Exploring Nurse Staffing Through Excellence: A Data-Driven Model

Nurse staffing and scheduling are leading issues confronting today's nurse executives as they seek to create high-performance healthcare environments. These environments are regulated, controlled, and governed by accrediting, proprietary agencies, as well as federal, state, and local governments. Nurse leaders are well positioned to meet the intensity, complexity, and emerging requirements of accrediting and regulatory bodies. They have the requisite knowledge and strategic insight to create integrated models of staffing that cross the care continuum towards excellence. As the driver of excellence, nurse leaders recognize the value of integrated staffing models and the need to build the metrics of safety, quality, efficiency, and patient and nurse engagement. It is this notion of excellence and metrics that will add value to healthcare by improving health and impacting financial outcomes among individuals, organizations, and providers. These are essential to achieve the triple aim: better care for individuals, better health for populations, and outcomes at lower per capita costs.