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Intensive care 20 2 10
Cardiac 25 4 15
Maternity 30 4 10
Pediatric 40 4 22
Surgery 5 † †
Post op 15 5 8 (T–F daily equivalent)‡
Emergency 10 3 5 (daily equivalent)‡
General 120 8 98
* Yearly average per day.
† The hospital employs 20 surgical nurses. Routine surgery is scheduled on Tuesdays and Fridays; five surgeries can be scheduled per day per oper-
ating room (bed) on these days. Emergency surgery is scheduled as needed.
‡ Daily equivalents are used to schedule nurses because patients flow through these wards in relatively short periods of time. A daily equivalent of
5 indicates that, throughout a typical day, an average of five patients are treated in the ward.
continued
41747_ch11case01 5/3/02 2:31 PM Page 2
continued
TABLE C11.2 Average Daily Patient Census per Month
MONTH
WARD J F M A M J J A S O N D
Intensive care 13 10 8 7 7 6 11 13 9 10 12 14
Cardiac 18 16 15 13 14 12 13 12 13 15 18 20
Maternity 8 8 12 13 10 8 13 13 14 10 8 7
Pediatric 22 23 24 24 25 21 22 20 18 20 21 19
Surgery* 20 18 18 17 16 16 22 21 17 18 20 22
Post op† 10 8 7 7 6 6 10 10 7 8 9 10
Emergency† 6 4 4 7 8 5 5 4 4 3 4 6
General 110 108 100 98 95 90 88 92 98 102 107 94
* Average surgeries per day.
† Daily equivalents.
After looking over the information that she has col- 2. Based on the data presented, develop a nurse staffing
lected, Darlene Fry decides that it is time to roll up her plan for Memorial Hospital. Explain your rationale for
sleeves and get started. She wants to consider staffing this plan.
changes in all areas except the surgery ward, which is
already correctly staffed.
Questions
1. Explain the alternatives available to Darlene Fry as she
develops a nurse staffing plan for Memorial Hospital. Source: This case was prepared by Dr. Brooke Saladin, Wake Forest
How does each meet the objectives stated by the CEO? University, as a basis for classroom discussion.