Nursing Leadership Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Nursing Leadership - Essay Example To practically calculate the cost of nursing care, I referred to an orthopedic unit, which had 12 patients who were at different situations and had different acuity levels. PCS would be calculated on the following:  To practically calculate the cost of nursing care, I referred to an orthopedic unit, which had 12 patients who were at different situations and had different acuity levels. PCS would be calculated on the following:  Ã¢â‚¬ ¢ 4 patients were in a condition to be discharged and had acuity level 1: 4 X 1= 4.†¢ 4 patients were under therapy and had acuity level 4: 4 X 4= 16.†¢ 4 patients were under regular had acuity level 2: 4 X 2= 8.This total of 28 hours would be expanded by adding further 48 hours of an 8-hour shift for 8 patients who did not discharge in 8 hours which makes a total of 76 hours. This grand total of 76 hours can be used to determine Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) for a unit.However, this formula does not give an accurate value because it does not have space for variances made according to situations. For instance, if a patient was acquiring 2 hours and later demands 3 hours due to some uncertainty in patient’s condition. The cost is still being evaluated for 2 hours and thus giving 3 hours till the patient get stable. To neutralize these differences, Relative Value Unit as an index number is given to each unit based on the amount of resources which can be managed to produce nursing care.  For instance, $1,250,000 is given to a unit which has total RVUs of 5,196.50.... 4 patients were under therapy and had acuity level 4: 4 X 4= 16. 4 patients were under regular had acuity level 2: 4 X 2= 8. This total of 28 hours would be expanded by adding further 48 hours of an 8 hour shift for 8 patients who did not discharge in 8 hours which makes a total of 76 hours. This grand total of 76 hours can be used to determine Full Time Equivalent (FTE) for a unit. However, this formula does not give an accurate value because it does not have space for variances made according to situations. For instance if a patient was acquiring 2 hours and later demands 3 hours due to some uncertainty in patient’s condition. The cost is still being evaluated for 2 hours and thus giving 3 hours till the patient get stable. To neutralize these differences, Relative Value Unit as an index number is given to each unit based on amount of resources (labor and capital) which can be managed to produce nursing care (Kelly, 2008). For instance $1,250,000 is given to a unit which has total RVUs of 5,196.50. The amount will be divided by RVU’s to bring out the cost per RVU. For instance $1,250,000/ 5,196.50 = $ 240.55 per RVU. Thus the cost of one patient of level 4 acuity will be $ 240.55 X 4= $962.2 for one day. This formula of calculating the nursing cost does not either gives an exact cost because situations can vary and can demand excess resources. Thus there is no accurate calculation system to recognize exact nursing cost. It all depends on the acuity level which itself is not certain but varies according to patients conditions. These results can help outline the nursing care budget which is helpful to envision all pro’s and con’s to later deal with the finances affectively (Kelly, 2008). Dq2#2)