A protocol for capturing daily variability in nursing care.

To meet current and future patient safety and quality requirements, traditional analyses based on data aggregated to the hospital or unit level over months or years may need to change. Nine customized databases were developed, five with patient data (e.g., age, illness severity, perceptions of nursing care quality, desired health outcomes) and four with nurse data (e.g., education, experience). These were merged to create a Patient-Nurse database. Nurse managers, clinicians, and researchers could use the protocol to conduct a more robust analysis of the relationships between nursing system characteristics and patient care processes and outcomes. The protocol described here could be used by nurse managers, clinicians, and researchers to better understand temporal phenomena and patient level data. Through information derived from applying this protocol, staffing decisions can be made to assure the right mix of nurses is available, not just the right number.