PRODUCTION FUNCTION FOR NURSING SERVICES ON MEDICAL AND SURGICAL NURSING UNITS (PRODUCTIVITY, PRACTICE, CARE, ECONOMICS).
Contributors: University of Michigan.
Published: 1985
Number of pages: 197
Subjects: Health Sciences, Nursing.
Description: Replacing professional nursing staff with non-professional, less expensive substitutes is one strategy that has been tried to decrease the costs of hospital care. However, to minimize the costs of producing a given level of nursing care, not only do salary costs have to be considered, but the nursing productivity associated with the different compositions of nursing staff. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of nursing staff mix on the production of nursing services.

The nursing services being produced were captured by two measures: the number of patient care needs met and patient census. Inputs into the production process included characteristics of the nursing staff such as education and experience, and of the nursing unit structure such as size and care delivery system. The sample consisted of 43 medical or surgical nursing units. Two questionnaires were used: head nurses provided general information about their units and staff, and specific information about staffing patterns for 4 selected days in 1984; a central resource person provided data on the dependent variables.

Analysis included use of multivariate regression techniques to determine estimates of the output elasticities for the input variables: for RNs, they ranged from .10 to .77; for LPNs, from -.01 to .45 for NAs, from -.11 to .73; and for support personnel, from -.70 to .96. The estimated elasticities varied greatly among day, evening and night shifts. Statistically significant findings included: (1) the percentage of RNs with two or more years of experience was positively associated with number of patients cared for and needs met; (2) use of primary nursing was negatively associated with number of patients cared for; (3) tremendous variation existed among nursing units regarding educational background and experience of staff, resources available, head nurse responsibilities and participation in decision-making. A major consequence of the study is that the output elasticities provide quantitative information regarding the productivity of individual resources; when used with cost data, they can indicate efficient ways of producing nursing services.
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 46-11, Section: B, page: 3782.

Thesis (PH.D.)--THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN, 1985.

School code: 0127.