Have you ever participated in a staff interview, either as a candidate or as a member of the staff?
MANAGING RESOURCES
S taffing and scheduling is an important responsibility of the nurse manager and a critical aspect of providing nursing care. Higher nurse staffing levels reduce mortality in hospi-talized patients (Schilling et al., 2010; Needleman et al., 2011). Furthermore, failing to match patient needs to nurses’ skills also increases patient mortality (Needleman et al., 2011).
The impact of California’s mandated nurse staffing supports these findings. Not only did higher nurse staffing levels translate into lower mortality, but hospitals reported better nurse retention rates as a result (Aiken et al., 2010). In addition, Magnet hospitals report higher nurse staffing levels (Hickey et al., 2010) and improved teamwork (Kalisch & Lee, 2011).
Staffing The goal of staffing is to provide the appropriate numbers and mix of nursing staff (nursing care hours) to match actual or projected patient care needs (patient care hours) to provide effective and efficient nursing care. There is no single or perfect method to achieve this. In addition, vari- ability in patient census requires continuous fine-tuning.