Keywords:
Manpower Planning, Staff Nurse Job Description, Exit Interview, Nursing attrition rate, Workload Analysis.

ABSTRACT

A study of labour turnover is of immense help in manpower planning. The lack of such information in nursing services makes manpower planning difficult. A high turnover is a warning to the hospital authorities that something is wrong with the personnel policies and practices of the hospital. In this regard, performing a workload analysis using Time and motion study of a sample of deployed manpower in various areas of hospital will assist in planning effectively. This study helps to understand some factors which contribute to high attrition rates in nursing services in a medical college teaching hospital in South India. As the colleges are governed by legislative bodies it is better to have a fully functional Human resources department in these hospitals to reduce the friction amongst the employees of the college/hospital and the management of the college/hospital. This study highlights about the norms of nursing services as stipulated by Nursing Council & Medical Council of India regulations. Nurses who have a heavy workload may not have sufficient time to perform tasks safely, apply safe practices, or monitor patients, and may reduce their communication with physicians and other providers. A detailed time & motion study analysis of nursing personnel (staff nurses) in Wards & Intensive Care areas of the hospital was conducted. For the first time, it has been noted that 248 minutes is required for full patient care in a day-shift in a surgical unit & 164 minutes is required in a Gynecology ward. In intensive care area, the number of patients getting admitted is directly proportional to the number of bed- days & the workload proportionally increases on nurses posted there. Structural/organizational characteristics of health care work systems, such as nursing workload, can affect quality of care and patient safety. A description of how nursing workload can affect patient safety is offered in this study.