title: Variability of staffing and staff mix across acute care units in Alberta, Canada.
abstract: The health workforce has a crucial position in healthcare, and effective distribution of the workforce is one of the critical areas for healthcare improvement. This requires a proper understanding of the allocation of healthcare providers including staffing levels and staffing variability within a healthcare system. High variability may imply significant differences in outcomes and greater opportunity to better distribute staffing and improve patient outcomes. The objective of this study was to examine staffing variation across acute care units in a large and integrated healthcare system.
  
  
  
  We used survey and administrative data on full time equivalencies of Registered Nurses, Licensed Practical Nurses, Health Care Aides, and allied health staff for 287 acute care units to examine staffing levels across multiple unit types. We used a subsample of 157 units in a more detailed analysis of staffing levels and staff distribution.
  
  
  
  Results from the full sample indicate that staffing levels, particularly for Registered Nurses, vary substantially across unit types. Subsample analyses showed that the highest variation in staffing levels occurred in rural units, which also had higher average staffing for licensed practical nurses and allied health staff. Rural units had fewer Health Care Aides than did other units. The majority of units were staffed with a combination of all three nursing providers, but the most common arrangement in rural units was staffing of Registered Nurses and Licensed Practical Nurses only. We also found that units with the highest number Registered Nurses also tended to have higher numbers of other staff, particularly allied health providers.
  
  
  
  We observed significant variation in staffing levels and mix in acute care units. Some of the differences might be attributable to differences in patient needs and unit types. However, we also observed high variability in units with similar services and patient populations. As other research has shown that staffing is linked to differences in patient outcomes, there is an important opportunity to improve staffing for greater efficiency and higher quality care.
authors.affiliation: Alberta Health Services, 10301 Southport Lane SW, Calgary, Alberta, T2W 1S7, Canada.
authors.forename: Krishna
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Sharma
authors.affiliation: Alberta Health Services, 10301 Southport Lane SW, Calgary, Alberta, T2W 1S7, Canada. Stephanie.hastings@ahs.ca.
authors.forename: Stephanie E
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: Hastings
authors.affiliation: Alberta Health Services, 10301 Southport Lane SW, Calgary, Alberta, T2W 1S7, Canada.
authors.forename: Esther
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Suter
authors.affiliation: Alberta Health Services, 10301 Southport Lane SW, Calgary, Alberta, T2W 1S7, Canada.
authors.forename: Judy
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Bloom
mesh_terms: D000416:Alberta; D003695:Delivery of Health Care / Q000592:standards; D006748:Hospital Departments; D006761:Hospitals; D006801:Humans; D065102:Licensed Practical Nurses; D009726:Nurses; D009728:Nursing Assistants; D009741:Nursing Staff, Hospital; D010561:Personnel Staffing and Scheduling; D011787:Quality of Health Care; D019035:Rural Health Services; D012424:Rural Population; D000078329:Workforce
keywords: Healthcare providers; Nursing staff mix; Staff mix; Staffing levels; Variability