In this issue we explore the question how to create environments that in parallel support the best possible outcomes for patients and create the type of environments where caregivers can thrive. To accomplish this, we looked to two experts on this topic - Rebecca Hathaway, MSN, RN, EDAC, Senior VP Healthcare, MMC Architects and Susan Burks, Owner, Burks Consulting Group.

When it comes right down to it, no matter how modern, sophisticated, or efficient staffing programs are, if the individuals who are executing the care are not qualified, engaged, and able to offer the caring necessary for healing, the whole system can unravel quickly. At its very essence staffing works because of the people who are staffed.

The challenges before us in health care staffing are big, but they will never be solved by the application of symptom-level solutions. Health care staffing is a complicated arena, and nurses are in the best position to assure a good match between the problems being addressed and the solutions being adopted.

While the call for data-driven staffing is loud and even overdue, our approach to it must be harmonized with the human side as well. Discovering the right combination of hard data and soft data may well be the impetus needed to catapult a shift in how we approach staffing to new levels of effectiveness.

Getting your arms around the topic of evidence-based staffing is not simple. This is difficult for a number of reasons, not the least of which is the lack of an accepted definition of evidence-based staffing; what exactly does it mean? Even if we set politics and the lobbying of different interest groups aside, gaining agreement on something that has such far-reaching implications and which impacts so many stakeholders would not be easy.

“The world of healthcare staffing is complex, multi-facetted and the implications of staffing are far reaching, touching almost every aspect of healthcare. If we open our minds, leverage experience and ideas from across disciplines, facilities and geographies we can uncover new approaches to staffing that can better serve our future”