Last updated on 7/12/23 | First published on 4/9/19 | Literature review current through Aug. 2023
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Authors:
Elaine Horibe Song MD, PhD, MBA,
Amy Smith JD, RN, PHN,
Jeff Mize RRT, CHT, UHMSADS,
Tiffany Hamm BSN, RN, CWS, ACHRN, UHMSADS,
more...
Coauthor(s)
Elaine Horibe Song, MD, PhD, MBACo-Founder and Editor, Wound Reference, Inc;
Professor (Affiliate), Division of Plastic Surgery, Federal University of Sao Paulo;
Chair, Association for the Advancement of Wound Care;
Google Scholar Profile
Disclosures: Nothing to disclose
Jeff Mize, RRT, CHT, UHMSADS
Disclosures: Nothing to disclose
Tiffany Hamm, BSN, RN, CWS, ACHRN, UHMSADS
Chief Nursing Officer, Wound Reference, IncDisclosures: Nothing to disclose
Amy Smith, JD, RN, PHN
Disclosures: Nothing to disclose
Editors
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INTRODUCTION
Overview
Staffing of wound care programs can be challenging to department managers and their teams.
Many learn by trial and error, and specific guidance can be difficult to find. Setting a budget for staff expenditure without understanding what the minimum number of staff needed to provide optimum care can lead to wasted effort and resources.
Optimum staffing in a wound care center is not only a matter of number of staff members in a clinic, but it is the result of careful analysis of a set of variables. Ultimately, these variables affect the number of hours needed to care for patients and the team’s productivity. Also, This topic identifies some of these variables and offers guidance on how to develop a lean, cost-effective and patient-centric staffing strategy.
For centers that offer hyperbaric oxygen therapy services, please ensure guidance provided in the topic “Hyperbaric Program Staffing Guidelines" are followed first. For an editable staffing, productivity and acuity tool, see topic "Staffing, Productivity and Acuity Tool for Wound Care and HBOT Centers".
Background
Relevance
- Nursing shortage continues to occur in the United Stages and several other countries due to a lack of potential educators, high turnover, and inequitable workforce distribution.[1]
- According to the National Council of State Boards of Nursing, the COVID-19 pandemic has seen roughly 100,000 registered nurses (RNs) exiting the workforce over two years, and a concerning one-fifth of the workforce expressed interest in departing in the subsequent 4 years. [2]
- Current turnover rate ranges between 8.8% and 37%, depending on the nursing specialty and geographical location.[1]
- Clinical workforce turnover, which directly affects staffing ratios, is the result of many factors, such as increased workload, burnout, feeling undervalued, an aging workforce, among others.[3]
- While nursing shortages lead to errors, higher morbidity, and mortality rates, appropriate staffing levels will decrease errors, increase patient satisfaction, and improve nurse retention rates.
- The role of clinical leaders is critical in addressing these issues by creating an environment that enhances nurse retention, job satisfaction, and overall well-being. Staffing is a controllable aspect that is vital for maintaining a skilled workforce and ensuring efficient healthcare delivery.
VARIABLES THAT AFFECT STAFFING IN WOUND CARE
Patient variables
Caseload
- Caseload is the ideal starting point. In wound care, time is tissue - thus, staffing should aim at improving patient access to care, with the right number of team members (not too many, not too few). That means, if the number of patients fluctuate throughout the day, week or month, staff should be hired and scheduled based on those fluctuations. Part-time and per diem clinical staff members may be utilized, provided they have experience and certification in wound care.
Case mix
- Types of conditions seen in the clinic have a direct impact on staffing. Appointments for some conditions will take longer than those for others. For instance, new patients with venous ulcers will need non-invasive vascular assessment prior to application of compression therapy, and the time needed for assessment and treatment should be factored in when scheduling appointments.
Patient co-morbidities
- Patient mobility, altered cognitive status or with special needs, presence of fecal or urinary continence likely increase appointment length
Referral sources
- Are most cases of inpatient or outpatient origin? In-patients need to be transported to the clinic and clinic staff’s help may be needed.
