The emergency section of a health facility is one of the most critical areas that address urgent care needs of patients. Despite having staff from different specialties, nurses are the most professionals found in the emergency departments of care facilities. Notably, due to nurse shortage across most health facilities, focus has been made to allow the professionals to work in shifts to balance care services to patients (Svirsko et al., 2019). However, scheduling nurses in an emergency department is a daunting task and time-consuming to leadership in a health organization. Being able to balance shift hours in order to achieve sufficient nurse-staffing levels at the emergency department requires the implementation of a mathematical model to satisfy preferences of nurses in this section. The present excerpt delves into how mathematical modeling can be used to improve nurse-scheduling process at the emergency department of care facilities. It also uses a template to provide a comprehensive approach in the identification and analysis of peer-reviewed research required for evidence-based practice.
Complete the table below
| Topic of Interest: | Using Mathematical Modeling to Improve the Emergency Department Nurse-Scheduling Process | |||
| Research Article: Include full citation in APA format, as well as link or search details (such as DOI) | Svirsko, A. C., Norman, B. A., Rausch, D., & Woodring, J. (2019). Using mathematical modeling to improve the emergency department nurse-scheduling process. Journal of emergency nursing, 45(4), 425-432. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jen.2019.01.013 | |||
| Professional Practice Use: One or more professional practice uses of the theories/concepts presented in the article | Mathematical modeling can be used to satisfy the preference of nurses based on shift hours allocated. The approach uses a self-scheduling process so that nurses can select day or night shifts based on their preferences. However, to ensure that nurses attend all shifts, a cycle of rotation is made weekly so that those nurses scheduled for night shift in one week take day shifts in the following week. The concept of modeling serves to address time at the emergency department. Implementation of the nursing shift patterns as defined by a mathematical formula decreases the time needed by leadership to reconcile monthly schedule in a health facility. Therefore, sufficient time will be allocated for care at the emergency department and not used to solve conflicts arising due to unbalanced shift hours among nurses. | |||
| Research Analysis Matrix Add more rows if necessary | Strengths of the Research | Limitations of the Research | Relevancy to Topic of Interest | Notes |
| It is based on detailed analysis of the concept of mathematical modeling and therefore enhances clarity for better understanding. | No randomized controlled trials (RCTs) have been conducted on this research which means the article relies on meta-analysis for information. This means data is limited in this research. | The topic will help me identify a formula for mathematical modeling that can effectively be used to allocate shifts to nurses throughout the day and for night schedules. | Additional studies on how mathematical modeling improved nurse-staffing levels. | |
| Formulation of a mathematical model for scheduling nurse shift hours promotes harmony as it reconciles duty allocation. | Study does not clarify specific area where the concepts has been applied to warrant its adoption in emergency departments. | Topic is instrumental in identifying methods that nurse leaders can use to increase satisfaction of nurses at the emergency department of a care facility. | Further research on how application of mathematical modeling concept in shift scheduling reduces nurse burnout to optimize care at the emergency department. | |
I would recommend this article for use to inform decision on professional practice at the emergency department of care facilities. This is because the artic
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