Nursing workload measurement in ambulatory care

Nurs Econ. 2010 Jan-Feb;28(1):37-43.

Abstract

The scarcity of ambulatory workload tools has led many institutions to use metrics such as the number of physicians, patient panels, scheduled patient visits, procedure volumes, seasonality, etc. to determine staffing levels. These metrics do not accurately reflect the nurse staffing required to support the practice. The Workload Measurement and Reporting System (WMRS) was designed to meet the need of measuring work and collecting ambulatory nurse workload data at the point of care in diverse ambulatory practices. The pilot test confirmed that the WMRS application was successful in capturing workload in ambulatory practices that participated. While this method for measuring ambulatory nurse work required time and effort from the clinician, the WMRS application collected and stored a vast amount of valuable workload data when used consistently.

Publication types

  • Multicenter Study

MeSH terms

  • Ambulatory Care Information Systems*
  • Ambulatory Care*
  • Humans
  • Midwestern United States
  • Nursing Staff / organization & administration*
  • Pilot Projects
  • Task Performance and Analysis*
  • Workforce
  • Workload*