Staff members variables
Qualifications and scope of practice
- Wound care is a niche, specialized field in medicine. Experienced clinicians are in high demand, and recruitment focus should be on retention, in order to offer patients continuity in wound care
- Clinicians in a wound center include but are not limited to [4]:
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- Nurses
- Nurse practitioners
- Physicians: may have different backgrounds such as general surgery, emergency medicine, plastic surgery, infectious disease, vascular surgery, rheumatology, orthopedics, hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT), podiatry, family medicine, etc. Besides providing direct care, physicians also supervise allied healthcare personnel so that procedures performed by the latter can be billed (e.g., application of negative pressure wound therapy)
- Physical therapists: can apply biophysical technologies including use of therapeutic ultrasound, lymphedema management, sharp debridement, total contact casts, seating evaluations, etc
- For roles in hyperbaric centers see topic " Hyperbaric Medicine - Job Descriptions & Training Guidelines". In hyperbaric centers, it is important that all wound care personnel be cross trained for HBOT and that the HBOT is cross trained for wound care. In that way, when scheduling at the HBOT unit allows, the hyperbaric technician can help out in the wound clinic, or when the hyperbaric technician is on vacation, wound nurses can provide coverage for HBOT services.
Experience and/or certification in wound care and/or hyperbaric oxygen therapy
- As in the wound care field much is learned through experience, certification in wound care is beneficial so that team members can share the same basic knowledge of wound care and HBOT.
Staff mix
- It is important to consider questions such as “How can the right mix of clinical professionals be hired so that optimum services can be delivered without wasted resources?”
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- For instance, medical assistants can manage rooming and patient flow, provide clinical support and patient care, and help complete documentation on the EMR, while wound-certified nurses provide wound-care specific interventions
- In centers where nurses are responsible for insurance verification, authorizations and database entry, fewer nurse-hours will be spent on direct care and more nurses may be needed to cover patient demand. [5]
Vacation policies
- Vacation policies have a direct influence on staffing and are predictable
Clinical operations/ workflows
Protocols and processes
- Development of established protocols and processes (both clinical and business-related practices) to help streamline patient care and analyze revenue cycles from admissions through discharge.[4]
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- When staff members are overwhelmed, it is very common to think that the addition of extra staff members is the best solution. However, this solution may be short-sighted and collaborate to hide inefficiencies in workflows and processes. Establishment of lean protocols and workflows with identification and elimination of wasted time, resources and bottlenecks will help clarify the real need to add extra staff members. As a result, staff members’ time, productivity and satisfaction will be optimized.
- We suggest development of lean workflows that leverage technology (e.g., telehealth) to save staff’s time and improve patients’ satisfaction. (see tool "TeleVisit Tool 2.0")
Tips on Lean Staffing
- For determination of number of full-time employees, centers can use acuity and productivity tools.
-
- Benchmarking tools may help understand staffing needs for each center. The staffing tool created by Larson-Lohr for wound care and hyperbaric medicine centers incorporates elements of both patient acuity and staff productivity and provides suggestions on number of full-time employees (FTEs), more specifically nurses, to cover patient demand in a wound and hyperbaric center.[5] These tools are not meant for daily use, but rather to establish a benchmark for the center.
- To improve motivation and retention, suggestions below can be employed [6]
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- Hire responsibly: hiring people with the right fit is important for a cohesive team and retention of high quality staff. Expectations should be clear. For instance, if work hours change with case load, it is important that the policy be clear to all staff members
- Share financial information such as profit/loss variables portion of financial reports. Transparency is important to bring everyone onboard
- Turn to staff members for solutions. Typically the best solutions come from people who live the problem.
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NOTE: This is a controlled document. This document is not a substitute for proper training, experience, and exercising of professional judgment. While every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of the contents, neither the authors nor the Wound Reference, Inc. give any guarantee as to the accuracy of the information contained in them nor accept any liability, with respect to loss, damage, injury or expense arising from any such errors or omissions in the contents of the work.