Acuity, staffing, productivity, and T&A

[Biscuit12]

Hello all. I am an RN that works in Information Technology. In an effort to better support our customers (ie, our users within the hospital), I am endeavoring to learn as much as I can about how other hospitals handle clinical staffing and budgeting (and ensure safety, productivity, and satisfaction). At my hospital, we utilize a system to determine patient acuity. That information is used to make staffing decisions (with census information), and to make budget predictions. We also have a time and attendance system. We do not have a computerized staff scheduling system. There is interest in developing an interface between our T&A system and our acuity system to get actual staffing data back into the acuity system for reporting reasons. I think this would have to occur biweekly, as there isn't a great way to interface to a T&A system any more frequently than the pay period frequency.

Most of the hospitals I've talked to so far have any range of variations on this theme (some don't have acuity, but do have scheduling... like Ansos, some don't have any of it and use grids, etc). It seems that some of these functions can be found in any mix of these systems. Would you please share your scenario, whether or not you think it is effective, and if not, what you think would make it better? Also, do you flex staffing? Do you flex the budget? Thanks