STAFF DEVELOPMENT FOR FLORIDA NURSES: AN ANALYSIS OF CURRICULUM, ADMINISTRATION, AND RESOURCES, BY HOSPITAL SIZE AND PROFIT SYSTEM (DRG).
Contributors: University of Florida.
Published: 1985
Number of pages: 157
Subjects: Education, Health.; Health Sciences, Nursing.
Description: Staff development for nurses is changing as a result of diminishing resources within the health care system. New funding formulas (the prospective payment system and diagnosis related grouping) have resulted in revised government and private reimbursement to hospitals and caused administrators to reevaluate all aspects of management and hospital services. In this climate decision makers must implement rapid changes, but they often have difficulty obtaining the information they need to validate those decisions.

This study was designed to analyze information related to curriculum, administration, and resources available for staff development for nurses in Florida hospitals. Analysis by agency size and profit system provided differentiated data relative to the three designated categories. Through responses to mailed questionnaires staff development directors in 50 for-profit and nongovernmental not-for-profit medical-surgical short-stay hospitals provided demographic data and reported their perceived needs and opinions.

Findings revealed more similarities than dissimilarities among hospitals both by size and profit system. They showed significant differences in perceived needs for continuing education in an influence ranking of who chose the curriculum and in the ratio of staff development personnel to staff nurses.

Recommendations included developing a similar study to be implemented another time, to expand the data base, and developing another study to compare the effectiveness of the lower ratio of staff developer-to-staff nurse in for-profit hospitals with that of not-for-profit agencies. Other recommendations: new strategies to accomodate shifts in content emphasis and to coordinate unit priorities with staff development curriculum; an examination of the assignment of the staff development director to a line or staff position to determine the most productive role; and an exploration by all hospitals of the use of external educational resources to replace those lost through reorganization or cost-cutting measures.
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 47-04, Section: A, page: 1199.

Thesis (PH.D.)--UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA, 1985.

School code: 0070.