Managing appropriate staffing levels is critical for quality care. Some states require a staffing plan be developed and reviewed at regular intervals. Residex can offer some suggestions for factors you might consider in creating your staffing plan, including some helpful reports.
Considerations in Creating a Staffing Plan
- Building Structure - Floor and wing layout affects direct resident supervision, travel time between residents, and response times to call buttons or assistance requests.
- Specialized Services - Memory care units or behavioral care require higher staffing levels.
- Physical Care Needs - Track resident acuity changes using Clients with ADL's by Community report. Compare current data to 6-month-old reports to identify trends in resident needs.
- PRN Service Use - The Services Unscheduled - By Community report shows PRN services provided during specified periods.
- Level of Care - For care package billing, use the Care Level Changes report to compare current packages against 6-month or yearly data.
- Staff Training - Consider whether all HHA/ULP staff are trained for delegated tasks like medication administration or specific monitoring and treatment services. Training gaps may require staffing adjustments.
- Current Staff Workloads - Use Assignment Workload Weekly and Assignment Workload - Detail reports to view assignment list workloads. These calculate workload using the global services list default minutes (adjustable for precision) and compare projected versus scheduled hours. Though not exact, they provide useful workload perspectives.
Staffing Plan
The staffing plan itself could be entered under the 'Staffing Plan' campus memo type and documentation of the analysis completed here. The report Campus Memos - of a Type could be run for a specified period, showing the review of the plan.
Reviewing and Maintaining the Staffing Plan
Task Manager is a great way to set up a recurring reminder for yourself or others to review that staffing plan. Create a Task for yourself every 6 months to perform a review and enter a note.
You can complete an audit of the facility staffing plan by navigating to Clinical > Audits > Category: General > Type: Staffing Plan Audit.