Edinburgh Napier University

  The link between the number of registered nurses providing care, and the quality of that care is well documented. Fewer registered nurses is associated with negative patient outcomes, including delayed discharge, falls, medication errors, failure to detect deterioration, and missed care opportunities. However, nationally there is a 10% vacancy rate for registered nurses. Workforce shortages and increased demand on services mean that it is vital that all healthcare professionals work to their full scope of practice and workforce redesign can be an effective tool to facilitate this.
We report on the development and use of a bespoke tool designed to match workforce capacity to patients’ needs, within a workforce development project in an Edinburgh tertiary hospital. The project aims were to develop and trial a tool that could accurately document patient care activities and identify possibilities for delegation of tasks, and match patients’ needs to skill mix. In doing so, the project team were able to identify opportunities to develop new and extended roles and ensure that an appropriately skilled health care worker could meet patient care needs in a timely manner. This poster depicts the tool and provides an overview of the analysis.