Assessment of a Unit-Level Acuity Tool in Inpatient Psychiatry.

Assessing acuity is deemed essential to staffing in intensive care nursing; however, it has not received sufficient attention in inpatient psychiatry, where acuity can fluctuate greatly within shifts. Staffing and admission decisions rely on the accuracy of this information. The current mixed methods study surveyed nurses from two hospitals within the same hospital system: one using an acuity tool and one naïve to acuity tools.