There is a preferred method for calculating nursing hours.
A nursing facility needs nurses around the clock, but how many are required? The industry standard for calculating nursing hours is finding a facility's nursing hours per patient day. This equation can accurately determine nursing hours in relation to individual patients and allow nursing facilities to properly staff themselves with an adequate number of nurses.
Instructions
1. Add the total number of workers in a nursing facility in a 24-hour period. According to the Texas Association of Homes and Services for the Aging, this should only include nurses and staff directly engaged in patient care, including charge nurses, medication aides and nursing assistants. Multiply this number by the shift hours to calculate total labor hours of direct care workers.
2. Add the total number of part-time direct care workers in a 24-hour period and, as before, multiply this number for the hours worked.
3. Add the total number of full- and part-time totals from the first two steps. According to Martin Solomon of the Guardian Blog, this total number should be divided by the facility's number of patients present in the facility during duty hours. Solomon uses an example of a nursing facility with 10 patients manned by two nurses working eight hours each. In this case, the facility provides 1.6 nurse staffing hours per patient day.
4. The total in this equation provides the nursing hours per patient day, which helps nursing facilities understand what ratio of nurses to patients is best for them. According to Joseph A. Giacalone and Larry L. Duetsch, authors of "The U.S. Nursing Home Industry," the national average for nursing hours per patient day as of 2001 was 3.4 hours, although some states, such as Alabama and Delaware, averaged 4.2 hours.
Tags: hours patient, nursing hours, total number, nursing facility, nursing hours patient, 24-hour period, calculating nursing
