Acuity-Based Staffing in Labor and Delivery Using Electronic Health Record Data.

Background: Planning safe and effective nurse staffing can be challenging for nurse leaders of labor and delivery units due to the dynamic nature of birth and unpredictable fluctuations in census and acuity. The electronic health record (EHR) has a vast source of patient data that can be used to retrospectively review patient needs and nurse staffing gaps that can serve as a basis for prospective planning for nurse staffing.

Purpose: This quality improvement project was initiated with the goal of developing real-time and longitudinal reports to quantify hourly nurse staffing needs based on patient census, acuity, and required clinical interventions from data that are contained with the EHR.