Strategies employed to rebuild nursing following restructuring

Abstract

This study explores the strategies employed by nurse executives to rebuild the nursing workforce in a sample of 140 Canadian hospitals following a period of restructuring, as well as identifying the mechanisms being used to monitor ongoing nursing expenditures in an era of fiscal accountability. The most common restructuring strategy employed was to change the nursing staff mix. Nurses' responses to these efforts was concerning. Focused initiatives developed by nurse executives to rebuild nurse staffing levels included increasing the employment of full-time nurses, as well as enhancing support roles utilised in the hospital healthcare system (e.g. professional practice leaders, case managers, clinical nurse specialists, nurse practitioners, nurse educators). Future efforts to monitor nursing expenditures should be balanced examining potentially positive as well as negative nursing cost utilisation.