Love is in the air. Can you feel it? In the world of advanced analytics, it’s easy to get lost in data and what the numbers are trying to tell you. And while we think predictive analytics is pretty cool, it’s the purpose behind the technology that reminds us why we do what we do. It’s the healthcare; it’s the nurse and the patient. We get excited about data because of how it can help us improve the work lives of those who provide care, which ultimately affect the patient experience. And that warms our hearts.
AMN Healthcare recently released the findings from their 2019 RN Survey, and the results hit home about why utilizing technology and predictive analytics is a necessary component to nurse staffing. 44% of surveyed nurses say they usually don’t have the time they need to spend with their patients. There may be several causes of nurses feeling they don’t have adequate time for their patients, but certainly staffing plays into this.
Without proper staffing for patient demand, units can run short, causing nurses to feel rushed as they must tend to their heavy patient load. And what about the current national nursing shortage? The percentage of nurses who say the nurse shortage has grown worse over the last five years has risen from 37% in 2015 to 52% in 2019. The perceived threat of a lack of nurses is impacting nurses’ job satisfaction and their decision to leave patient care or consider a career change.
What we know is that strategic staffing and workforce adjustments are able to alleviate a lot of this burden of feeling like staff is constantly running short. We can’t solve the national nursing shortage with the wave of a wand, but we can improve staff schedules to hopefully increase their job satisfaction so they stay. Because even though the current nursing climate may feel difficult, 81% of nurses say they are satisfied with their career choice, and 70% say they would encourage others to become nurses.
What this tells us is that even when nurses are feeling overwhelmed with their workload, they still love what they do. Providing patient care is what brought them to the field, and we want to help keep them there. Nurses are a special group. Not everyone can do what they do. So, when we look at data and analyze the Predictive Model, we see the nurses it has the potential to reach. Each interaction we have with the data is another opportunity to get the right nurse in the right place at the right time. And there’s a whole lot to love about that.