nursing Care Study Group. (2020). Nursing workload, nurse staffing methodologies, and tools: A systematic scoping review and discussion. International Journal of Nursing Studies, 103, 103487. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijnurstu.2019.103487

Henson, C. R. (2023). Healthcare Financial Management: Applied Concepts and Practical Analyses. Springer Publishing Company.

Johnson, K., Haines, J., Woock, L., Madden, B., Sundstrom, G., & Razo, S. (2023). Implementing a patient acuity tool: Perceived effectiveness for more equitable staff assignments. Nursing2023, 53(3), 53–58. 10.1097/01.NURSE.0000919000.40286.de

Riley, Y., Stitt, J., Hill, C. M., Stutzman, S. E., Venkatachalam, A. M., Aguilera, V., & Ifejika, N. L. (2021). Implementation of the MATRIX Staffing Grid Improves Nurse Satisfaction with Rehabilitation Unit Staffing. Journal of Neuroscience Nursing, 53(4), 183-187. https://doi.org/ 10.1097/JNN.0000000000000593

Nurse leaders have many responsibilities and one of the more difficult tasks that they must face is improving the quality of care in their department while developing a manageable budget. Managing a budget can be stressful, especially for nurses who are not formally trained in finance and need to learn on the fly. There are some tools that can aid nurse leaders in reducing their stress of budgeting and making it easier. For nurse leaders to decrease their stress and better manage their department budget the need to increase their financial literacy, reduce the turnover rates of both nurse leaders and nurses, connect the nurse staffing budget to patient outcomes, and reduce conflict between medical and financial staff and focus on the patients (Nea-Bc, 2024).

Nurse leaders need to understand and manage both the operational budget and capital budgets for their organization. For operational budget nurse leaders must review budgets from past years, analyze ongoing trends, and consider current needs (ANA, 2023). For capital budgets, nurse leaders need to work with their finance department to determine the needs of the department and the budget available to purchase the equipment needed (ANA, 2023). Since most capital purchases are large, they often need to be paid over time and nurses need to aid in the planning and budgeting for these long term purchases. “While nursing managers can’t control the precise overall revenue generated, they’re responsible for adhering to their unit’s allocated amount to ensure accuracy and alignment on the organization’s financial goals”(ANA, 2023). Nurse leaders skills in prioritizing and utilizing the available budget to get the most out of their resources is one of the most useful skills nurse leaders have. 

Resources

ANA. (2023).Financial Management skills for nurse Managers. https://www.nursingworld.org/content-hub/resources/nursing-leadership/nursing-financial-management/

Nea-Bc, L. a. D. R. (2024). Stressed out by your budget? Let’s reframe the budget from stressor to most valuable tool | Inspire Nurse Leaders. Inspire Nurse Leaders. https://inspirenurseleaders.com/stressed-out-by-your-budget-lets-reframe-the-budget-from-stressor-to-most-valuable-tool/